To the uninitiated, he seems like little more than a footnote in the biography of Bob Dylan and the recordings of Johnny Cash, but during the early and mid-’60s, Peter La Farge occupied a special niche in contemporary folk music as the first politically aware Native American to attract serious attention.
He was dead before the age of 34, but La Farge managed to make a vital and unique contribution to the early-’60s folk revival.
“`Ira Hayes´ And Other Ballads” is a perfect companion to all of the early 60s Greenwich Village folk you’re hearing these days, thanks to the film “Inside Llewyn Davis.”
Peter La Farge was an unusual character even by the standards of that scene, and this, his only Columbia album, features numerous folk classics as well as the first recording of his monumental composition “Ira Hayes,” later brilliantly covered by Johnny Cash.
Tracklist:
Ira Hayes | 3:42 |
Rodeo Hand | 2:19 |
Easy Rider | 4:12 |
Sod Shanty | 2:14 |
John Henry | 4:52 |
Head Hammer Man | 3:08 |
I Gave My Love A Cherry | 3:38 |
John Brown’s Body | 4:18 |
True Love Is A Blessing | 1:27 |
Alabama Bound | 3:22 |
St. James Infirmary | 4:50 |
Peter La Farge– “Ira Hayes” And Other Ballads (1962)
(320 kbps, cover art included)