Remembrance of Oats Wild

A Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore, edited by B. A. Botkin. 620 pp. New York: Crown Publishers. $5.00

Last week, at a friend’s house, I heard six or eight old barrelhouse piano rolls. They were the sort nickelodeons used to bang out in bars, and I myself, aged ten, used to pump out on my aunt’s player piano. Now they have been reverently recreated on an instrument especially rebuilt for the purpose, recorded with scrupulous high-fidelity on a glossy LP, and issued with nostalgic program notes.

RP

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Robert Phelps

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A Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore, edited by B. A. Botkin. 620 pp. New York: Crown Publishers. $5.00

Last week, at a friend’s house, I heard six or eight old barrelhouse piano rolls. They were the sort nickelodeons used to bang out in bars, and I myself, aged ten, used to pump out on my aunt’s player piano. Now they have been reverently recreated on an instrument especially rebuilt for the purpose, recorded with scrupulous high-fidelity on a glossy LP, and issued with nostalgic program notes.