The roots of the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons fill this connoisseur's anthology by America's foremost 78-rpm crate-digger label. It's 1920s folk music full of pop flash and drama; see "Sail Away Ladies," by Uncle Dave Macon and His Fruit Jar Drinkers, all hot fiddles and hoots. And the liner notes profile the record fiends who helped stockpile music's pre-Internet history. 

Listen to 'The Return of the Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of':

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”