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

Various Artists
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

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101
Virgil Perkins and Jack Sims
04:10
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102
Prisoners at the Ramsey and Retrieve State Farms, Texas
03:31
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103
Percy Randolph
02:52
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104
Snooks Eaglin
03:06
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105
Blind Willie Johnson
03:24
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106
Children of Brown's Chapel School, Livingston, Alabama
01:34
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201
Baby Dodds
02:19
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202
Mary Jo Davis
03:09
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203
Dulcimer player, West Virginia
01:19
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204
Pete Steele
01:38
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205
Elizabeth Cotten
00:57
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206
Bascom Lamar Lunsford
02:49
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207
Murph Gribble, John Lusk, and Albert York
02:45
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301
Roy Brulé
01:51
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302
Hobart Smith
01:22
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303
Cisco Houston
02:24
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304
Peter Hurd
02:24
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305
James Trujillo with Sam and Modesto Garcia
01:33
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306
John Concha|Albino Lujan|Belmodo Lujan|Manuel Lujan
02:08
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401
Louie Nine Pipe, Paul Finley, and five other singers from Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana
01:28
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402
Cuarteto Puerto Rico de Cayey
03:06
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403
The Trobador De La Montana and the Puerto Rican Quartet
04:17
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404
Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
02:43
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405
Children of Diamond Rural School, St. Croix, Virgin Islands
00:55
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406
Otis Ahkivigak
01:05