Home → Woody Guthrie → The Asch Recordings, Volumes 1–4
The Asch Recordings, Volumes 1–4
Folk · 1999 · 105 tracks

The Asch Recordings, Volumes 1–4

Woody Guthrie

Over four hours of raw, acetate-captured folk history. Guthrie’s weathered voice and percussive guitar define the sound of American struggle and resilience.

August 17, 1999 · Smithsonian Folkways

Find on Amazon

Listening to The Asch Recordings is like sitting in a small, smoke-filled New York studio in 1944, watching a man with a guitar document the soul of a nation. The sound is thick with the hiss and crackle of original acetate discs, a sonic texture that makes the music feel like a physical artifact unearthed from the soil. Guthrie’s voice is dry and unadorned, carrying the weight of the road and the dust of the plains, yet it possesses a rhythmic vitality that turns simple acoustic strumming into a driving force. It is the sound of a man who has seen everything and decided to sing it back to the people.

Tracklist · 105 Tracks
01
This Land Is Your Land
2:20
02
Car Song
1:52
03
Ramblin’ Round
2:16
04
Talking Fishing Blues
3:07
05
Philadelphia Lawyer
2:32
06
Lindbergh
3:13
07
Hobo’s Lullaby
2:25
08
Pastures of Plenty
2:28
09
Grand Coulee Dam
2:13
10
End of the Line
2:52
11
New York Town
2:38
12
Gypsy Davy
2:51
13
Jesus Christ
2:40
14
This Land Is Your Land (alternate take)
2:46
15
Do Re Mi
2:33
16
Jarama Valley
2:55
17
The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done
2:20
18
Picture From Life’s Other Side
3:09
19
Jesse James
3:00
20
Talking Hard Work
3:26
21
When That Great Ship Went Down (The Great Ship)
3:21
22
Hard, Ain’t It Hard
2:45
23
Going Down the Road (Feeling Bad)
3:01
24
I Ain’t Got Nobody
2:34
25
Sinking of the Reuben James
3:02
26
Why, Oh Why?
3:29
27
This Land Is Your Land (reprise)
0:53
28
Muleskinner Blues
2:52
29
Wreck of the Old ’97
2:15
30
Sally Goodin’
2:28
31
Little Black Train
2:31
32
Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet
2:31
33
Baltimore to Washington
2:56
34
Rubber Dolly
2:14
35
21 Years
3:16
36
Sowing on the Mountain
2:26
37
Bed on the Floor
2:25
38
Take a Whiff on Me
2:44
39
Stepstone
2:56
40
Put My Little Shoes Away
2:48
41
Hen Cackle
2:19
42
Poor Boy
2:29
43
Stackolee
3:01
44
Johnny Hart
2:30
45
Worried Man Blues
3:01
46
Danville Girl
3:01
47
Gambling Man
2:22
48
Rye Straw
2:50
49
Crawdad Song
2:55
50
Ida Red
3:02
51
Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy
2:47
52
Train 45
2:40
53
Hard Travelin’
2:33
54
Farmer‐Labor Train
2:51
55
Howdjadoo
1:42
56
Ship in the Sky
2:35
57
I Ain't Got No Home
2:46
58
Mean Talking Blues
3:47
59
Better World A‐Comin’
3:06
60
Miss Pavlichenko
2:31
61
So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You (WWII version)
2:47
62
New Found Land
2:07
63
Oregon Trail
2:47
64
Vigilante Man
3:24
65
1913 Massacre
3:38
66
Talking Columbia
2:30
67
Two Good Men
3:49
68
Sally, Don’t You Grieve
2:25
69
Talking Sailor
3:04
70
What Are We Waiting On
2:09
71
Railroad Blues
3:16
72
Ludlow Massacre
3:31
73
Ladies Auxiliary
2:13
74
Miner’s Song
2:13
75
When the Yanks Go Marching In
2:48
76
Union Maid (excerpt)
0:45
77
Rubaiyat (excerpt)
3:43
78
The Many and the Few
5:37
79
Hanukkah Dance
1:25
80
Ranger’s Command
2:53
81
Buffalo Skinners
3:18
82
Billy the Kid
2:03
83
Cowboy Waltz
2:05
84
Pretty Boy Floyd
3:02
85
Along in the Sun and the Rain
2:30
86
Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Get Along Liittle Dogies
2:50
87
Froggie Went a‐Courtin’
3:29
88
Buffalo Gals
2:37
89
I Ride an Old Paint
2:58
90
Dead or Alive
2:54
91
Slipknot
2:33
92
Cocaine Blues
2:16
93
Go Tell Aunt Rhody
2:52
94
Chisholm Trail
2:27
95
Stewball
3:29
96
Wild Cyclone
4:00
97
Train Blues
3:34
98
Red River Valley
2:54
99
Fastest of Ponies
4:18
100
Stewball
2:30
101
Snow Deer
2:34
102
When the Curfew Blows
1:46
103
Little Darling
2:16
104
Blowing Down That Old Dusty Road
3:05
105
The Return of Rocky Mountain Slim and Desert Rat Shorty
2:35
Moments Worth Listening For
The moment in This Land Is Your Land where the omitted private property verses restore the song's original radical bite.
The stark chilling silence between verses in the Sacco and Vanzetti ballads, emphasizing the gravity of the historical tragedy.
The rhythmic percussive chug of Guthrie's guitar on Train Blues, mimicking the mechanical persistence of a locomotive.
The sudden warm vocal blend when Cisco Houston joins for a chorus, momentarily softening the solitary grit of the recording.
Reviews
AllMusic
Read review
Where This Album DepartsEach spoke is a trait. The orange shape shows where this album pulls away from — or holds to — the rest of the artist’s catalogue. Tap for more.

How does The Asch Recordings, Volumes 1–4 sound next to the rest of Woody Guthrie's catalogue?

Raspy+1.6σ

The vocals lean notably further into raspy than the rest of the catalogue.

Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →