National Recording Registry Registers Recordings

What in gawd's name does ++dull Irish combo U2 have to do w/

“These recordings represent an important part of America’s culture and history,” says Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “As technology continually changes and formats become obsolete, we must ensure that our nation’s aural legacy is protected.” Billington was charged with overseeing the selection of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” recordings, and the 2013 inductees bring the total number of recordings in the National Recording Registry only to 400.

The fifteen years between 1945 and 1960 are especially well represented — almost high-spotted, as if crossing a wide river on just a few stepping-stones. We start with the joyous jump blues of Louis Jordan’s “Caldonia,” segueing nicely into Elmore James’ proto-electric version of “Dust My Broom.” If you wanted to find the origins of rock and roll, you couldn’t be guided by two brighter lights: Jordan’s band is preternaturally tight, giddily playing a blues structure with jazz instrumentation. Elmore James had plugged in his guitar by 1951, and the distorted slide work on “Dust My Broom” redefined the song as it provided a blueprint for the next several decades of blues and rock.

Here is America, damned interlopers!NB: Previously, & less previously.