“A folk song is what’s wrong and how to fix it or it could be
who’s hungry and where their mouth is or
who’s out of work and where the job is or
who’s broke and where the money is or
who’s carrying a gun and where the peace is.” – Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children’s songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan “This Machine Kills Fascists” displayed on his guitar.
In the spring of 1944, fresh off a torpedoed merchant marine ship, Woody Guthrie began showing up at the offices of Moses Asch´s Asch Records, where the record company owner let him make recordings informally; Guthrie would appear either alone or with a friend, usually his merchant marine partner Cisco Houston, but also Sonny Terry, Bess Hawes, and/or Leadbelly, and they would cut dozens of old folk songs, some with newly written lyrics by Guthrie, plus some of Guthrie’s outright originals. The masters quickly piled up into the hundreds, far more than even a major label could release, and Asch had only issued a fraction of them by 1947, when he went bankrupt. That had ominous implications for Guthrie’s discography, since some of the masters were retained by Asch’s creditors, including his former partner, Herbert Harris of Stinson Records. The two disputed ownership of the material, but neither seems to have had the money for a legal battle. Asch, returning to solvency, put his Guthrie tracks out on his newly formed Folkways Records, while Harris released his on Stinson, and they also turned up on other labels, including the one on which they appear here, Everest. Guthrie sings alone only on “Gypsy Davy,” “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “Buffalo Skinners,” and “Ranger’s Command,” while Houston provides a tenor harmony on the choruses and sometimes even the verses of the rest, in addition to serving as an instrumentalist. (It’s not clear who plays what, although some tracks seem to have two guitars or a guitar and mandolin on them.) Although not credited on the disc, Terry plays harmonica on “Hey Lolly Lolly” and “Lonesome Day.” The sound quality is iffy, indicative of possibly second-generation masters, and, of course, the performances have a first-take, near-rehearsal feel. That doesn’t keep the music from being stirring on occasion. But folk music fans should note that this isn’t really the Woody Guthrie of “This Land Is Your Land.” Most of the songs are traditional ones, and the musical approach is closer to that of an old-timey country string band like the Monroe Brothers than it is to the urban folk that took its inspiration from Guthrie.
Woody Guthrie – Archive Of Folk Music (1966, vinly rip)
(192 kbps, front & back cover included)
In the latter half of the 20th century there were three pre-eminently influential folk/country guitar players: Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, and Arthel “Doc” Watson, a flat-picking genius from Deep Gap, NC. Unlike the other two, Watson was in middle age before gaining any attention. Since 1960, though, when Watson was recorded with his family and friends in Folkways’ “Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley’s”, people have remained in awe of this gentle blind man who sings and picks with a pure and emotional authenticity. The present generation, folkies and country pickers alike, including Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, the late Clarence White, Emmylou Harris, and literally hundreds of others, acknowledge their great debt to Watson. Watson has provided a further service to folk/country by his encyclopedic knowledge of many American traditional songs.
Zero G Sound 