Track Listing

1. The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster)
2. Talking Dust Bowl Blues
3. Pretty Boy Floyd
4. Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good To Know Yuh)
5. Dust Bowl Blues
6. Blowin' Down The Road (I Ain't Gonna To Be Treated This Way)
7. Tom Joad (Part 1)
8. Tom Joad (Part 2)
9. Do Re Mi
10. Dust Bowl Refugee
11. I Ain't Got No Home
12. Vigilante Man
13. Dust Can't Kill Me
14. Dust Pneumonia Blues
15. Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues (alternate take)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20828 in Music
• Released on: 2000-07-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Amazon.com essential recording
"If you'll gather 'round me children, a story I will tell," sings Woody Guthrie in "Pretty Boy Floyd." Children of all ages have never stopped gathering 'round Woody Guthrie since he recorded these songs in the spring of 1940, and that most-famous line tells us a lot about his approach: his songs are for all people, simple and direct enough to be understood by young ones, irresistibly catchy, yet devilishly clever and cutting. His ability to boil down complex emotions and issues to their very core has rarely been matched. "So long it's been good to know yuh," he sings in "Dusty Old Dust," and its childlike sing-along quality only serves to reinforce his very serious points. Across these 14 songs, Guthrie recounts and relives his experience as an Okie forced from his home by the Depression and drought of the 1930s, chronicling the arduous journey in brilliant, sometimes hilarious, sometimes horrifying detail. The characters that inhabit his stories are sincere, sympathetic, and brutally alive. Originally released in 1940 on two albums, and again in 1964 for the benefit of salivating folk revivalists, Dust Bowl Ballads returns once again in 2000 freshly remastered, full of new photos and boasting one alternate take. If there is one album of modern American folk music that deserves to be reissued for the benefit of each generation, it is this collection. In terms of the singer-songwriter concept, it is truly the river's source; in historical terms, it's to the New Deal what the Declaration of Independence is to the American Revolution. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

ABSOLUTELY the very best Woody Guthrie album
OK, so the Smithsonian/Folksways Moses Asch four-CD releases are great Guthrie material. But they come some 30-plus years after his death left a void in American music that has yet to be filled. Dust Bowl Ballads has been remastered and the sound on the new edition (with a bonus track!) is sterling. If I were a high school English teacher and assigned "The Grapes of Wrath" as a reading project, I'd tell my students to find this CD and play it quietly in the background to create atmosphere for the movie. Some hail the Columbia River songs as some of Woody's best work, but in my humble opinion Dust Bowl Ballads simply has no equal. Dylan, Springsteen, and all of us who appreciate good American music owe a huge debt to Woody Guthrie. Grapes of Wrath will stand as an example of Steinbeck's best work, just as Dust Bowl Ballads easily stands as Guthrie's. This is clearly one of the 10 or 20 most essential albums of the 20th Century. If you're just discovering Woody, or come to him via the Billy Bragg/Wilco CDs, this is a great place to begin. Then, Volumes 1 and 3 of the earlier-cited Asch recordings are nearly as essential. (They're the two CDs out of the four that contain mostly or all-original Guthrie songs; CD 2 is Woody's take on old-timey classics, while CD 4 consists of his versions of "cowboy songs." Vols. 3 and 4 are good, but 1 and 2 are Woody originals and, as a result, are closer to my heart...) Generally, skip all the various "best of" Guthrie collections and start here. This is X and X marks the spot to begin...

An important and wonderful recording
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.

Wow!
What a great CD! The songs are terrific! They have done a great job cleaning these up. I doubt if the originals sounded as well. Guthrie is in fine form as he talks, sings and plays through a slice of American history. He is a real musical genius! This is a steal at any price!