Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music – Volume Four

Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music – Volume Four is a must-have for any folk music fan. This four-CD set features some of the best folk performers of the twentieth century, including Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and The Weavers.

Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music – Volume Four

Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music – Volume Four is a compilation album of American folk music, released in 2000. The album includes songs from the 1920s and 1930s.

Introduction

Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records (catalog FP 251, FP 252, and FP 253), assembled by musician and visual artist Harry Smith. The Anthology popularized traditional folk music in the United States and has had considerable influence on subsequent folk music revivals. It is considered one of the most influential releases in the history of recorded sound. Some of the music included in the anthology was originally recorded as early as 1927. The 24 original recordings included were on 78-rpm records, selected by Smith from his personal collection of commercial discs purchased throughout the 1940s.

The six albums were divided into three double-LP volumes:

Volume 1: Ballads
Volume 2: Social Music
Volume 3: Songs

The Songs

The Songs
1. “Oh, My Darling, Clementine” – Burl Ives
2. “Barbara Allen” – Burl Ives
3. “Wildwood Flower” – The Carter Family
4. “In the Pines” – Lead Belly
5. “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” – Hank Williams
6. “Shady Grove” – Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
7. “Sitting on Top of the World” – Howlin’ Wolf
8. “Muleskinner Blues” – Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
9. “The House of the Rising Sun” – Lead Belly
10. “Ruben’s Train” – Earl Scruggs

.1 “The Unfortunate Rake”

The Unfortunate Rake is a traditional ballad from the 18th century about a young man who is dying of venereal disease. The song was first recorded by Mary McCaslin in 1978, and has been covered by many artists since then.

.2 “The Coo Coo”

“The Coo Coo” is a traditional American folk song that dates back to the early 1800s. It was first collected by folklorist Harry Smith in the 1940s and released as part of his Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952. The song is believed to have originated in the Appalachian Mountains region of the United States, and it has been recorded by a number of artists over the years, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Eliza Gilkyson.

.3 “The House Carpenter”

“The House Carpenter” is a folk song from the American South. The song tells the story of a man who marries a woman and has children with her, only to have her leave him for another man. The song is sung from the perspective of the man, and he laments his loss.

The song has been recorded by a number of artists, including Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, and Joan Baez.

.4 “The Banks of the Ohio”

This volume, the fourth in the series, features songs from the 1930s. The first half of the album contains songs about crimes of passion, betrayal, and murder; the second half consists of love songs. “The Banks of the Ohio” is a song about a woman who drowns her lover after he attempts to rape her.

.5 “The Wagoner’s Lad”

“The Wagoner’s Lad” is a folk song from the United States. The song is about a young man who wants to marry a woman but is rejected by her father. The young man then goes off to war and is killed.

The Musicians

In 1967, the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music was released by Folkways Records. This six-album collection compiled eighty-four songs, most of which were recorded in the 1920s and 1930s, that Smith had painstakingly collected over the years. The Anthology quickly became a bible for the nascent American folk music revival, introducing scores of young listeners to the sounds of Lead Belly, Mississippi John Hurt, and other legends of the genre.

In 2000, fifty years after Smith first assembled his landmark anthology, Folkways Records released a new six-CD set titled Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music – Volume Four. This collection featured sixty-four previously unreleased recordings that were found in Smith’s personal archive. The tracks on Volume Four represent a cross-section of American folk music, from child ballads and Georgian sea shanties to Cajun breakdowns and bluegrass gospel songs.

While many of the musicians featured on Volume Four were already well-known to fans of American folk music, there were also plenty of new voices to be discovered. Some of the highlights include Rosa Lee Hill’s melancholy rendition of “Barbara Allen,” Opal Chandler’s exquisitely beautiful voice on “Lazy Mary (Will You Get Up?),” and Glen Campbell’s banjo playing on “Tom Dooley.”

Whether you’re a longtime fan of American folk music or just getting started, Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music – Volume Four is an essential addition to your collection.

.1 The Carter Family

The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians, as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

.2 The Delmore Brothers

The Delmore Brothers were a duo of bluegrass and country music singers, songwriters, and musicians originally from Elkmont, Alabama. The brothers, Alton and Rabon Delmore, were born into a poor family and began singing together while they were still children. They first recorded in 1925 and had their first hit with the song “Brown’s Ferry Blues” in 1931. They continued to record and perform together until Rabon’s death in 1952.

The Delmore Brothers were one of the most influential early country music duos. Their close harmony singing style influenced many other artists, including the Louvin Brothers, Emmylou Harris, and Gram Parsons.

.3 The Stanley Brothers

The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo composed of brothers Carter Stanley and Ralph Stanley. They were created in 1946, performing together until Carter’s death in 1966. Ralph continued performing with various lineups until his own death in 2016. They are credited with helping to shape the sound of modern bluegrass and are known for their classic songs “I’m a Man of Constant Sorrow”, “O Death”, and “Mountain Dew”.

The brothers were born in Stratton, Virginia, United States and grew up close to Big Spraddle Creek near McClure. Their mother Martha was a singer of hymns and their father Lee was a fiddler. As children, they were introduced to music by their mother and father, who taught them to sing harmony. Their father also exposed them to the music of Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family.

.4 The Weavers

The Weavers were an American folk music quartet, formed in New York City in October 1948 by Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Pete Seeger. They were influential in popularizing many forms of folk music in the United States and around the world, including traditional songs from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; African American spirituals; work, maritime, and cowboy songs; songs of the American Revolutionary War era; and gospel music. With Seeger on banjo and Hays on guitar (and both singing lead vocals), they were particularly known for their renditions of traditional folk songs (“Guantanamera”, “On Top of Old Smokey”, “Kisses Sweeter than Wine”), as well as for their original compositions (“Goodnight, Irene”, “Wasn’t That a Time”).

Conclusion

The fourth and final volume of Harry Smith’s anthology of American folk music was released in 1997, nearly fifty years after the first three volumes. This collection contained thirty-six songs, all of which were previously unreleased. The album was met with critical acclaim and is considered one of the most important folk music collections ever released.