One of the perils of using the album as a lens for understanding a music culture is that so many essential artists, for a variety of reasons, leave behind little or no recorded evidence. Before recording equipment became cheap and accessible, the studio was out of reach for most musicians. Others were too busy making a living—touring, gigging, playing covers—to make recording a priority. And some, like the nearly forgotten Elsie Janis , reached prominence either before or rig
