Rate it!
Avg: 4.0 (27 ratings)
- Date Released: January 1, 1962
- Genre: Country/Folk
- Label: Smithsonian Folkways
-
We Say...
Folk music, more than anything, stresses song over performer, making Woody Guthrie an anomaly within the field: a genuine folk superstar. Unlike, say, a Pete Seeger, Guthrie brought a presence to his recordings, a nasal everyman voice tormented by injustice but hopeful all the same. It's easy to see why a romantic young Bob Dylan would latch onto Guthrie — here was a hard-living man who had seen the world and lived to sing its awful tales. And just as second-generation punk rockers were emboldened by the simplicity of the Ramones, the directness of Guthrie's guitar playing cannot be underestimated. Aside from an occasional fret-walk, there is little here that an aspiring guitarist couldn't emulate in a matter of days.
-
They Say...
In April 1944, 31-year-old Woody Guthrie discovered a recording outlet when he hooked up with record company owner Moses Asch, who agreed to let him cut a virtually unlimited number of masters informally. Guthrie simply would turn up at Asch's studios alone or with such friends as Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry, Leadbelly, and Bess Lomax Hawes, and record his repertoire of original and traditional songs. The repository soon grew to hundreds of titles, far more than even a major label, much less a tiny independent, could release contemporaneously. Over the decades, Asch did release many of the tracks, but by 1962, when he assembled the LP Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs, he still had a significant caché of unissued material like that found on this disc. In the ensuing 18 years, the folk revival had kicked in, and such artists as Joan Baez were taking folk music into the upper reaches of the charts. Guthrie was considered the godfather of the movement, and Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs played right into that, as he could be heard singing songs like "The Rising Sun Blues" (aka "The House of the Rising Sun") and "The Boll Weevil," the same songs that the new generation of folk singers were performing in coffee houses. In truth, with the combination of guitars, mandolin, harmonica, and fiddle, plus Houston's rough high harmonies, the arrangements often were more evocative of the old-timey country string bands of the '30s, such as the Monroe Brothers, than early-'60s urban folk. Then, too, although some of the songs were credited to Guthrie as a songwriter, this was not the Guthrie of "This Land Is Your Land," but rather Guthrie the traditional folk singer. Still, Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs was an excellent representation of rural folk music that consolidated Guthrie's position as the newly fashionable genre's main progenitor.
“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”
Rolling Stone
eMusic Tip
Paid downloads are counted towards an album discount but free downloads are not.
COMPLETE FOR FREE!
You can download the rest of the tracks from this album for free! Just click the Complete Album button.
We’re sorry this album can only be downloaded using paid subscription download credits.
We recommend you Save it for Later by clicking the Save for Later button shown just above this message. For a list of related albums you can download right now, check out these recommendations.
We'll give you 12 additional free credits to download this album and start your paid subscription.
Get 12 bonus credits on us if you download this album. Sweet!
| 01. |  |
Hard Traveling |
2:14 |
|
| 02. | |
What Did the Deep Sea Say? |
2:38 |
|
| 03. | |
The House of the Rising Sun |
2:58 |
|
| 04. | |
900 Miles (Instrumental) |
2:46 |
|
| 05. | |
John Henry |
2:44 |
|
| 06. | |
Oregon Trail |
2:48 |
|
| 07. | |
We Shall Be Free |
3:02 |
|
| 08. | |
Dirty Overalls (My Dirty Overhauls) |
1:58 |
|
| 09. | |
Jackhammer John |
2:39 |
|
| 10. | |
Springfield Mountain |
2:29 |
|
| 11. | |
Brown Eyes |
3:01 |
|
| 12. | |
Boll Weevil Blues (Boll Weevil) |
3:14 |
|
| 13. | |
Guitar Blues (Instrumental) |
2:23 |
|
| 14. | |
Will You Miss Me? |
2:30 |
|
14 Total Tracks, 37:24 Total Length
Loading...
Playlists If you like Woody Guthrie, check out these member playlists
Credits
- Leadbelly - ? // Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - ? // Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - ? // Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - ? // Woody Guthrie - Fiddle // Woody Guthrie - Guitar // Woody Guthrie - Harmonica // Woody Guthrie - Vocals // Woody Guthrie - Main Performer // Cisco Houston - Guitar // Pete Seeger - Liner Notes // Pete Seeger - Liner Notes // Moses Asch - Engineer
Choose from over 7 million
music downloadseMusic features legendary and emerging artists in every genre: classic rock to classical,indie to international, soundtracks to spiritual, jazz to country and many more.
MP3 downloads work on any digital media player
With eMusic, you OWN your music without any restrictions. Burn music to a CD, play it on your computer, mobile phone or any digital media player - including iPod®, Zune® and Walkman®.
Songs available for 50¢ or less
eMusic subscriptions start at just $11.99 a month for 24 downloads - that's just 50¢ per song! And it gets better from there - our plans go as low as 42¢ per song!
Music Discovery
eMusic is about discovery. We make finding new music fun again with music recommendations from our award-winning team of music experts, member playlists and new music features.
Cancel anytime
With all the great music and site features we're pretty sure you will love eMusic. If not, no problem. You can cancel at any time and keep the music you have downloaded.
© 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC