By Ken Paulson
I thought I had a pretty good sense of Woody Guthrie. I’d read the books, listened to the music and even watched a mediocre film biography starring David Carradine.
But all of that pales next to Woody Guthrie: American Radical Patriot, an extraordinary box set that chronicles Guthrie’s work for the U.S. government.
While you wouldn’t expect the politically restless Guthrie to embrace the government, he saw that government could do some good for the poor and he clearly appreciated the paycheck.
The most revelatory aspect of this project is the opening interview with Alan Lomax of the Archive of American Folk Song on a recording made for the Library of Congress. This is Guthrie before he stepped onto the national stage and he talks candidly about his childhood, musical influences and stunning personal tragedies.
The 6-CD collection sounds great, and includes a wide range of performances, including those he wrote while working for the Bonneville Power Administration, plus some venereal disease prevention songs.
Included in this limited edition box is a DVD of “Roll On Columbia,” a fascinating University of Oregon documentary about Guthrie’s stint as a songwriter trying to convey the importance of the Woody Bonneville Dam Project .
The box set also features a 60-page booklet (and a full-length version on an included PDF) and a 78 of Bob Dylan singing Guthrie’s “VD City” and Guthrie’s home recording of “The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done.”
This Rounder Records release epitomizes a great box set: rare recordings, insightful documentation, multi-layered content and artful packaging. Highly recommended.
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