Woody Guthrie and Songs of My Oklahoma Home (2000)

About this title: Oklahoma-born James Talley gives stirring accounts of most of the 21 Woody Guthrie songs on this 70-minute CD. Richard Hardy's mandolin adds considerable color to the timbre of these well-arranged recordings, which are dominated by Talley's suitably emotive and pleasing voice. Talley evidently identifies deeply with much of this repertory and invests a lot of himself in each piece, and the backup singing melds nicely with his lead vocals. The recording quality is exceptionally good, bringing out the delicate timbre of the playing, and only the availability of Guthrie's versions (and those by ... read more

Tracks:

1. Belle Starr [Guthrie]
2. Dust Pneumonia Blues [Guthrie]
3. East Texas Red [Guthrie]
4. Do-Re-Mi [Guthrie]
5. Deportee [Guthrie]
6. Vigilante Man [Guthrie]
7. I Ain't Got No Home [Guthrie]
8. Roll on, Columbia [Guthrie]
9. Ladies Auxiliary [Guthrie]
10. Gypsy Davy [Guthrie]
11. Red Wing [Talley]
12. Pretty Boy Floyd [Guthrie]
13. Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues [Guthrie]
14. More Pretty Gals Than One/Poor Boy [Guthrie]
15. Dust Bowl Refugee [Guthrie]
16. Pastures of Plenty [Guthrie]
17. Oklahoma Hills [Guthrie/Guthrie]
18. Grand Coulee Dam [Guthrie]
19. So Long (It's Been Good to Know Yuh) [Guthrie]
20. The Sinking of the Reuben James [Guthrie]
21. This Land Is Your Land [Guthrie]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.