American Favorite Ballads, Vols. 1-5

by Pete Seeger

Overview

In his 60-some years as a public performer, Pete Seeger has left an indelible footprint on popular music. As a member of the Almanac Singers in the '40s and the Weavers a decade later, Seeger helped midwife the urban folk boom of the '60s. His comfortable voice and graceful banjo style give his many compositions and folk adaptations an easy and elegant dignity, and on the political front, well, he's been a kind of canary in the coal mine for decades, speaking (and singing) out on any number of vital issues. This wonderful five-disc set (each disc comes with its own booklet) shows Seeger at his calm, plainspoken best as he runs through the American folk songbook accompanied only by guitar or banjo. The discs were originally released by Moses Asch's Folkways Records as individual LPs between 1957 and 1962 (in all, Seeger recorded some 40 albums for Folkways between 1950 and 1964), and Smithsonian Folkways reshuffled and reissued them as stand-alone CDs in the digital era, but put together like this, they make a grand and sweeping survey of the songs America has been singing for a century or two, all filtered through Seeger's wise, politically aware perspective. It adds up to some six hours of music, history, and memories, a fine testament to Seeger, Asch, Folkways, and the grand music of the American people. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	04/21/2009
Label:	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
UPC:	0093074015520
Rank:	87245

Tracks

Disc 1

1. John Henry [I'm Gonna Die with a Hammer in My Hand] [John Henry Blues] [Steel Driving Man] [Death of John Henry]
2. Shenandoah [the Rolling River] [the Wide Missouri]
3. Blue-Tailed Fly (Jimmie Crack Corn)
4. Black Girl [in the Pines] [Where Did You Sleep Last Night?]
5. Skip to My Lou
6. The Big Rock Candy Mountain
7. Clementine [Darling Clementine] [My Darling Clementine] [Oh, My Darling Clementine]
8. Yankee Doodle
9. Home on the Range
10. John Brown's Body
11. Goodnight, Irene [Irene, Goodnight]
12. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
13. Oh, Susanna
14. Wayfaring Stranger [the Wayfaring Pilgrim] [I'm a Poor Wayfaring Stranger] [Over Jordan] [Poor Wayfaring Stranger]
15. Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep [Mary, Don't You Weep]
16. Down in the Valley [Birmingham Jail] [Little Willie] [Bird in a Cage]
17. The Wabash Cannon Ball
18. On Top of Old Smoky
19. Frankie and Johnny [Frankie] [Frankie and Albert] [Frankie Baker] [Little Frankie] [Frankie's Gamblin' Man]
20. I Ride an Old Paint
21. The Wreck of the Old 97
22. Wagoner's Lad [My Horses Ain't Hungry] [Drunken Hiccups] [Lovin' Nancy] [Fare You Well, Polly]
23. Old Dan Tucker
24. I've Been Working on the Railroad [Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah] [Dinah] [Levee Song] [Workin' on the Line] [the
25. Cielito Lindo
26. So Long, It's Been Good to Know You (Dusty Old Dust)
27. America the Beautiful
28. This Land Is Your Land

Disc 2

29. Barbara Allen [Barb'ry Ellen] [Barbara Ellen]
30. Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn [A Lazy Farmer Boy] [Lazy Man] [the Young Man Who Wouldn't Raise Corn]
31. Midnight Special
32. House of the Rising Sun [Rising Sun Blues] [Rounder's Luck]
33. Careless Love [Careless Blues] [Loveless Love] [Reckless Love]
34. Oh, What a Beautiful City
35. Poor Boy [Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot (Or Feet)?] [Green Valley Waltz] [Storms Are on the Ocean]
36. Sally Ann [Sandy Land]
37. The Riddle Song [I Gave My Love a Cherry] [Captain Walker's Courtship]
38. Go Tell Aunt Rhody [the Old Gray Goose] [the Old Grey Goose Is Dead] [Go Tell Aunt Tabby] [Go Tell Aunt Nancy]
39. The Water Is Wide [Waly, Waly] [the Brisk Young Lover] [Down in the Meadow]
40. The Fox [the Fox and His Wife] [the Fox and the Grey Goose] [Old Miss Flipper Flopper]
41. The Keeper and the Doe [the Keeper] [Hey Down, Hoe Down]
42. Pretty Polly [the Gosport Tragedy] [the Cruel Ship's Carpenter] [the Ship Carpenter] [the Ghost Ship]
43. Jesse James [the Death of Jesse James] [the Life and Death of Jesse James]
44. Stagolee [Stackolee] [Stagger Lee] [Stack Lee]
45. Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair [Black, Black, Black]
46. Camptown Races [Gwine to Run All Night]
47. Blow the Man Down
48. Froggie Went a Courtin' [the Frog and Mouse] [the Frog He Would a Wooing Go] [the Frog's Courtship] [King Kong Kitchie K
49. I Had a Rooster (Barnyard Song) [the Barnyard Song] [My Little Rooster] [I Love My Rooster] [Green Berry Tree]
50. Putting on the Style
51. The Farmer's Curst Wife [the Farmer's Old Wife] [the Devil and the Farmer's Wife] [the Old Lady and the Devil]
52. Hard Travelin'
53. Alabama Bound [Don't You Leave Me Here]
54. Wimoweh [the Lion Sleeps Tonight]
55. Dink's Song [Dink's Blues] [Nora's Dove] [Fare Thee Well]

