Songs to Grow On by Woody Guthrie

Today, Woody Guthrie’s widespread fame comes mostly from his songs for adults; classics like “This Land Is Your Land” and “Pastures of Plenty.” But Guthrie (1912–1967) was also a successful and prolific composer of songs for children. Filled with whimsy and enthusiasm and focused on events in the lives of young children, the songs are as much fun to sing today as they were fifty years ago.

Perhaps no performer other than Guthrie himself is as well-qualified to sing these songs as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Nineteen years Guthrie’s junior, Elliott lived for a time in the Guthrie household and so perfected Guthrie’s style the man himself is supposed to have exclaimed, “Jack sounds more like me than I do!”