Folk Music U.S.A., Vol. 1

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.

Track Listing

101	John Henry	Virgil Perkins and Jack Sims	04:10
102	Grizzly Bear: Negro Prison Camp Worksong	Male singer with chorus in Texas	03:31
103	Blowing the Train	Percy Randolph	02:52
104	Six Thousand Miles from Nowhere	Snooks Eaglin	03:06
105	Dark Was the Night	Blind Willie Johnson	03:24
106	Amasee: Children's Ring Game Song	Brown's Chapel School children, Livingston, Alabama	01:34
201	Spooky Drums	Baby Dodds	02:19
202	Black Jack Davy	Mary Jo Davis	03:09
203	Drunken Sailor: Dulcimer Medley	Old male dulcimer player from West Virginia	01:19
204	Ellen Smith	Pete Steele	01:38
205	Run, Run	Elizabeth Cotten	00:57
206	Mole in the Ground	Bascom Lamar Lunsford	02:49
207	Rolling River: Country Dance	Murph Gribble, John Lusk, and Albert York	02:45
301	Allons Danser Colinda: Cajun Dance	Roy Brulé	01:51
302	Sourwood Mountain: Square Dance Tune	Hobart Smith	01:22
303	Diamond Joe: Cowboy Song	Cisco Houston	02:24
304	Siete Leguas: Corrido	Peter Hurd	02:24
305	Matachines Dance	Musicians in New Mexico	01:33
306	Moonlight Song: Taos Indian Serenade	Male Taos singers	02:08
401	War Dance Song	Louie Nine Pipe, Paul Finley, and five other singers from Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana	01:28
402	Esta Navidad: Puerto Rican Christmas Song	Male singer with 10 year-old boy in Puerto Rico	03:06
403	Aguinaldo Cagueño: Puerto Rican Song	The Trobador De La Montana and the Puerto Rican Quartet	04:17
404	Rocky Road: Shape-Note Singing	Alabama Sacred Harp Singers	02:43
405	If We Never Meet Again	The Children of Diamond Rural School, St. Croix, Virgin Island	00:55
406	Inviting-In Dance Song	Otis Ahkivigak	01:05