Disc 3

56. Gypsy Davy [Raggle-Taggle Gypsies] [the Gypsy Laddie] [Whistling Gypsy] [Black Jack Davy (Davie)]
57. Deep Blue Sea
58. New River Train [Darlin'] [I'll Be on That New Road Someday] [Green River Train] [Riding on That New River Train]
59. St. James Hospital [the Unfortunate Rake] [Gambler's Blues] [Streets of Laredo]
60. E-Ri-E Canal [Erie Canal] [the E-Ri-E Was Rising] [the Canal Boat Song]
61. St. Louis Blues
62. Boll Weevil [Boll Weevil Song] [Boll Weevil Blues] [Mississippi Boweavil Blues] [Boll Weevil and Farmer] [Looking for a
63. The Girl I Left Behind [Brighton Camp] [Regimental Song of the 7th Infantry] [the Gal I Left Behind Me] [That Pretty Little
64. When I First Came to This Land
65. The Titanic [When That Great Ship Went Down] [the Sinking of the Titanic] [the Great Titanic]
66. El-A-Noy [Illinois] [the Plains of Illinois] [the State of Illinois] [State of El-A-Noy]
67. Lady of Carlysle [in Carlysle There Lived a Lady] [the Bold Lieutenant] [Down in Carlisle]
68. My Good Man [My Good Old Man] [Three Nights Drunk] [Four Nights Drunk] [Seven Nights Drunk] [Drunkard's Sp
69. Golden Vanity [the Lowlands Low] [the Lonesome Sea Ballad] [the Sweet Trinity]
70. Ain't It a Shame [Ain't Dat a Shame] [Bill Bailey, Ain't That a Shame]
71. Swanee River [Way Down Upon the Swanee River]
72. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child [Motherless Child]
73. The Boys from County Mayo [Shamrock]
74. No Irish Need Apply
75. Paddy Works on the Railroad [Fillimeeooreay] [Pat Works on the Railway] [Paddy Works on the Railway] [Paddy on the Railw
76. Arkansas Traveler [Arkansaw Traveler] [the Original Arkansas Traveler]
77. When I Was Single [When I Was Single, My Pockets Would Jingle] [I Wish I Was Single Again] [Single Girl] [the Drunkard's
78. Wond'rous Love
79. Ground Hog [Groun' Hog] [Old Ground Hog]
80. Old Blue [Go on Blue] [Old Dog Blue]
81. She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
82. Erie Canal [My Gal Sal] [Low Bridge] [Everybody Down] [Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal] [Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal

Disc 4

83. Banks of the Ohio [the Banks of the O. B. D.] [Down Beside the Ohio] [Down on the Banks of the Ohio] [Miss Julie]
84. You Are My Sunshine
85. Hallelujah, I'm a Bum [Hallelujah, Bum Again] [Hallelujah on the Bum]
86. The Foggy Dew [the Foggy, Foggy Dew] [the Bugaboo]
87. Molly Malone [in Dublin's Fair City]
88. Old Maid's Song [Take Me out of Pity] [Don't Let Me Die an Old Maid] [the Black Chimney Sweeper]
89. Oh, How He Lied [the Deceiver] [He Told Her He Loved Her] [the Villain and the Maiden]
90. Where the Old Allegheny and the Monongahela Flow
91. Leatherwing Bat [the Bird Song] [the Birds' Courting Song] [the Birds' Conversation]
92. Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier [Shule Aroon] [Shule Agrah] [Buttermilk Hill]
93. Farther Along
94. Go Down, Moses
95. All My Trials
96. Monsieur Banjo [Michie Banjo] [Mister Banjo] [Mister Banjo - Look at the Dandy]
97. No More Auction Block [Many Thousand Go]
98. Hole in the Bucket [the Bucket Song] [Jug Hot en Loch, Der] [Leiwer Heindrich]
99. What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor [the Drunken Sailor] (Early in the Morning) [Hooray an' Up She Rises]
100. Army Life [Gee, But I Want to Go Home] [I Don't Want No More Army]
101. Blue Mountain Lake [the Bells of Long Lake] [Come All Ye Good Fellers]
102. Lady Margaret [Lady Margaret and Sweet William] [Fair Margaret and Sweet William] [Fair Margaret's Misfortune]
103. John Hardy [Johnny Hard] [John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man] [Johnny Harty]
104. Johnson [the Three Butchers] [the Two Butchers] [Young Butcher Boy]
105. John Riley [Pretty Fair Maid] [the Broken Token] [as I Walked out Some Summer's Morning]
106. Washer Lad [Four Pence a Day]
107. Talking Blues [the Original Talking Blues]
108. Lolly Too Dum [the Fit Comes on Me Now] [I Must and I Will Get Married Now]
109. T. B. Blues
110. Summertime [Summertime an' the Livin' Is Easy]

