Bob Dylan's first album is a lot like the debut albums by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones -- a sterling effort, outclassing most, if not all, of what came before it in the genre, but similarly eclipsed by the artist's own subsequent efforts. The difference was that not very many people heard Bob Dylan on its original release (originals on the ...
"Greatest Hits," as Seeger himself wryly wrote in his liner notes, is a misnomer considering that he never had hit singles or huge-selling albums as a solo artist, though actually "Little Boxes" (included here) made the lower reaches of the charts. In reality this 1967 compilation (since reissued on CD) collects the most popular tracks of his 1962 ...
Despite having scored a series of major hits in the early '50s, starting with "Goodnight Irene," which topped the charts for 13 weeks, the Weavers were hounded out of existence in 1953 as part of the anti-Communist witch hunts. Although Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose scurrilous activities gave the McCarthy Era its name, had been condemned by the ...
This double album opens with a then-new Bob Dylan song, "The Times They Are A' Changin'," and closes with the best-known song ever written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes, "If I Had a Hammer." That seems to sum up Peter, Paul & Mary, but In Concert offers a lot more than that. The surprises include vignettes in blues and gospel, and, most notably, ...
Joan Baez's second album, recorded when she was 20 years old, is a hearty helping of folk masterpieces that give ample evidence to exactly how she was established as a leader of the contemporary folk scene of the day. The material chosen is truly exceptional, from the beautifully stark British ballad "The Trees They Do Grow High" to the tragic ...
For many years, this 13-song collection was the best introduction to Peter, Paul & Mary that one could find. Not only did it contain all of the trio's hits, but it was also, until 2005's Warner/Rhino compilation The Very Best of Peter, Paul & Mary, the closest thing to a cross-section of the group's sound that existed. From the acoustic folk sound ...
The Rankin/Bass animagic film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared on December 6, 1964. Since then, it has become the longest-running of all holiday TV specials (with, we hope, no end in sight). It's fitting that the grandfather of all Christmas specials features Burl Ives, still remembered warmly by millions as the voice behind the film ...
Greatest Hits collects 12 tracks recorded during the Kingston Trio's tenure with Capitol Records in the '50s and '60s, including the original versions of "Tom Dooley," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" "A Worried Man," and "Scotch and Soda." This collection is a good bargain for the budget-conscious. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide
Pete Seeger is the sort of person who has become the stuff of legend for all the best reasons. As a musicologist, he's been a passionate archivist of folk songs of all sorts from around the world for most of his life, and thousands of people (perhaps millions) would not have heard songs such as "Goodnight Irene," "This Land Is Your Land" and ...
Originally released in 1952 as a quasi-legal set of three double LPs and reissued several times since (with varying cover art), Anthology of American Folk Music could well be the most influential document of the '50s folk revival. Many of the recordings that appeared on it had languished in obscurity for 20 years, and it proved a revelation to a ...
RCA's Spirituals, a 1999 release by the legendary contralto, is a reissue of a 1956 album, with the addition of nine earlier recordings. It is an excellent compilation of 30 spirituals which displays the rich, expressive, dignified voice of the great Marian Anderson. Usually accompanied only by her longtime pianist Franz Rupp, the album is a ...
Including four new tracks, the two-disc set Around the Campfire is an excellent overview of Peter, Paul & Mary's career as it nears the four-decade mark. As indicated by the title, the focus of the collection is to shine a spotlight on songs that express ideals of community, tunes commonly sung in schools and churches as well as at more intimate ...
After leaving their longtime label home at Warner Bros. Records following the 1978 LP Reunion, Peter, Paul & Mary went the independent, self-releasing route before signing to start-up company Gold Castle for 1986's No Easy to Walk to Freedom. Two albums later, Gold Castle had gone belly up, and the trio returned to Warner on a one-off basis for ...
This is an excellent double-disc compilation of this group's more directly folk-related work from the mid 50s to the mid 60s. Note, however, that these are not the original Weavers recordings of their hits. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
You'd think the last word in Woody Guthrie reissues would have appeared before this. After all, the legendary folksinger recorded most of his best work nearly 60 years before this was released, and the bulk of it has been regularly reissued in fine collections on Folkways, Rounder, and other labels. So this CD is as surprising as it is welcome. ...
Combining acoustic bluegrass with traditional Appalachian melodies (and tossing one contemporary tune, Paul Simon's "The Boxer," into the mix), Roses in the Snow ranks among Emmylou Harris' riskiest -- and most satisfying -- gambits. [The 2002 reissue features two bonus tracks, "You're Gonna Change" and "Root Like a Rose."] ~ Jason Ankeny, All ...
Some of the last songs written and recorded by Woody Guthrie were his children's songs. Their strength, shown in Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child, is an unusually strong identification with actually being a child, in all its simplicity and charm, along with the ability to win over listeners. Good examples here are "Rattle My Rattle" and "I ...
The 2001 film Songcatcher told a semi-fictional story of a field musicologist who "discovers" authentic English and Scottish folk ballads being sung by people in the Appalachian region of the United States. The film (along with another popular film of the time) kindled interest in the old-timey music spotlighted in the movies, and due to popular ...
Yorkshire singer/songwriter Kate Rusby has been quietly resurrecting English folk music for the last ten years with a grace, wit, and reverence that others have attempted yet failed to achieve. 2004's Underneath the Stars was a triumph of contemporary music both new and borrowed, an acoustic symphony of brass, guitars, and Rusby's mesmerizing ...
While bluegrass samplers are by no means rare, it's unusual to encounter one as well thought-out as this generous (and mid-priced) package from Smithsonian Folkways, the folk label known more for its ethnomusicological field recordings than its bluegrass albums. Cynics will point out that this collection comes hot on the heels of the success of ...
In 1995, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor joined forces on Appalachia Waltz, the first of a series of Sony Classical albums celebrating the varied musical textures of Americana. Over the course of six years, several albums were cut, among them Short Trip Home, Liberty!, Uncommon Ritual, and Midnight on the Water, in addition to the Grammy ...
From the time of its inception in the middle of the 20th century, the Folkways label recorded plenty of traditional folk music from the Southern Appalachians. This well-chosen collection, oriented mostly though not totally toward tracks with vocals, has a couple of dozen examples from the Folkways catalog. Though it's not always totally clear when ...
By late 1965, most members of the folk community were feeling the pressure of a changing music world -- between presence of folk-rock bands like the Byrds and newer outfits like the Beau Brummels and the Leaves coming up, not to mention Bob Dylan himself going electric, they were now competing against some high-wattage (in the most literal sense) ...
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