Woody Guthrie - Buffalo Skinners: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 4
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Artist: Woody GuthrieBrand: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-04-20
Model: SFW40103
Music Label: Smithsonian Folkways
Soundtracks:
- Ranger's Command
- Buffalo Skinners
- Billy The Kid
- Cowboy Waltz
- Pretty Boy Floyd
- Along In The Sun And The Rain
- Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Get Along Little Dogies
- Froggie Went A-Courtin'
- Buffalo Gals
- I Ride An Old Paint
- Dead Or Alive
- Slipknot
- Cocaine Blues
- Go Tell Aunt Rhody
- Chisholm Trail
- Stewball
- Wild Cyclone
- Train Blues
- Red River Valley
- Fastest Of Ponies
- Stewball
- Snow Deer
- When The Curfew Blows
- Little Darling
- Blowing Down That Old Dusty Road
- The Return Of Rocky Mountain Slim And Desert Rat Shorty
Free Music Notes for Buffalo Skinners: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 4
Free Music Review: Those Oklahoma Hills Back Home
Hit: 5 Stars
As I have mentioned on early reviews concerning the music of folklorist Woody Guthrie if any of the older generation, the "Generation of `68" needs an introduction to Woody Guthrie then I ask what planet have you been on. Woody's "This Land Is Your Land" is practically a national anthem (and in some quarters is treated as just that). Not as well known, but which now should be rectified with the production of this fourth volume of Woody's work from his most prolific Asch Recording period of the 1940's, is his rather large compilation of Western cowboy-oriented material. This, as the title of this entry notes, reflects those Oklahoma hills back home from whence he came.
Woody as a folklorist, as well as a singer and songwriter, was not interested in the cowboy as created by the movies, especially the one-dimensional one created in the hey day of the cowboy movie in the 1930's, but the real one. The one who spend many a lonely night out on the trail herding cattle to market; who went hungry and dusty for long periods; and, who was nicked up, kicked up and busted up by man and animal alike. And the one who liked his entertainments short and sweet, a little simple music, a lot of simple liquor and plenty of women on those raucous Saturday nights off the range. Not much room in those tales, either for 1930's Hollywood or Woody's for that matter, for the ones portrayed in literature by Larry McMurtry or Cormac McCarthy or on film by "Brokeback Mountain" or those not recognized until much later like those of the black cowboys of the Oklahoma range, but those are stories for another day.
This compilation covers a wide variety of songs that pay honor, justifiably or not, to the norms of the cowboy profession. "Ranger's Command" and "Buffalo Skinners" give a sense of the hard life on the trail and the pitfalls of ignorant cowboys being taken in by primitive agrarian or industrial capitalists or their agents-and, as in the case, of "Buffalo Skinners" the quick and sure retribution when the rank and file cowboy got his dander up. Songs of the trail and its travails get a workout here, as well, in "Little Dogies" and "Chisholm Trail". The loneliness of the life and the vagaries of love in such a transient profession are reflected in "Cowboy Waltz" and "Red River Valley". The theme of 'rough and ready' justice is revealed in songs like "Slipknot" and "Billy The Kid". Overall these twenty- six tracks, several of which also have Woody's long time traveling friend Cisco Houston accompanying him(a man whose career and place in the folk pantheon deserves more attention separately), bring to life the `real' cowboy experience as it was known in Woody's time.
As always with a Smithsonian/Folkways production the CD includes a booklet of copious liner notes that detail, for the folk historian or the novice alike, the history of each song and its genesis. I am always surprised by the insightful detail provided and as much as I know about this milieu always find something new in them. Moreover, the information here provided inevitably details the rather mundane genesis of some very famous songs like "Pretty Boy Floyd".
Note: I want to address separately the subject of one of Woody's most famous songs, and perhaps one of the first of his songs that I remember hearing back in the days, the above-mentioned "Pretty Boy Floyd". I have reviewed Larry McMurtry's novel of the same title elsewhere in this space. That novel details the actual `exploits of this notorious murderer at the tail end of the Old West period (and maybe, really, the post-Old West period). Woody's version reflects a 1930's romantic notion of this primordial outlaw as a modern day Robin Hood. Thus, even a realist like Woody, who could write with compassion and wit about the real sufferings of his beloved Okies and others, got caught up in the myths of the Old West that have sustained generations of Americans, including this reviewer, eagerly looking for a heroic past. For all its false premises though, Woody's "Pretty Boy" has a line that still has a kernel of folk wisdom that is what drew me to the song in the first place-"some men will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen". Sounds prophetic, right?
Buffalo Skinners: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 4 Poster
This is the fourth and final volume of the series, The Asch Recordings, drawn from Woody Guthrie's remarkable 1940's sessions for Folkways founder, Moses Asch. Songs about cowboys, outlaws, and other western themes were carefully remastered from the best available sources. Cisco Houston accompanies Guthrie on 10 tracks. Contains 6 previously unreleased tracks. Running time 74 minutes. 40-page booklet includes historical and biographical notes. Compiled by Jeff Place and Guy Logsdon.Country Music CDs
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