A precious collection from one of folk music’s legendary figures, Ballads, Banjo Tunes and Sacred Songs of Western North Carolina collects a few of his songs from his 1928 Brunswick sessions (the immortal “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground,” “Dry Bones”) and adds over a dozen songs — from a total of over 350 — recorded in March 1949 for the Library of Congress as his “Memory Collection.” The Minstrel of the Appalachians really comes alive on this collection, introducing most of his 1949 recordings with song histories and where he collected them. Also included is a priceless track named “Dedication,” in which Lunsford spends five minutes recalling both his early life and his later career as a country lawyer and song collector. – John Bush