Various artists

You can pretty much gander the gist of this beautifully packaged and lovingly annotated 24-cut CD from its subtitle, “Vintage Fiddle Music 1927-1935—Blues, Jazz, Stomps, Shuffles & Rags.” Most of the focus here is on the lost art of the violin within a rural blues or bordello jazz context; names like Peetie Wheatstraw, Bo Chatman and “Peg Leg” Howell alternate with obviously regional acts such as the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, the Alabama Rascals and the Mississippi Sheiks. Of local interest is track No. 17: “Cabo Verdranos Peça Nove” by Abrew’s Portuguese Instrumental Trio, whose European sweetness sounds incongruous here. Fiddler Agusto Abreu, mandolinist Frank “Bojo” Pina and a Puerto Rican 12-string guitarist named Angelo cut this side for Columbia in February, 1931; Abreu and Pina, who were probably related, later moved to the Sacramento area where they died, Abreu in 1958 and Pina in 1960.