Anthology of American Folk Music®

The Anthology of American Folk Music, edited by Harry Smith (1923–1991), is one of the most influential releases in the history of recorded sound. Originally issued by Folkways Records in 1952, the Anthology brought virtually unknown parts of America's musical landscape recorded in the late 1920s and early 1930s to the public's attention. For more than half a century, the collection has profoundly influenced fans, ethnomusicologists, music historians, and cultural critics; it has inspired generations of popular musicians, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jerry Garcia, and countless others. Many of the songs included in the Anthology have now become classics, as has Harry Smith’s unique "scientific/aesthetic handbook" of song notes and drawings. Reissued by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 1997, this deluxe 6-CD collector's boxed set contains a 96-page book featuring Harry Smith's original liner notes and essays by Greil Marcus and other noted writers, musicians, and scholars.
“[The] Anthology was our bible…. We all knew every word of every song on it, including the ones we hated. They say that in the 19th-century British Parliament, when a member would begin to quote a classical author in Latin the entire House would rise in a body and finish the quote along with him. It was like that.” – Dave Van Ronk
“Had he never done anything with his life but this Anthology, Harry Smith would still have borne the mark of genius across his forehead. I'd match the Anthology up against any other single compendium of important information ever assembled. Dead Sea Scrolls? Nah. I'll take the Anthology.” – John Fahey
“First hearing the Harry Smith Anthology of American FoIk Music is like discovering the secret script of so many familiar musical dramas. Many of these actually turn out to be cousins two or three times removed, some of whom were probably created in ignorance of these original riches. It also occurred to me that as we are listening at a greater distance in time to a man or woman singing of their fairly recent past of the 1880s, we are fortunate that someone collected these performances of such wildness, straightforward beauty, and humanity." – Elvis Costello
Click here for instructions on how to access the extra content on disc 3-B.
Track Listing
101
|
Henry Lee | Dick Justice | 3:28 | |
102
|
Fatal flower garden | Nelstone's Hawaiians | 2:58 | |
103
|
The house carpenter | Clarence Ashley | 3:16 | |
104
|
Drunkard's special | Coley Jones | 3:16 | |
105
|
Old lady and the devil | Bill and Belle Reed | 3:05 | |
106
|
The butcher's boy | Buell Kazee | 3:05 | |
107
|
The wagoner's lad | Buell Kazee | 3:05 | |
108
|
King kong kitchie kitchie ki-me-o | Chubby Parker | 3:09 | |
109
|
Old shoes and leggins | Uncle Eck Dunford | 3:01 | |
110
|
Willie Moore | Richard Burnett and Leonard Rutherford | 3:16 | |
111
|
A lazy farmer boy | Buster Carter and Preston Young | 3:00 | |
112
|
Peg and awl | The Carolina Tar Heels | 2:59 | |
113
|
Ommie Wise | G.B. Grayson | 3:12 | |
114
|
My name is John Johanna | Kelly Harrell and the Virginia String Band | 3:13 | |
201
|
Bandit Cole Younger | Edward L. Crain | 2:57 | |
202
|
Charles Giteau | Kelly Harrel and the Virginia String Band | 3:05 | |
203
|
John Hardy was a desperate little man | The Carter Family | 2:57 | |
204
|
Gonna die with my hammer in my hand (John Henry) | The Williamson Brothers and Curry | 3:26 | |
205
|
Stackalee (Stagger Lee) | Frank Hutchison | 3:01 | |
206
|
White House blues | Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers | 3:31 | |
207
|
Frankie | Mississippi John Hurt | 3:28 | |
208
|
When that great ship went down (The Titanic) | William and Versey Smith | 2:58 | |
209
|
Engine 143 | The Carter Family | 3:19 | |
210
|
Kassie Jones, Parts 1 and 2 | Furry Lewis | 6:16 | |
211
|
Down on Penny's Farm | The Bently Boys | 2:50 | |
212
