By all accounts and were an acrimonious duo, thrown together more by opportunity than any pressing desire to play music together, but in spite of the tension between them (or maybe because of it), the body of work they recorded together for between 1927 and 1933 is as singular and distinctive as any in early or . Both were fine guitar players, with generally handling the lead vocals and the harmonies, but the difference-maker was 's striking slide guitar style. played with the guitar in his lap Hawaiian-style, and reportedly fretted it with a wrist pin from a car. His slide lines give everything the duo recorded an eerie, exotic presence that, coupled with their impeccable vocals, makes them utterly unique. played and other popular dance forms of the day, but their bread and butter was always the , and when you hear people say that music started as the white man's version of the , the tracks collected on this four-disc set from are exactly what they're talking about. Among the obvious highlights here are the duo's version of called the sublime (which borrows its melody from ), their version of 's the fun the familiar melody of ( would borrow it for his ), and which were a two-sided hit for , selling some 200,000 copies on 78, an impressive sales figure for the time. Ironically, the last song the duo recorded was when it was doubtful the two ever had any great affection for each other. The final disc of this set collects 's late-'20s recordings for . was an unlikely recording star, since he wore conspicuous glasses, seemingly always had a pipe in the corner of his mouth, and by most reports was an awful singer. He had a subtle sense of humor, however, and a horn man's sense of timing when he talked, and he single-handedly invented the talking form with the release of in 1927 (it had actually been recorded a year earlier). Tracks like and the hilarious show that if wasn't a great singer, he was a master of timing, and his talking keep you waiting always for the next line, for the next shoe to drop. As a box set, these four discs show the deep influence of Afro-American forms on the creation of early music, and while , , and are hardly household names outside of the old-time music community, their influence is pervasive and far reaching, if not always recognized or acknowledged. ~ Steve Leggett