Woody Guthrie - Dust Bowl Ballads
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Free Music Notes for Dust Bowl Ballads
Free Music Review: my favorite woody guthrie disc.
Hit: 5 Stars
this is my favorite woody guthrie disc. the entire asch recordings series is wonderful, as well, but this cycle of short stories told through the medium of the folk song, about the Oakie migration during the great depression, is simply a riveting work of americana music. "tom joad - part 1 & 2," is my all-time favorite guthrie performance. its rhythmic drive, intensity, devotion to detail, and grand narrative structure make it one of the finest achievements in all of american folk music. this whole album is a stark and glorious achievement. mr guthrie's voice was singular, a voice with personality, full of feeling for the downtrodden, for the victims of unrestrained capitalism. no music collection should be without a healthy dose of woody guthrie. if yours has a hole in it where mr guthrie should be, this album makes for a perfect introduction to his work.Free Music Review: An important and wonderful recording
Hit: 5 Stars
I got a vinyl copy of this on RCA some time around 1970 and I am grateful to whichever label[s] has/have taken the initiative to make available on CD. It is an essential item in my collection, and I love to listen to it, i.e. not just academically interesting, IMHO.This is great recording. Many of Woody's best songs are represented in fine fashion, and I must admit that every time I put it on and hear him start out singing cut #1 " ... On the 14th day of April in 1935 ..." it starts me out on a musical journey that lasts til the last song. Never fails. He was an indominable spirit, and when I think of Woody at his best, I think of this record.
PS If you are ever doing some long-haul driving and you are in the middle of nowhere at 3 in the morning, try putting this CD on your mobile hi-fi. It's an American experience.
Free Music Review: To understand Woody, you should own this for sure...
Hit: 5 Stars
Woody got a record deal with RCA Victor, and miraculously they let him be himself and do his own songs on a multi-record set of 78-RPM discs. In the spring of l940, this collection hit the stores.It didn't sell much in that Depression year...some say 500 sets, some say l,000...but those who responded to these songs must have been changed forever, musically if not politically. It can be argued that Woody, with this effort, invented the "singer/songwriter" genre, the "concept album" and contemporary folk-protest style, all at once. It is offered now on CD with great sound for a wonderful price. I cannot imagine anyone who likes "folk music" or who has an interest in Depression-era America not choosing to buy it. NOW. Today. From this site. On impulse. Because I said so. Because it is the right thing to do.Free Music Review: As good as it gets...
Hit: 5 Stars
Woody Guthrie is a poet. His songs are simple and catchy, and the lyrics are amazing. The best songs in this collection are just as wonderful to read as they are to hear. "Pretty Boy Floyd", "Do Re Mi", "Talking Dust Bowl Blues", "Tom Joad", and my favorite road song, "Blowing Down the Road". But what makes the album great is that these individual songs blend so perfectly together with the common theme of the Dust Bowl and the devastation it had on poor working men and their families in the midwest. This is a great audio accompaniment to Steinbeck's book "The Grapes of Wrath". This is what all folk music aspires to be and rarely is. Woody Guthrie should be required reading in American Literature classes, and required listenig in Music History classes.Free Music Review: The Best of the Best
Hit: 5 Stars
This reissue of the RCA LP from 1964 is truly the best of the best from Woody Guthrie. Had he not contributed a phenomenal wealth of other top-drawer folk music documenting the human condition, this collection of dust bowl originals would have been enough to establish him as the narrator of an era."Tom Joad" is Guthrie's retelling of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. He once noted that many who couldn't afford the book could still see the movie. And for those who couldn't afford the price of the movie, Guthrie offered the song.
Do yourself a great favor and get to know the songs included in this set. You'll gain a depth of understanding of America then and realize that we may not have come so far yet.