It"s fitting that this Charlie Poole box set comes in a beat-up cigar box. Enclosed are the stories, both in song and print, that serve to foreshadow a stereotypical hard-living country musician. Poole"s tunes of gambling, girls, guns, and gin are real-world tales of a rambling drifter and fighter with a bum pickin" hand (broken on a drunken dare) and broken teeth (shot out during a run-in with the law). The cover illustration by R. Crumb and the photos enclosed within hardly hint at Poole"s being one of country music"s earliest outlaws--rather, they portray him as a coiffed businessman-cum-banjo. It is in the three discs and the 35-page booklet that we begin to see a true picture of Charlie Poole. Though he didn"t write the songs, he sang his rough-and-tumble life in the ones he chose: "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister?," "Husband and Wife Were Angry One Night," and "I"m the Man That Rode the Mule "Round the World." These are songs of a simple and stubborn man in trying times. It"s not all misery and strife though. The pure George Formby style of "Monkey on a String" hints at a lighter side. "Sunset March" (inspired by Fred van Eps"s "Infanta March," also included in this set) may be the track that best gets at Poole"s banjo style. "Hellions both, the pair loved nothing more than traveling, raising Cain, playing music, and having a drink, and another tune, and another drink." --Henry "Hank" Sapoznik on Poole and close friend Posey Wilson Rorrer (from the booklet) It"s not the lightning speed that the world would hear in the bluegrass greats, but a unique clawhammer arpeggio plucking style that comes across rough yet streetwise, like the player himself. Not all the tracks in this set are performed by Poole, hence the subtitle ...and the Roots of Country Music. Also included are a couple dozen tracks recorded by Poole"s mentors and contemporaries, giving excellent context to Poole"s work. The term "bluegrass" was yet to be coined and the country outlaw profile was still a good 20 years away. It"s surprising to learn that Charlie Poole only recorded and released records during a five-year period leading up to the hell-bent bender that led directly to his death at 39. In terms of packaging, this box set is top-notch. The design, typography, and photographs are as genuine as the music. The booklet contains a brief introduction by Roanoke, Virginia, DJ Kinney Rorrer, whose father was close with Poole. Also included are accounts of Charlie"s run-ins with hecklers, women, and the law, as well as an in-depth bio that surely contains the majority of what is known of his short life. Perhaps only Rorrer"s out-of-print Rambling Blues: The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole reveals more about this grandfather of country music and godfather to country ruffians. --Peter Hilgendorf