On Aug. 25, Burlington-based Rounder Records and the Woody Guthrie Archives will release "My Dusty Roads," a four-CD set of 54 Woody Guthrie recordings from the 1940s that have been remastered from the original metal masters recorded by Herbert Harris and Moses Asch. The recordings of songs including "This Land Is Your Land" and "Pretty Boy Floyd," six previously unreleased, were stashed in a Brooklyn basement for decades before they were rescued by reissue co-producer Michael Creamer, who heard about them through his cousin, Rounder says. A half-dozen of the tracks were used in the American Masters documentary "Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home." "Hear these recordings for the first time and your jaw will drop, the sound is so clean and crisp that you'll hear the songs in ways you never have before," documentary producer Peter Frumkin says in the Rounder announcement.
The box set will also include a 68-page full color book, written by Guthrie historian Ed Cray and Rounder’s Bill Nowlin. The archives contributed previously unpublished photos, as well as artwork and illuminated lyric sheets by Guthrie himself. Also included are facsimiles of Guthrie's business card, a postcard sent from Florida to his wife, and a booking card from the 1940s. The entire package comes in a replica 1940s-style vintage suitcase, complete with handles and latches, in case you feel like jumping a freight with it. List price for the set is $79.
Comments