American Industrial Ballads
American Industrial Ballads is a studio album by American folk singer Pete Seeger. It was released in 1956 by Folkways Records. It was reissued in 1992 by Smithsonian Folkways.
American Industrial Ballads | |
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Studio album by | |
Released | 1956 |
Genre | |
Length | 49:25 |
Label | Folkways Records |
Producer | Moses Asch |
Alternative Cover | |
The 1992 reissue album cover. |
Album
Seeger sings songs of struggle which emerged from the coal mines, textile mills and acres of farmland, and spoke of issues important to the American laborer. There are twenty-four songs, written about the unprecedented industrialization of the 19th century, including "Peg and Awl", "The Farmer is the Man", and "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues". Irwin Silber's notes provide a history of labor folk song and its role in American popular music.[1] The cover design for the 1992 reissue was done by Carol Hardy.[2]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Writing for Allmusic William Ruhlman wrote "Seeger presents the songs straightforwardly with only occasional flourishes, intent on getting the meanings across." He continued, "Taken together, they chronicle a century and a half of the efforts of farmers, textile workers, and miners, primarily, to get what they deserve from increasingly rich and powerful captains of industry."[4]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Peg and Awl" | 2:29 |
2. | "The Blind Fiddler" | 1:17 |
3. | "Buffalo Skinners" | 2:44 |
4. | "Eight-Hour Day" | 1:00 |
5. | "Hard Times in the Mill" | 2:16 |
6. | "Roll Down the Line" | 3:15 |
7. | "A Hayseed Like Me" | 1:16 |
8. | "The Farmer is the Man (Who Feeds Us All)" | 1:43 |
9. | "Come All You Hardy Miners" | 2:00 |
10. | "He Lies in the American Land" | 2:01 |
11. | "Casey Jones (The Union Scab)" | 2:20 |
12. | "Let Them Wear Their Watches Fine" | 3:41 |
13. | "Cotton Mill Colic" | 1:41 |
14. | "Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat" | 1:58 |
15. | "Mill Mother's Lament" | 1:37 |
16. | "Fare Ye Well, Old Ely Branch" | 2:11 |
17. | "Beans, Bacon, and Gravy" | 2:56 |
18. | "The Death of Harry Simms" | 2:14 |
19. | "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" | 1:09 |
20. | "The Ballad of Barney Graham" | 1:48 |
21. | "My Children are Seven in Number" | 3:59 |
22. | "Raggedy" | 2:32 |
23. | "Pittsburgh Town" | 1:30 |
24. | "Sixty Percent" | 1:00 |
References
- "American Industrial Ballads". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 1992-01-01. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
- "Pete Seeger – American Industrial Ballads (1992, CD)" – via www.discogs.com.
- Ruhlmann, William. "Pete Seeger - American Industrial Ballads". AllMusic. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
- "American Industrial Ballads - Pete Seeger | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.