Classic American Ballads from Smithsonian Folkways (CD)

Born of the British ballad, its American offspring was the blank canvas for all type of tale, the more calami­tous or scandalous, the better. Jesse James and Billy the Kid, train wrecks and hurricanes, the Titanic and Tom Dooley, fatal lovers’ quarrels and foiling the devil, all and more were normal fare, served up in a song. Classic American Balladsis 25 tracks of time-worn tragedy drawn from the deep fount of the Smithsonian Folkways archives. 74 minutes, 40-page booklet with extensive notes and photos.

Track Listing: 

1.) Banks of the Ohio - Doc Watson and Bill Monroe

2.) Blue Mountain Lake - Pete Seeger

3.) Claude Allen - Hobart Smith

4.) Cole Younger - Dock Boggs

5.) Cowboy's Lament (Streets of Laredo) - Buck Ramsey

6.) Boll Weevil - Sam Hinton 

7.) Duncan and Brady - Lead Belly

8.) FLoyd Collins - Paul Clayton

9.) Frankie and Johnny - Rolf Cahn and Eric Von Schmidt

10.) John Henry - John Jackson

11.) Jesse James - Sis Cunningham, Mike Millius, and Wes Houston

12.) Billy the Kid - Woody Guthrie 

13.) The Death of the Lawson Family - Glen Neaves 

14.) Naomi Wise - Doug Wallin

15.) Pearly Bryan - Bruce Buckley 

16.) Sam Bass - Hermes Nye

17.) Springfield Mountain - Bascom Lamar Lunsford

18.) Tom Dooley - Glen Neaves, Roscoe Russell, Ivor Melton, Warren Brown, and Ted Lundy

19.) Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail - Cisco Huston 

20.) Young Charlotte - Pete Seeger

21.) Wasn't That a Mighty Storm? - The Tex-I-An Boys

22.) Zebra dun - Joan O'Bryant

23.) The Titanic - Pink Anderson 

24.) The Louisville Burglar- The Iron Mountain String Band 

25.) The F.F.V. (Engine 143) - Annie Watson