My Dusty Road

Last updated
My Dusty Road
My Dusty Road.jpg
Compilation album by
Released2009
Recorded1944
Genre Folk/Americana
Label Rounder Records
Producer Moses Asch and Herbert Harris for Stinson Records, reissue producers: Scott Billington, Michael Creamer, and Bill Nowlin

My Dusty Road is a 4 CD box set of Woody Guthrie music containing 54 tracks and a book. [1] It is a collection of the newly discovered Stinson master discs. It was released by Rounder Records in 2009.

Contents

Discovering the Stinson Masters

According to the album liner notes by Ed Cray and Bill Nowlin, the master discs were housed in the basement of the Brooklyn apartment of Lucia Sutera.

In June 2003, Boston music manager Micheal Creamer was informed by Jim Farrow that he had made contact with Mrs. Sutera, who had inherited a collection of recording masters from her friend Irene Harris.

Irene Harris died of a heart attack in 1999; she was the wife of Robert Harris, the son of the founder of Stinson records, Herbert Harris. Harris had founded Stinson records in 1939 and during the 1940s, he had been in partnership with Moses Asch, the founder of Folkways Records in New York City. During World War II, Stinson had helped Asch to procure shellac, the raw material for manufacturing 78 rpm records which was in short supply due to wartime restrictions. [2] [3]

Ultimately, the recordings of artists like Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly and The Almanac Singers were released under three different labels: Asch, Stinson and Disc.

When Moses Asch went bankrupt in 1947 with the Disc label, some master discs fell to Harris as part of the bankruptcy settlement. [4]

In the years later Asch released the recordings of his artists under the Label Folkways. He also reissued several of the older recordings on his new label. But he could not use the Master discs which were released here for the first time. [5]

Creating the Woody Guthrie recordings

The recordings represented in these Box were made in April and May 1944 in New York City. They were cut partly on aluminum discs or glass masters. The masters were never released on any Folkways or Smithsonian Folkways album. They have clearer sound than older compilations of Guthrie's recordings of that time.

The Box consists of 4 CDs:

  1. Woody's "Greatest" Hits
  2. Woody's Roots
  3. Woody the Agitator
  4. Woody, Cisco, and Sonny Jam the Blues, Hollers, and Dances

