Woody was born in 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma and started on his ramblin’ ways at an early age.  He moved from Pampa, Texas to California to New York City; drifting through the rest of America in between.  The musical impact of Guthrie is immeasurable to modern folk music as well as popular music as a whole.  Woody’s music in my opinion is wildly under appreciated, so I hope I can help turn a few people on to it.  His music brims with American authenticity and down to earth charm.  Guthrie in my mind served as a very important bridge between the golden age of real American folk music and the very influential Greenwich Village based NY Folk Movement of the 1960s.  Not to mention the specific singer songwriters that he influenced over the years which include, but are not limited to Pete Seeger, Rambling Jack Elliott, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan and Joe Strummer.

Now that I’ve read Woody’s memoir, seen the motion picture based on it, listened to almost all of his recorded works, seen both major documentaries, I think I can say I know quite a bit about the man.  I’m not equipped to give you the whole story, but I have put together a quick list of surprising facts about the man that may just prompt you to dig further.

Interesting Facts:

• When Woody moved to NY he hooked up with America’s musical elite, including Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Sonny Terry, Josh White, and Brownie McGee.  I think its important to mention that this group was integrated which was unusual for that time even for musicians.
• Most may be surprised to find out Woody had some interesting political connections.  In California Woody found Communism to be sympathetic to his views on labor rights and the poor.  Woody also wrote a column called “Woody Sez” for a Communist newspaper.  Granted this was before the second red scare (1947 – 1957) so the worlds views of Communism was much different.
• Woody’s life and family was plagued by fire.  His mother started his first family home on fire, his sister was killed in a fire, and his mother tried to set his father on fire.  Later in his life his daughter life would also claimed by fire.
• Woody’s mother was very troubled and was put in an insane asylum early on in his life.  Later on Woody would find out that she suffered from Huntingtons disease and it would be his fear that he too would develop the symptoms.  Sometime in the late 1940s Woody started to show the signs and eventually died from complications of the disease.
• Woody married 3 times, the third was with a woman much younger than him named Anneke who he met on one of his many hobo journeys away from his family in NY.
• In one strange turn of events, Woody was sent to a mental hospital in New Jersey and they just assumed he was making the story up about the fact that he was a famous folk singer.

Woody’s recordings are difficult to navigate.  Most of what you will find available now are second rate budget compilations and a handful of quality legitimate releases.  The transfer of his music over the years has been a slow process from the now defunct formats over to today’s digital formats.  Below I have provided a guide to the highlights of Woody’s recorded output as it is available today with notes.

• Dust Bowl Ballads
  – In 1940 Woody had a professional breakthrough when he was commissioned by RCA Victor to write some dust bowl songs on the heels of the success of the film version of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.  This release contains the songs from both volumes of Woody’s original RCA Victor releases.

• Library of Congress Recordings, Vols. 1-3
  – An interesting listen as you hear Alan Lomax interview Woody as he tells his story in his own words.  It is unfortunate that the dialog is not tracked out from the songs though which makes it un-listenable as an album.  Recorded in 1941.

• Columbia River Collection
  – Contains all the songs that the Bonneville Power Administration commissioned Woody to record for a film promoting the Grand Coulee Dam being built on the Columbia River in Oregon.  This material was recorded in 1941.

• Almanac Singers:  Their Complete General Recordings
  – A collection that compiles all of the Almanac Singers recordings with General Records in 1941.  Although you can find two other albums of material from The Almanacs this material is the only that features Woody Guthrie in the recordings.  He sings only 5 songs but is there to accompany for the rest of the material.

• The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1-4
  - This 4 disc box set is compiled from the wealth of material that Woody recorded between 1944 and 1947 for Folkways record label owner Moses Asch.  The discs organize Woody’s songs into themes, the first volume being a sort of best of collection, Volume two being a set of mainly folk and country standards, Volume 3 is a collection of topical/political songs, and fourth volume is made up of cowboy/western songs.

