Folk Music U.S.A.: Volume One

Compiled by Harold Courlander With by Charles Edward Smith

Ethnic Folkways Library – FE 4530

Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1959
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Field Recording, Country, Cajun, Folk
[Tracklist]
A1 John Henry: Virgil Perkins and Jack Sims (4:10)
A2 Grizzly Bear: Negro Prison Camp Worksong (3:31)
A3 Blowing the Train: Percy Randolph (2:52)
A4 Six Thousand Miles from Nowhere: Snooks Eaglin (3:06)
A5 Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson (3:24)
A6 Amasee: Children's Ring Game Song: Unspecified (1:34)
B1 Spooky Drums: Baby Dodds (2:19)
B2 Black Jack Davy: Mary Jo Davis (3:09)
B3 Drunken Sailor: Unspecified (1:19)
B4 Ellen Smith: Pete Steele (1:38)
B5 Run, Run: Elizabeth Cotten (0:57)
B6 Mole in the Ground: Bascom Lamar Lunsford (2:49)
B7 Rolling River: Murph Gribble, John Lusk & Albert York (2:45)
C1 Allons Danser Colinda: Roy Brule (1:51)
C2 Sourwood Mountain: Hobart Smith (1:22)
C3 Diamond Joe: Cisco Houston (2:24)
C4 Siete Leguas: Peter Hurd (2:24)
C5 Matachines Dance: Unspecified (1:33)
C6 Moonlight Song: Unspecified (2:08)
D1 War Dance Song: Unspecified (1:28)
D2 Esta Navidad: Unspecified (3:06)
D3 Aguinaldo Cagueño: The "Trobador" De La Montana & the Puerto Rican Quartet (4:17)
D4 If We Never Meet Again: Children of Diamond Rural School, St. Croix, Virgin Island (0:55)
D5 Rocky Road: Alabama Sacred Harp Singers (2:43)
D6 Inviting-In Dance Song: Otis Ahkivigak (1:05)
[Credits]
Producer: Charles Edward Smith and Harold Courlander, Designer: Donald Clyne
[Notes]
This wide-ranging anthology of American folk music was compiled by noted folklorist Harold Courlander from recordings, many of them field recordings, made in the 1940s and ’50s. Almost all the performers on the collection—who include Cisco Houston, Elizabeth Cotten, and Snooks Eaglin—learned their music from oral tradition. Selections represent a broad spectrum of American folk music, from Puerto Rico to the north coast of Alaska. Extensive liner notes, written by Charles Edward Smith, delve into the characteristics of American folk music and provide detailed information, with lyrics, for each of the 25 selections.