Dust Bowl Ballads

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Dust Bowl Ballads
Studio album by Woody Guthrie
Released	July 1940
Recorded	April 26, 1940 & May 3, 1940
Genre	Folk
Length	45:44
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	R. P. Weatherald
Professional reviews
Rolling Stone link All Music Guide link
Woody Guthrie chronology
Library of Congress Recordings (1940) Dust Bowl Ballads (1940) The Columbia River Collection (1941)

Dust Bowl Ballads is an album by Woody Guthrie, recorded for Victor Records during Guthrie's time in New York City in 1940. It was Guthrie's first commercial recording and the most successful album he made.

The Dust Bowl Ballads was originally released as two three-disc collections of 78 rpm records. Twelve sides, including the double-sided "Tom Joad", were included in this release, but two of the thirteen songs, "Pretty Boy Floyd and "Dust Bowl Blues" were left out due to length. In 1964, during the American folk music revival of the 1950's and 1960's, a reissue including all tracks from the sessions was released in LP format. The complete Dust Bowl Ballads remains available on compact disc. All tracks were recorded at RCA Victor studios in Camden, New Jersey on April 26, 1940, except "Dust Cain't Kill Me" and "Dust Pneumonia Blues" which were recorded on May 3.

The songs on "Dust Bowl Ballads" are semi-autobiographical, chronicling Guthrie's experience as a so-called "Okie" during the Dust Bowl era, where Guthrie witnessed the economic hardship that many migrant workers faced in California. Like many of Guthrie's later recordings, these songs contain an element of social activism, and would be an important influence on later musicians, including Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

[edit] Track listing

Track	Song Title	Other
1.	The Great Dust Storm	26622 - A
2.	I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore	26624 - A
3.	Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues	26619 - A
4.	Vigilante Man	26623 - B
5.	Dust Can't Kill Me	26620 - B
6.	Pretty Boy Floyd	LPV 502
7.	Dust Pneumonia Blues	26623 - B
8.	Blowin' Down This Road	26619 - B
9.	Tom Joad - Part 1	26621 - A
10.	Tom Joad - Part 2	26621 - B
11.	Dust Bowl Refugee	26623 - A
12.	Do Re Mi	26620 - A
13.	Dust Bowl Blues	LPV 502
14.	Dusty Old Dust	26622 - B
15.	Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues (alternate take)	Buddha records CD reissue only

[edit] See also

• Woody Guthrie discography
• Moe Asch
• Alan Lomax
• The Grapes of Wrath

[edit] Sources

• Marsh, Dave. "Dust Bowl Ballads" liner notes. Buddha Records, 2000
• Helfert, Manfred. Ballads from Deep Gap, North Carolina and Okemah, Oklahoma. 1997.

v • d • e Woody Guthrie Discography Library of Congress Recordings · Dust Bowl Ballads · The Columbia River Collection · The Asch Recordings · Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti · Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child · Nursery Days · The Live Wire Almanac Singers Talking Union & Other Union Songs · Deep Sea Chanteys And Whaling Ballads · Sod Buster Ballads · Dear Mr. President Legacy People's Songs · Woody Guthrie Foundation · Woody Guthrie Folk Festival See Also Bound For Glory · List of albums by Woody Guthrie · List of songs by Woody Guthrie