Dust Bowl Ballads [Rounder]

• Artist: Woody Guthrie
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1964
• Total Time: 41:51
• Genre: Folk

Review

In 1940, RCA Victor Records signed Woody Guthrie and released two three-disc albums of 78s, Dust Bowl Ballads, Vol. 1 and Dust Bowl Ballads, Vol. 2, presenting his songs about the plight of the farmers of the Great Plains who were dispossessed by adverse weather conditions and bank foreclosures during the Great Depression and were forced to become migrants, traveling to California where they became poorly paid, much-abused seasonal workers. The songs were timely, with John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath a best-seller and major motion picture. (Guthrie even encapsulated the plot of the novel in "Tom Joad, Pt. 1" and "Tom Joad, Pt. 2," a song divided due to its length, and there was a reference to Preacher Casey, one of the characters, in "Vigilante Man.") But the recordings proved to be Guthrie's only released ones for a major record label, and they eventually went out of print. After RCA rejected Guthrie's entreaty that they be reissued in 1950, he authorized Folkways Records to put out a counterfeit version called Talking Dust Bowl that RCA opted not to contest in court. With Guthrie's star in ascendance 14 years later due to the folk revival, Folkways released another version called Dust Bowl Ballads, and RCA finally decided to put its own version on LP. Going back to the original sessions, the label discovered a couple of unreleased tracks, "Pretty Boy Floyd" and "Dust Bowl Blues," and re-sequenced the rest for a 14-track 12" LP. The former song didn't really fit with the Dust Bowl theme, being a fanciful account of the life of the 1930s bank robber, and "Dust Bowl Blues" (not to be confused with another of the album's songs, "Talking Dust Bowl Blues") was a minor effort compared with the rest. But the collection as a whole remained impressive, as Guthrie alternated humor and outrage at the treatment of his people, the Okies, first at home and then after they were forced to take to the road. "Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh)" had gone on to become a pop hit for the Weavers (with altered lyrics) in the interim, and several of the other songs had become well known in the repertoires of such folksingers as Pete Seeger and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, making Dust Bowl Ballads much more familiar to 1964 listeners than it had been 24 years earlier. It was Guthrie's strongest overall collection of songs and performances, not to mention his best recorded. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster)	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(3:19)
I Ain't Got No Home	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(2:44)
Talking Dust Bowl Blues	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(2:42)
Vigilante Man	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(2:23)
Dust Can't Kill Me	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(2:55)
Dust Pneumonia Blues	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(2:41)
Pretty Boy Floyd (Lyrics)	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(3:09)
Blowin' Down the Road (I Ain't Going to Be Treated This Way)	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(2:59)
Tom Joad, Pt. 1	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(3:25)
Tom Joad, Pt. 2	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(3:28)
Dust Bowl Refugee	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(3:05)
Do-Re-Mi (Lyrics)	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(2:30)
Dust Bowl Blues	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(3:26)
Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh)	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie	(3:05)

Credits

Woody Guthrie (Vocals), Woody Guthrie (Main Performer), Guy Logsdon (Liner Notes), Joanna Bodenweber (Design)