Track lists

TrackTitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentTime
Woody's "Greatest" Hits
01. This Land Is Your Land Master Ma 1141944-04Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:47
02.Going Down The Road (I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way)Master Ma 711April 24, 1944Woody Guthrie mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:59
03.Talking SailorMaster Ma 20April 25, 1944Woody Guthrie guitar3:09
04.Philadelphia LawyerMaster Ma 36April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie guitar2:35
05.Hard Travelin'Master Ma 689Woody Guthrie mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:41
06.Jesus ChristMaster Ma 1351944-04Woody Guthrie vocal and guitar2:44
07.The Sinking of the Reuben JamesMaster Ma 80Woody Guthrie vocal and guitar3:28
08. Pretty Boy Floyd Master Ma 57Woody Guthrie vocal and guitar3:09
09. Grand Coulee Dam Master Ma 17Woody Guthrie vocal and guitar2:12
10.Nine Hundred MilesMaster Ma 702April 24. 1944Woody Guthrie mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:54
11.Going Down The Road (I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way)Master Ma 44Woody Guthrie guitar, Cisco Houston guitar3:00
12.My Daddy (Flies a Ship in the Sky)Master Ma 14April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie guitar2:36
13.Bad ReputationMaster Ma 111Woody Guthrie vocal and guitar2:50
Woody's Roots
01. Poor Boy Master Ma 50Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:29
02. Worried Man Blues Master Ma 47Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:04
03.A Picture from Life's Other SideMaster Ma 82Woody Guthrie vocals and mandolin, Cisco Houston Guitar and harmony vocal3:08
04. The Buffalo Skinners Master 902Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:23
05. Hard, Ain't it Hard Master LM 1April 16, 1944Woody Guthrie vocals and mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar2:43
06. Stewball Master Ma 16April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:30
07. Stackolee Master Ma 68Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:04
08. Gypsy Davy Master Ma 139Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:52
09.Little Darling Pal of MineMaster Ma 38Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar, Cisco Houston guitar2:57
10. What did the Deep Sea say? Master Ma 48April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie vocals and mandolin, Cisco Houston Guitar and harmony vocal3:02
11.Chisholm TrailMaster Ma 29April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie vocals, Cisco Houston Guitar2:39
12.Put My Little Shoes AwayMaster Ma 81April 24, 1944Woody Guthrie mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:52
13. Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone Master Ma 83Woody Guthrie mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar2:39
14. John Henry Master Ma 10April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie mandolin and vocals, Cisco Houston guitar and vocals2:39
Woody The Agitator
01.I'm Gonna Join That One Big Union (you Gotta Go Down and Join the Union)Master Ma 9April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:32
02.Hangknot, SlipknotMaster Ma 115Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:35
03.Gonna Roll the Union OnMaster Ma 118April 1944Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:40
04.Ludlow MassacreMaster 902Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:35
05.Sally Don't You GrieveMaster Ma 34April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:26
06.The Ballad of Harriet Tubman, Part 1Master 905Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:24
07.The Ballad of Harriet Tubman, Part 2Master 904Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:12
08.Tear The Fascists DownMaster Ma 13Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:09
09.Yanks Go Marching InMaster Ma 2April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie vocals and Mandolin, Cicso Houston guitar and harmony vocals2:45
10.You Can Hear My Whistle BlowMaster Ma 35Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:26
11.Union Burying GroundMaster Ma 77Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar3:08
12.You Gotta Go Down and Join the UnionMaster Ma 46Woody Guthrie vocals and guitar2:42
Woody, Cisco, And Sonny Jam The Blues, Hollers, And Dances
01.Train BreakdownMaster Ma 103Woody Guthrie guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:34
02.Do You Ever Think Of Me? (aka At My Window)Master Ma 89Woody Guthrie guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals3:08
03.Guitar RagMaster Ma 101Woody Guthrie guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:22
04.Square Dance MedleyMaster 1225Woody Guthrie mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica3:53
05.Guitar BreakdownMaster Ma 25Woody Guthrie guitar, Cisco Houston guitar2:23
06.Raincrow BillMaster 699Woody Guthrie guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:39
07. Ain't Nobody's Business Master Ma 42April 19, 1944Woody Guthrie mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar, Sonny Terry harmonica2:45
08.Goodbye to My StepstoneMaster MA 94April 25, 1944Woody Guthrie Vocals and Mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals, Sonny Terry harmonica2:55
09. Ezekiel Saw the Wheel Master Ma 88Woody Guthrie Vocals and Mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals, Sonny Terry harmonica2:45
10.Bile Them Cabbage DownMaster Ma 140Woody Guthrie Vocals and Fiddle, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals, Sonny Terry harmonica2:49
11.Danville GirlMaster Ma 1226Woody Guthrie Vocals and guitar, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals2:45
12.Guitar BluesMaster 675April 20, 1944Woody Guthrie guitar, Cisco Houston guitar2:58
13.Brown's Ferry BluesMaster Ma 98April 25, 1944Woody Guthrie Vocals and mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals, Sonny Terry harmonica2:48
14.More Pretty Gals than OneMaster LA-2April 16, 1944Woody Guthrie Vocals and mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals2:19
15.Sonny's FlightMaster Ma 705Woody Guthrie Vocals and mandolin, Cisco Houston guitar and harmony vocals2:57

Footnotes

  1. "The Woody Guthrie Store: My Dusty Road – CD Box set". Woodyguthrie.org. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  2. Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Band 1, edited by Frank Hoffman, 2004, ISBN   0-203-48427-4
  3. Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, Jeff Place, p.49, 2015
  4. "Re: [ARSCLIST] J Folksay records label vs. Stinson records". Cool.conservation-us.org. 2006-08-11. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  5. "Smithsonian Folkways - A Sound Legacy : 20 Years of Folkways Records at the Smithsonian". Folkways.si.edu. 1987-02-28. Retrieved 2015-04-07.

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References