When did that come out? I wondered. I found this article about it, "More Woody Guthrie Songs? Yes, From a Trove of Homemade Recordings. A new, intimate album will include 13 previously unheard songs and a rewrite of 'This Land Is Your Land'" (NYT), and I see it just came out a couple weeks ago.
The first song I heard — as I was listening to a channel based on the poet Billy Collins — was "Ain't Afraid to Die." It was so strange and raw, I got my phone out to see who I was listening to, and it made perfect sense.
From the NYT article (by Jon Pareles): "In 1951, Woody Guthrie’s publisher gave him a newfangled piece of equipment: a Revere T-100 Crescent home tape recorder. It was primitive: mono and running at a noisy, lo-fi, 3 ¾ inches of tape per second, with a little mono microphone. Yet it allowed Guthrie to record his songs without visiting a studio, without recording engineers or time pressures, while he was at home in Beach Haven, Brooklyn, keeping an eye on three young children.... In the 1950s, Guthrie didn’t have a label that wanted to release his recordings. His publisher, Howie Richmond of TRO Music, urged Guthrie to sketch out new songs that could be pitched to other performers or printed as sheet music — and with the new recorder, he did. In 1951 and 1952, he filled 32 reel-to-reel tapes with songs and conversational messages.... As it turned out, the tapes would be Guthrie’s last recordings before he was debilitated by Huntington’s chorea...."
And here's the link for "Billy Collins Radio," which I highly recommend.
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11 comments:
Looks interesting. I’ll check it out.
okay, technically; the lesbian incest song..
but, *i* always just call it; The Lesbian Song
"In 1951, Woody Guthrie’s publisher gave him a newfangled piece of equipment: a Revere T-100 Crescent home tape recorder."
Tape Recorder T-100 Revere Camera Co.; Chicago (IL)
My father bought a Revere 8mm home movie camera before I was born. He filmed me leaving the hospital after my birth. Just to show how much things have changed, the footage shows the nurse handing me to my mother seated in the front passenger seat of the Rambler. No seatbelt, no car seat!
Revere Model 50 8mm
That interesting video has a link to where you can still buy film for vintage 8mm home cameras.
I now plan to take at least one more reel of home movies using that old camera!
My piano teacher made recordings of Guthrie in his last years when he was in the hospital. Yes, my piano teacher was a Communist. Why do you ask?
At least, that is how I remember it. Now I wonder if he had copies of tapes made by Guthrie. Maybe both. He played some for me, Guthrie sounded hoarse and almost whispering. No guitar.
You take Woody. I'll take Arlo.
No music by commies.
I took a roadtrip with some friends about 1974 or so, up through DC, the Hudson valley, Champlain, and eventually Quebec City. We came back through Montreal, Detroit and the Midwest.
We had a few eight-track tapes, including one of Woody Guthrie. Alas, the exposure did not make me a fan.
OTOH I don't even recall what the others were. Probably Simon and Garfunkel and CSN&Y.
Okay, after listening to it: Several songs were familiar to sone extent. Of the ones I hadn’t heard, I probably like the one about “Things the Atom Can’t Do” the best. I had recently heard a cover of “Forsaken Lover” by Kate Wolf.
My other takeaway was that for songs written in 1951, there were a lot about fighting fascists, who had been defeated in 1945. He needed to move on, and the songs about racism probably were an effort in that direction.
Okay, after listening to it: Several songs were familiar to sone extent. Of the ones I hadn’t heard, I probably like the one about “Things the Atom Can’t Do” the best. I had recently heard a cover of “Forsaken Lover” by Kate Wolf.
My other takeaway was that for songs written in 1951, there were a lot about fighting fascists, who had been defeated in 1945. He needed to move on, and the songs about racism probably were an effort in that direction.
You are ready for A Complete Unkown.
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