Search - Woody Guthrie :: Dust Bowl Ballads

Dust Bowl Ballads
Woody Guthrie
Dust Bowl Ballads
Genres: Folk, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (14) - Disc #1

"If you'll gather 'round me children, a story I will tell," sings Woody Guthrie in "Pretty Boy Floyd." Children of all ages have never stopped gathering 'round Woody Guthrie since he recorded these songs in the spring of 1...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Woody Guthrie
Title: Dust Bowl Ballads
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Rounder / Umgd
Release Date: 2/14/1992
Genres: Folk, Pop
Style: Traditional Folk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 011661104020

Synopsis

Amazon.com essential recording
"If you'll gather 'round me children, a story I will tell," sings Woody Guthrie in "Pretty Boy Floyd." Children of all ages have never stopped gathering 'round Woody Guthrie since he recorded these songs in the spring of 1940, and that most-famous line tells us a lot about his approach: his songs are for all people, simple and direct enough to be understood by young ones, irresistibly catchy, yet devilishly clever and cutting. His ability to boil down complex emotions and issues to their very core has rarely been matched. "So long it's been good to know yuh," he sings in "Dusty Old Dust," and its childlike sing-along quality only serves to reinforce his very serious points. Across these 14 songs, Guthrie recounts and relives his experience as an Okie forced from his home by the Depression and drought of the 1930s, chronicling the arduous journey in brilliant, sometimes hilarious, sometimes horrifying detail. The characters that inhabit his stories are sincere, sympathetic, and brutally alive. Originally released in 1940 on two albums, and again in 1964 for the benefit of salivating folk revivalists, Dust Bowl Ballads returns once again in 2000 freshly remastered, full of new photos and boasting one alternate take. If there is one album of modern American folk music that deserves to be reissued for the benefit of each generation, it is this collection. In terms of the singer-songwriter concept, it is truly the river's source; in historical terms, it's to the New Deal what the Declaration of Independence is to the American Revolution. --Marc Greilsamer

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CD Reviews

My favorite woody guthrie disc.
fluffy, the human being. | forest lake, mn | 04/13/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is my favorite woody guthrie disc. the entire asch recordings series is wonderful, as well, but this cycle of short stories told through the medium of the folk song, about the Oakie migration during the great depression, is simply a riveting work of americana music. "tom joad - part 1 & 2," is my all-time favorite guthrie performance. its rhythmic drive, intensity, devotion to detail, and grand narrative structure make it one of the finest achievements in all of american folk music. this whole album is a stark and glorious achievement. mr guthrie's voice was singular, a voice with personality, full of feeling for the downtrodden, for the victims of unrestrained capitalism. no music collection should be without a healthy dose of woody guthrie. if yours has a hole in it where mr guthrie should be, this album makes for a perfect introduction to his work."
Woody Guthrie Is The King Of Folk..
R. Webb | u.s.a. | 02/19/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Woody Guthrie's "Dust Bowl Ballads",1940,is an important piece of folk music history, the songs paint a clear vivid picture in the listeners mind, Woody does it steadily with voice and guitar only,as the lyrics are extremely real and imaginative. The recording is a narration of the great depression and the dust storms in Texas and Oklahoma where the majority of the dirt poor people struggled to make ends meet in the never ending labor camps,Woody tells it like it is on the talking rendition "Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues"-"THE STEW WAS SO THIN YOU COULD READ A MAGAZINE RIGHT THROUGH IT,MAYBE IT SHOULD'VE BEEN ALOT THINNER SO THE POLITICIANS COULD'VE SEEN THROUGH IT"..Guthrie also belts out the "Dust Pneumonia Blues" a humerous reference to the singing brakeman,Jimmy Rodgers,- "I oughta be yodeling in this song,too much rattlin' in my lungs".. other mentionable songs:the story of the notorious gangster "Pretty Boy Floyd", the laid back "DO-RE-MI". An essential recording, a definite educational reference for aspiring musicians and songwriters. Rounder records,14 songs."
Many powerful memories
Charles R. Hart Jr. | Anchorage, AK USA | 04/10/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD brought back many poignant memories to my mother and father of their childhoods in the dustbowl and depression. They loved every track and sang along with many of them. I learned much more of their history by the stories this CD brought to their minds. Thank you for carrying it."