Early champions of Country Music - The Carter Family, Uncle Dave Macon, the Massey Family, Jimmie Rodgers and many more - have been painstakingly remastered using a mix of analog and digital technology for a hybrid sound that is simultaneously contemporary, immediate but still completely true-to-form.

"American Epic" compilation series is a collection of releases of music associated with the film series "The American Epic", a historical documentaries are a journey back in time to the "Big Bang" of modern popular music.

AMERICAN EPIC, a film series produced by Allison McGourty, Duke Erikson and Director Bernard MacMahon, explores the pivotal recording journeys at the height of the Roaring Twenties, when music scouts armed with cutting-edge recording technology captured the breadth of American music and discovered the artists that would shape our world. The recordings they made of all the ethnic groups of America democratized the nation and gave a voice to everyone. Country singers in the Appalachians, Blues guitarists in the Mississippi Delta, Gospel preachers across the south, Cajun fiddlers in Louisiana, Tejano groups from the Texas Mexico border, Native American drummers in Arizona, and Hawaiian musicians were all recorded. It was the first time America heard itself.

While they may not be the most exciting of the Appalachian string bands of the early '20s, the Carter Family was certainly the most subtly innovative, beginning with Maybelle Carter's bass string-heavy guitar playing. Combined with A.P. Carter's knack for spotting a good song and the trio's clear, haunting vocal style, the music they made has given them a secure spot as country's first big stars. More importantly, A.P.'s collection of Appalachian folk songs (although he is listed as the composer of many of them, he simply collected and refined them) has given American country music a solid historical base. This collection lacks a couple of key signature songs ('Wabash Cannonball,' 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken'), but delivers plenty of Carter Family standards, including what is probably the definitive version of 'John Hardy'.