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Dust Bowl Ballads [Folkways]
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Dust Bowl Ballads [Folkways] in Bloomington, MN
Current price: $19.99
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Woody Guthrie
recorded the songs for
Dust Bowl Ballads
in 1940, and they were released on two three-disc albums of 78s by
RCA Victor Records
.
Victor
eventually let the sets go out of print, and after
Guthrie
wrote to the label asking for a reissue in the new LP era and got a negative response, he authorized
Folkways Records
to copy the discs and, in October 1950, put out its own 10" LP version, which was called
Talking Dust Bowl
RCA
protested, but, in the face of
's go-ahead, backed off, probably figuring a court battle wasn't worth the effort. That gave
Folkways
tacit permission to do a second reissue as a 12" LP called
in 1964, by which time
had become a much hotter property and
was issuing its own LP version. The
disc re-creates the contents of the two albums of 78s in the same running order, but combines the two parts of
"Tom Joad"
(which was too long to be pressed on a single side of a 78) into one track. Although not taken from the original masters, the tracks sound fine, since the recordings were so simple and unadorned to begin with. This was
's only extensive work for a major label, and the professionalism of the sessions far outshines the more casual recordings
later made for
Moses Asch
, founder of
. Nearly a quarter century later, the music remains a devastating, and at times quite funny, look at the Dust Bowl Diaspora of the 1930s, with farmers dispossessed of their land by a combination of weather conditions and bank foreclosures, heading out west where they became poor, abused migrant workers.
alternates between reporting the story, commenting on it humorously, and embodying the characters of the Okies with whom he identifies in songs that proved enormously influential on the
folk revival
and even inspired a
pop
hit in
"Dusty Old Dust"
(better known as
"So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh"
).
's competing version resequenced the material and added a couple of previously unreleased songs from the sessions. This one, however, boasts a full lyric sheet, plus
's 1950 liner notes and even a short essay about soil erosion. ~ William Ruhlmann
recorded the songs for
Dust Bowl Ballads
in 1940, and they were released on two three-disc albums of 78s by
RCA Victor Records
.
Victor
eventually let the sets go out of print, and after
Guthrie
wrote to the label asking for a reissue in the new LP era and got a negative response, he authorized
Folkways Records
to copy the discs and, in October 1950, put out its own 10" LP version, which was called
Talking Dust Bowl
RCA
protested, but, in the face of
's go-ahead, backed off, probably figuring a court battle wasn't worth the effort. That gave
Folkways
tacit permission to do a second reissue as a 12" LP called
in 1964, by which time
had become a much hotter property and
was issuing its own LP version. The
disc re-creates the contents of the two albums of 78s in the same running order, but combines the two parts of
"Tom Joad"
(which was too long to be pressed on a single side of a 78) into one track. Although not taken from the original masters, the tracks sound fine, since the recordings were so simple and unadorned to begin with. This was
's only extensive work for a major label, and the professionalism of the sessions far outshines the more casual recordings
later made for
Moses Asch
, founder of
. Nearly a quarter century later, the music remains a devastating, and at times quite funny, look at the Dust Bowl Diaspora of the 1930s, with farmers dispossessed of their land by a combination of weather conditions and bank foreclosures, heading out west where they became poor, abused migrant workers.
alternates between reporting the story, commenting on it humorously, and embodying the characters of the Okies with whom he identifies in songs that proved enormously influential on the
folk revival
and even inspired a
pop
hit in
"Dusty Old Dust"
(better known as
"So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh"
).
's competing version resequenced the material and added a couple of previously unreleased songs from the sessions. This one, however, boasts a full lyric sheet, plus
's 1950 liner notes and even a short essay about soil erosion. ~ William Ruhlmann
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