VARIOUS ARTISTS

American Epic: The Sessions 8/10

American Epic is also a four-part PBS series, produced by T Bone Burnett, Jack White and Robert Redford, exploring the genesis of recorded American popular song. It features distinguished current musicians working with primordial technology; the fruits of their labours are collected here. A guileless, bighearted spirit underpins all of it, with highlights provided by Bettye LaVette, Nas, Willie Nelson duetting with the late Merle Haggard, and Elton John and Jack White performing a new blues song, “Two Fingers Of Whiskey”. The 5CD boxset, adding the original recordings which inspired the project, is also worth having.