|
Mississippi Boweavil (Boll Weevil) Blues | The Masked Marvel | 3:09 | |
213
|
Got the farm land blues | The Carolina Tar Heels | 3:17 | |
301
|
Sail away lady | Uncle Bunt Stephens | 2:58 | |
302
|
The wild wagoner | Jilson Setters | 3:17 | |
303
|
Wake up Jacob | Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers | 2:55 | |
304
|
La danseuse (The dancer) | Delma Lachney and Blind Uncle Gaspard | 2:56 | |
305
|
Georgia stomp | Andrew and Jim Baxter | 2:47 | |
306
|
Brilliancy medley | Eck Robertson and Family | 3:01 | |
307
|
Indian war whoop | Hoyt Ming and the Pep Steppers | 3:13 | |
308
|
Old country stomp | Henry Thomas | 2:55 | |
309
|
Old dog blue | Jim Jackson | 3:04 | |
310
|
Saut Crapaud (Jump, Frog) | Columbus Fruge | 2:49 | |
311
|
Acadian One-Step | Joseph Falcon | 3:00 | |
312
|
Home Sweet Home | The Breaux Freres | 3:00 | |
313
|
The Newport Blues | The Cincinnati Jug Band | 2:58 | |
314
|
Moonshiner's Dance Part One | Frank Cloutier and the Victoria Cafe Orchestra | 2:40 | |
401
|
Must Be Born Again | Rev. J.M. Gates | 1:31 | |
402
|
Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting | Rev. J.M. Gates | 1:29 | |
403
|
Rocky Road | Alabama Sacred Harp Singers | 2:45 | |
404
|
Present Joys | Alabama Sacred Harp Singers | 2:53 | |
405
|
This Song of Love | Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 | 2:58 | |
406
|
Judgement | Rev. Sister Mary Nelson | 2:25 | |
407
|
He Got Better Things For You | Memphis Sanctified Singers | 2:54 | |
408
|
Since I Laid My Burden Down | The Elders McIntorsh and Edwards' Sanctified Singers | 3:19 | |
409
|
John the Baptist | Rev. Moses Mason | 3:05 | |
410
|
Dry Bones | Bascom Lamar Lunsford | 3:00 | |
411
|
John the Revelator | Blind Willie Johnson | 3:21 | |
412
|
Little Moses | The Carter Family | 3:14 | |
413
|
Shine on Me | Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Singers | 3:03 | |
414
|
Fifty Miles of Elbow Room | Rev. F.M. McGee | 2:43 | |
415
|
I'm In the Battlefield for My Lord | Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation | 3:20 | |
501
|
The Coo Coo Bird | Clarence Ashley | 2:56 | |
502
|
East Virginia | Buell Kazee | 3:01 | |
503
|
Minglewood Blues | Cannon's Jug Stompers with Noah Lewis | 3:44 | |
504
|
I Woke Up One Morning In May | Didier Hébert | 3:04 | |
505
|
James Alley Blues | Richard "Rabbit" Brown | 3:07 | |
506
|
Sugar Baby | Dock Boggs | 2:58 | |
507
|
I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground | Bascom Lamar Lunsford | 3:21 | |
508
|
The Mountaineer's Courtship | Ernest and Hattie Stoneman | 2:44 | |
509
|
The Spanish Merchant's Daughter (No, Sir No) | The Stoneman Family | 3:18 | |
510
|
Bob Lee Junior Blues | The Memphis Jug Band | 3:11 | |
511
|
Single Girl, Married Girl | The Carter Family | 2:47 | |
512
|
Le Vieux Soulard et Sa Femme (The Old Drunkard and His Wife) - bon viuex mari | Cleoma Breaux and Joseph Falcon | 3:10 | |
513
|
Rabbit Foot Blues | Blind Lemon Jefferson | 2:57 | |
514
|
Expressman Blues | Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell | 3:02 | |
601
|
Poor Boy Blues | Ramblin' Thomas | 2:24 | |
602
|
Feather Bed | Cannon's Jug Stompers | 3:16 | |
603
|
Country Blues | Dock Boggs | 2:59 | |
604
|
99 Year Blues | Julius Daniels | 3:07 | |
605
|
Prison Cell Blues | Blind Lemon Jefferson | 2:47 | |
606
|
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean | Blind Lemon Jefferson | 2:55 | |
607
|
C'est Si Triste Sans Lui (It's So Sad Without Him) | Cleoma Breaux and Joseph Falcon | 3:01 | |
608
|
Way Down the Old Plank Road | Uncle Dave Macon | 3:01 | |
609
|
Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line | Uncle Dave Macon | 3:15 | |
610
|
Spike Driver Blues | Mississippi John Hurt | 3:17 | |
611
|
K.C. Moan | The Memphis Jug Band | 2:33 | |
612
|
Train on the Island | J.P. Nestor | 3:00 | |
613
|
The Lone Star Trail | Ken Maynard | 3:15 | |
614
|
Fishing Blues | Henry Thomas | 2:45 |