You could call The American Song-Poem Anthology a best-of collection, though some among you might ask, "the best of -- what???" These tracks, many of which date back to the late '60s, were originally designed to have the shortest of shelf lives. They were hastily made vanity productions meant to be enjoyed by the dreamers, visionaries, hopefuls, and crackpots who paid off-the-industry-radar recording companies in Nashville, Hollywood, and New York to have their words set to music. Yet, improbably enough, these songs have outlasted some of the legitimate hits of the day to become the stuff of pop legend, a uniquely American folk art that has attracted an avid cult following.

Fans scour thrift shops, flea markets and record store bargain bins looking for undiscovered material on obscure compilation discs or vintage vinyl, artifacts probably unloaded there by family and friends of the "artists" after they'd cleaned out their basements, attics, or entertainment consoles. The audience continues to grow as collectors swap files and exchange info on the 'net. But you don't have to get your hands dirty or overload your hard drive; just pop on this disc and you'll hear the tunes most sought after, puzzled over, and savored by connoisseurs of this surreal subculture.