• My Dusty Road
  Boxset – Another stash of songs that were recorded in the mid 1940s this time for Moses Asch and Herbert Harris that were recently recovered in an old woman’s basement.  By far the best collection of Woody’s songs available today – the song selection is great, and everything sounds clear as it has all been restored from the pristine masters.  Similar to the Asch Recordings boxset each disc has a loose theme and are entitled as follows:  Disc one – Woody’s Greatest Hits, Disc two – Woody’s Roots, Disc three – Woody The Agitator, and Disc four – Woody, Cisco and Sonny Jam the Blues, Hollers, and Dances.

• Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti – Unfortunately not a very good record. The album is a bit sloppy and suffers from Woody’s freewheelin’ verse, most of which just doesn’t quite fit.  It could however be called the first concept album having been recorded between 1946 and 1947 about two Italian radicals who were executed in America in 1927.

• Nursery Days & Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child – These two volumes of kids songs were released by Smithsonian Folkways long after Woody wrote and recorded these songs in 1947.  Written during Woody’s last burst of creativity before he lost control of himself due to his Huntingtons.

Shockingly, what you will not find is one solid compilation out there that showcases all of Woody’s best songs.  Both boxsets that are available have the first disc which is devoted to giving you a version of Woody’s “Greatest Hits” but I would say both fall short, as do all the budget compilations.  What the compilers have to contend with of course is a very large body of work that spans from around 1940 to around 1947 in which Guthrie recorded for many different labels.  What I have put together below is my version of Woody’s Greatest songs which span that whole period and pull from every label.  I even pulled from his work with the Almanac Singers although the only thing I ended up including was their version of the Woody Guthrie penned songs “Union Maid”, which Guthrie does not actually appear.  I hope you enjoy it, as it took me a lot of time and contained a lot of difficult choices.  (If you can not see the embedded playlist below, follow this link.)

Take a moment to realize the huge influence this man has had on Rock N Roll and popular music as a whole.  In 1962 The Rolling Stones formed in England taking their name from his 1950 song “Rollin’ Stone”.  In 1967 Jann Wenner created Rolling Stone Magazine after that same song.  Along the way he has influenced countless British and American Rock & Blues musicians, not to mention his direct involvement in turning up the volume of blues with the introduction of electronically amplified instruments.

When you think of Muddy Waters you probably think of his Chess Records hits.  Most people don’t realize that Muddy first recording was in 1941 while living on cotton farm in Mississippi way before the guitar had been amplified electronically – he was playing good old acoustic country blues from the Mississippi Delta.  He was recorded by none other than Alan Lomax (& John Work III) the famous American field recordist for the Library of Congress.  Once Muddy moved to Chicago in the mid 40s his first records were with the Chess brothers original record label, Aristocrat records.  Muddy didn’t officially record for Chess Records until 1950 when the label was born.  From 1950 – 1975 Muddy records many sides and albums for Chess but the majority of his best songs come from the years 50′ – 58′.  After Chess was sold to a few different companies in the 70s Muddy recorded a few albums for CBS/Sony, most notable are Hard Again and I’m Ready.

I put together a playlist of my favorite Muddy Waters tracks spanning his whole career.  Keep in mind you will be unable to find an official release that compiles all his best songs spanning his whole career because of licensing rights.  The best compilation of Muddy’s overlooked original Lomax recording is called The Complete Plantation Recordings.  The best career retrospective compilation (believe me there are many) that I could find is called The Anthology released in 2001 by MCA Records.  This 2 CD set features Muddy’s best tracks from his Aristocrat recording in the late 40s and all his best stuff from his many years at Chess Records.  Lastly a few songs from his best CBS/Sony recordings which I mentioned above are also included.

If you don’t see the embedded playlist below, follow this link.

I don’t think I could overstate the importance of Hank Williams to the music of the past and present.  His material is absolutely timeless and fills a space in musical history between Jazz/Blues and the beginnings of Rock n’ Roll.  Not to mention the fact that he was one of the original tragic figures in music, living a life of hard drinkin’ and misery.  Hank Williams burned out way before Hendrix, Joplin, or other countless stars.

I just finished reading a biography on Hank Williams and although the book wasn’t great, it was enjoyable and enlightened me to quite a few things I did not know about Country Music’s greatest star.

Here are some interesting facts.

1.  Hanks real name was Hiram King Williams.

2.  At age eleven Williams began learning to play and sing the blues from an old Blues man by the name of Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne.  Sadly there are no known recordings of Payne and he died and was buried in an unmarked grave in the late 30’s.

