Oxford American

South Carolina Music Issue The Oxford American presents its 21st annual Southern Music Issue, featuring more than twenty-five stories and poems exploring the history and legacy of South Carolina music. Among the many notable contributors to this year’s Southern Music Issue are National Book Award–winning poet Nikky Finney; fiction writers Thomas Pierce and George Singleton; musicians Marshall Chapman and Melvin Gibbs; and essayists John Jeremiah Sullivan and Zandria F. Robinson.

The issue comes with a 24-song sampler showcasing South Carolina music across era and genre, ranging from a 1937 field recording of the gospel choir the Plantation Echoes to Gullah-Geechee revivalists Ranky Tanky’s 2019 single “Freedom.” In signature Oxford American style, the compilation includes beloved artists such as Reverend Gary Davis, Linda Martell, Shovels & Rope, and Iron & Wine, alongside obscure recordings, including early hip-hop from Charleston and a 1970s prison band. Accompanying the sampler in the issue are detailed liner notes and essays on the songs by Blain Roberts and Ethan J. Kytle, Katie Moulton, Benjamin Hedin, and others.

The Oxford American

CONTRIBUTORS

THE MUSIC OF CAROLINA

FREEDOM • RANKY TANKY (2019)

HYPER THAN DOPE • GENIUS PRODUCTIONS FEAT. SUEDE (1989)

DOWN TO THE GRAVEYARD • MOON PIE (1981)

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (NAIVE MELODY) • IRON AND WINE & BEN BRIDWELL(2015)

BAD CASE OF THE BLUES • LINDA MARTELL(1970)

GUITAR SONG • MARSHALL CHAPMAN (1982)

MORE CONTROL • THE HEIST & THE ACCOMPLICE (2008)

CAN WE RAP • CARLEEN & THE GROOVERS (1972)

PARADISE • CHARLIE MCALISTER (1997)

CUT A RUG • DANIELLE HOWLE & THE TANTRUMS (2002)

OPEN UP • THOSE LAVENDER WHALES (2017)

SIT AT HOME • THE POPLIN FAMILY (1963)

AS THE CROW FLIES • UNCLE WALT’S BAND (1974)

YOU’RE LETTING ME DOWN • ANN SEXTON & THE MASTERS OF SOUL (1971)

DID MY DAUGHTER CALL HIM DADDY • CHARLES BRADWELL & THE CONGAREE RIVER BOYS PRISON BAND (1972)

DANCING VIRGINIA (LIVE) • JUMP, LITTLE CHILDREN (2005)

MY FATHER IS A WITNESS, OH, BLESS GOD • THE PLANTATION ECHOES (1937)

GLORY HALLELUJAH • THE APPLE ENSEMBLE (1979)

CANDY MAN • REVEREND GARY DAVIS (1957)

WHY I DIDN’T GIVE MY MUSIC TO THE OXFORD AMERICAN

MARY ANN & ONE EYED DAN • SHOVELS & ROPE (2014)

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE • ALICE WINE (1960)

TAKE ME TO THE SKY • BILL WILSON (2017)

RESURRECTION (LIVE) • BENNY STARR FEAT. THE FOUR20S (2018)

ON MY WAY UP • RELATIONS GOSPEL SINGERS (CA. 1975)

LINER NOTES CONTRIBUTORS

Early Recordings

Enchanted • GRANDMA’S HOUSE, CAMDEN, SC

Eartha Kitt, Coming Home

Lowcountry for Old Heads

Beyond the Sea

I Make of You What I Will

The Knoxes of Murrells Inlet

Cut Me Loose

Talking Drums

Set the Country to Stamping

Esquerita and the Voola

I Remember His Sweetness

More Like African Music

CLARA & JOSEPHINE

THE WONDER OF IT ALL • IN RON MCNAIR’S ORBIT

SING ACROSS THE OCEAN • South Carolina is our past and our future, and Ranky Tanky celebrates the middle

LIKE A SHOVEL AND A ROPE • Notes on family and a family band

NOW I DON’T KNOW WHO I AM • Mixed (race) feelings about Columbia’s Toro y Moi

MUSIC CREDITS