Woody Guthrie Albums (15)
'Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti'
Release Date 2/20/1996
Tracks 12
Label Smithsonian Folkways
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What The Critics Say
Recorded between 1946 and 1947, Woody Guthrie crafted a truly fascinating historical document that serves as something of a prototype for a concept album. The trial of Italian-born radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, which culminated in their execution in 1927, is one of the most controversial murder trials in the history of the American justice system; it remains to this day clouded with inconclusive findings. It was this trial that inspired Woody Guthrie to devote an entire album of songs in their defense, and in the process create some of the most fiery and impassioned verse in his recorded catalogue. Guthrie is known to have considered these songs among the most important that he'd ever written, and he is said to have thought the project to be one of his most significant. Many of the pieces have a strong sense of immediacy in them, with Guthrie stumbling over lines and missing chord changes, seemingly racing to get the message out. Some might not particularly agree with his clearly one-sided view of the entire trial, though the way in which he eloquently presents the facts of the case to the listener is a powerful statement for their defense. Still, Guthrie paints a picture of Sacco and Vanzetti that almost seems too good to be true, leaving them as martyrs for American freedom and legends of the progressive movement, calling them Boston's "most noble sons." This might be Guthrie at his most openly radical, with semi-revolutionary lyrics in "Red Wine" recounting the scene in Boston after the execution: "I thought those crowds would pull the town down./ I was hoping they'd do it and change things around." The songs themselves are in the classic Guthrie vein, in that they're all solo acoustic tracks, with the exception of "Sacco's Letter to His Son," which is a letter Sacco wrote on the eve of his execution, set to music by Pete Seeger. Though the material seems a little biased, and maybe rightly so, this is Woody Guthrie at his most sincere and inspired, and no matter where you stand on the vagaries of the trial, you can't argue with the way he honestly presents the humanity of the condemned. While an album completely devoted to a trial that took place over 75 years ago might not be everyone's ideal Guthrie album, it's a fascinating historical snapshot in time, when the Red Scare was a real threat -- when folk singers saw injustice and tried to do something about it. ~ Matt Fink, All Music Guide
'Grow Big Songs, Vol. 2'
Release Date 1/1/1992
Tracks 10
Label Warner Bros.
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'Grow Big Songs, Vol. 1'
Release Date 1/1/1992
Tracks 10
Label Warner Bros.
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'Nursery Days'
Release Date 1/1/1992
Tracks 16
Label Smithsonian Folkways
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What The Critics Say
In Songs to Grow On - Vol. 1 (Nursery Days), Guthrie once again effectively evokes the child's point of view with such simple, yet exciting songs as "Car Song" (with its chorus "Goin' for a ride in the car car") and "Put Your Finger in the Air." Ages 3-5. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child'
Release Date 4/16/1991
Tracks 18
Label Rounder
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What The Critics Say
Some of the last songs written and recorded by Woody Guthrie were his children's songs. Their strength, shown in Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child, is an unusually strong identification with actually being a child, in all its simplicity and charm, along with the ability to win over listeners. Good examples here are "Rattle My Rattle" and "I Want My Milk." Guthrie is an acquired sonic taste worth acquiring. Ages 3-5. ~ William Ruhlmann & Bob Hinkle, All Music Guide
'Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs'
Release Date 1/1/1988
Tracks 14
Label Smithsonian Folkways
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What The Critics 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. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Songs from Bound to Glory'
Release Date 1/1/1977
Tracks 10
Label Warner Bros.
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What The Critics Say
In 1976, a film adaptation of Woody Guthrie's autobiography Bound for Glory was released, with David Carradine portraying Guthrie. On the soundtrack, Carradine sang Guthrie's songs. The renewed exposure given to the veteran folk singer led to this album on Warner Bros. Records, its cover pointedly proclaiming, "1940-1946 original recordings made by Woody Guthrie." Here were found Guthrie's own versions of songs featured in the movie, including "Hard Travelin'," "So Long (It's Been Good to Know Yuh) (Dusty Old Dust)," "Pastures of Plenty," "Howdido," and, of course, "This Land Is Your Land." That accounted for half of the ten-track, 27-minute LP, with the rest selecting some of the better-known Guthrie songs from the vast caché of his recordings made for Moses Asch in the '40s, such as "Jesus Christ," "Pretty Boy Floyd," and "Better World." Asch's liner notes filled the back of the album cover, explaining his unusual relationship with Guthrie, in which he let the singer come into his studio, such as it was, on nights and weekends to cut whatever he wanted. The results were decidedly casual, of course, and these tracks reflect that, with varying sound quality, rehearsal-like performances, and abrupt endings. Throughout, however, Guthrie's talent as a songwriter and performer comes through. (The Asch sessions began in 1944; the version of "So Long [It's Been Good to Know Yuh] [Dusty Old Dust]" is taken from Guthrie's Library of Congress recordings of 1940.) ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This album was originally released by Moses Asch, founder of the Folkways label, on Asch Records in 1941 as Struggle: Documentary No. 1. It was released by him in 1976 to commemorate the bicentennial of the American Revolution with a special series of liner notes by Asch explaining the importance of Woody Guthrie's history of the working class through song. Both Guthrie's songs and the liner notes are stuff of supreme cultural importance. In the notes, Asch lays out a theory that the American Revolution has not yet been completed and there is a need for a "continuing struggle for human rights and equality." As a collection of songs, this is surely one of the best Guthrie collections, especially once it's known how important it was to him personally. In many ways, it seems as if this album was the fulfillment of a very personal vision, which starts with the songs but is only realized in their collectivity. Included here are such excellent songs as the unsettling "Hang Knot," the elliptic "Union Burying Ground," and the finely spun "Pretty Boy Floyd." These songs define Guthrie at his best, never didactic in tone but supreme in import. The album also features the Cisco Houston (Guthrie's sometime tramping companion) number "Get Along Little Doggies," as well as his vocal accompaniment on several tracks. Sonny Terry guests on "Lost John," lending his harmonica to Guthrie's tale of a chain gang escapee. Both as a historical artifact and as an amazing Guthrie album, this is required listening. ~ Brian Whitener, All Music Guide