3.  The women in Hank’s life were forces to be reckoned with.  First of all you had his mother Lillie who brought him up by herself after his father left at an early age.  In 1944 Hank married another tough and uncompromising woman by the name of Audrey.

4.  Although Williams wrote most of his own material he definitely had help.  In 1946 Hank struck up a professional relationship with a Nashville’s own Tin Pan Alley songwriter by the name of Fred Rose.  Hank came up with the basics and then Fred would edit the lyrics and tune up the music.  He also took care of the business side including the recording and relations with the record company.

5.  During the last few years of his career, Williams recorded music under the pseudonym “Luke the Drifter”.  The material was what he called “Recitations” but could more clearly be described as religious themed stories of morality.

6.  In 1952 after he was divorced from his first wife Audrey, he decided to insert himself into Country Musics famous Carter family.  For a short while he even courted one of the Carter daughters and almost accidentally shot June Carter (yes, June Carter – wife of Johnny Cash) during an argument with Audrey his first wife.

7.  Hank died on the way to a New Years show on New Years Day 1953 in the back of his famous powder blue convertible.

I put together a list of my favorite Hank Williams songs.  If you do not see the embedded playlist below, follow this link.

1989 – 1996 was a period of creative and professional rebirth for Neil Young.  He was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll hall of fame in 1995 and enjoy a renewed popularity and critical acclaim.  He would also be connected by the media to the hottest new music buzz word/style as the Godfather of Grunge.  I have outlined the releases from this era below.  Please note what I deem to be the ESSENTIAL releases.

	1989 – Neil Young – Eldorado EP: Just 5 songs, 3 of which appear on his next release Freedom.  The first glimpses of Neil back on his game.
	1989 – Neil Young - Freedom: Neil’s best album since 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps.  This release is book ended by a live acoustic version and studio  version with full band of the great anthemic song “Rockin’ in the Free World”.  ESSENTIAL
	1990 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Ragged Glory: Neil reunites with the Horse and famed producer David Briggs for this album that proved that he and the Horse could still rock out.  I have always thought that the title of this record was the perfect descriptor for the bands particular brand of raw, unbridled rock n roll. ESSENTIAL
	1992 – Neil Young – Harvest Moon: This album was partly intended to be a sequel to one of Neil’s most popular albums Harvest, having roughly the same players and feel as the original.  It unfortunately doesn’t quite live up to it’s predecessor but it is a solid and consistent release.  ESSENTIAL
	1994 – Neil Young – Sleeps With Angels: Neil was creatively reinvigorated and he claims he was inspired by the tragic suicide of Kurt Cobain.  Sadly the albums release would precede another death, as David Briggs would die of lung cancer in 1995.  This was their last collaboration together.  The album features some of the most instrumentally and tonally diverse to come from the band.
	1995 – Neil Young – Mirror Ball: Instead of using Crazy Horse on this release he decided to enlist Pearl Jam and they were happy to back him.  Whatever your opinion of the band they are a tight rock band and they provided a great backdrop to some enjoyable songs on this release.  ESSENTIAL
	1996 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Broken Arrow: Along the same vibe as the previous two records.  After this record Neil would retreat from public life and go on a long hiatus.
Live Albums from this period:
	1991 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Arc/Weld: Weld is a great heavy set of Neil/Horse classics.  This conventional live album was also releases as a double disc set that included the bonus disc Arc which is a bit of an anomaly being it was a compilation of snippets of shapeless heavy distortion recorded during that tour.
	1993 – Neil Young – Unplugged: Famously preformed twice because Neil wasn’t happy with the first performance.  In fact he was so unhappy with it he paid for the first performance himself.  Although he was extremely sensitive about the decision to team up with MTV on this, he ends up putting out a compelling acoustic performance with some great acoustic versions of classics like Mr. Soul, Pocahontas, and Transformer Man.  ESSENTIAL

Here is a playlist I have put together featuring my favorites from this era.  If you can not see the playlist below, please follow this link.

This will be my last post on Neil Young… for at least awhile.  I will not be covering Neil’s music from 2000 on as I have found little interest in it outside of a few releases.