Disc 5

111. Trail to Mexico [Following the Cow Trail]
112. Red River Valley
113. Old Joe Clark [Joe Clarke] [Ole Joe Clark]
114. St. James Infirmary [the Unfortunate Rake] [St. James Hospital] [Gambler's Blues] [Those Gambler's Blues]
115. Green County Bachelor [Starving to Death on My Government Claim] [Lane County Bachelor]
116. Ox Driver's Song [Ox Driving Song-Pop My Whip]
117. Buffalo Gals
118. Joe Bowers [the Disappointment of Joe Bowers] [When I Struck Muskoka]
119. Texian Boys
120. My Sweetheart Is a Mule in the Mines
121. Johnny Gray [Peter Gray] [Ballad of Peter Gray] [Blow Ye Winds of Morning]
122. Cowboy Yodel
123. Sioux Indians
124. Ida Red
125. Holler
126. Cumberland Gap
127. Wake Up, Jacob [Cowboy's Gettin'-Up Holler] [Morning Grub Holler]
128. Sweet Betsy from Pike [Betsy from Pike]
129. Buffalo Skinners [the Buffalo Range] [the Range of the Buffalo] [Boggy Creek]
130. Whiskey, Rye Whiskey [Jack O'Diamonds] [Clinch Mountain]
131. Stewball [Skewball] [Molly and Tenbrooks] [Stuball]
132. Whoopie Ti-Yi-Yo, Get Along, Little Dogies [Git Along, Little Dogies]
133. Strawberry Roan
134. Jay Gould's Daughter [Kassie Jones]
135. Play-Party
136. I Never Will Marry [the Damsel's Lament] [Down by the Sea-Shore] [One Day as I Rambled]
137. Riflemen of Bennington [the Bennington Riflemen]
138. Kingdom Coming (Year of Jubilo) [the Year of Jubilo] [Jubilo] [Lincoln's Gunboats]
139. Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase [Bear Hunt] [Bear Chase]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pete Seeger   Primary Artist,Banjo,Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (12 String)

Technical Credits

Amy Schriefer   Program Assistant
Kristen Fernekes   Production Coordination
Texas Gladden   Arranger
Daniel Sheehy   Production Supervisor
Stephanie Smith   Archivist
S. Foster   Composer
Marion Hicks   Arranger
Huddie Ledbetter   Arranger,Composer
Ronnie Gilbert   Composer
Q. Mendoza   Composer
Ronnie Simpkins   Audio Supervisor
Moses Asch   Original Engineering
Guy Logsdon   Annotation,Liner Notes,Introduction,Compilation Producer
Woody Guthrie   Composer
George Wright   Composer
Daniel Decatur Emmett   Composer
Henry Clay Work   Composer
Henry Whitter   Composer
Thomas S. Allen   Composer
Jimmie Davis   Composer
D.A. Sonneborn   Production Supervisor
Jean-Jacques Rousseau   Arranger
Traditional   Composer
J. Rodgers   Composer
John Stone   Composer
Cortez   Composer
Curley Fletcher   Composer
Stephen Foster   Composer
Uncle Dave Macon   Composer
W.C. Handy   Composer
George Gershwin   Composer
Ira Gershwin   Composer
Charles Mitchell   Composer
DuBose Heyward   Composer
John A. Lomax   Arranger,Adaptation
Samuel A. Ward   Composer
Julia Ward Howe   Composer
Pete Seeger   Composer,Liner Notes
Pete Reiniger   Mastering,Sound Supervision
Fred Hellerman   Composer
Charles W. Noell   Composer
John Allison   Composer
Jeff Place   Archivist,Annotation,Liner Notes,Introduction,Compilation Producer
John Jacob Niles   Arranger
Lee Hays   Composer
Oscar Brand   Composer,Translation
Harry McClintock   Composer
Alexander Means   Composer
B. Higley   Composer
C. Bouchillion   Composer
D. E. Kelley   Composer
F. J. Lewey   Composer
G. Rice   Composer
John F. Poole   Composer
M. Willis   Composer
P. Montrose   Composer
W. Willis   Composer
Solomon Linda   Composer
Judy Barlas   Coordination
Katharine Lee Bates   Composer
Brewster M. Higley   Composer
Gitz Rice   Composer
Jacob Love   Editing,Editorial Assistant
Mary Monseur   Production Coordination
Carla Borden   Editing,Editorial Assistant
David Gahr   Cover Photo,Photography
Peter Seitel   Editing,Editorial Assistant
Norman van der Sluys   Assistant,Audio Engineer