The importance of Harry Smith's work can not be overstated. Not only did he single-handedly save much of American folk music from extinction, but when he handed his record collection over to Smithsonian folkways in 1952, he opened the floodgates for the American folk revival of the following decade. Not since John and Alan Lomax had anyone paid so much attention to saving the American folk song from extinction, but unlike the Lomaxes, Smith was not a government worker armed with a tape recorder, he was just a guy from Portland, Oregon armed with a love for music and an insatiably curious mind. So, when the U.S. Government began melting down old records to be used as shellac during WWII, Smith kicked into high gear, buying up as many old 78s from the '20s and '30s as he could find. Much of the music found here then, comes from a time before television, arm-in-arm with rock & roll, began beaming its über-culture into every household in America erasing much of what had grown up locally in each area. As can be heard so beautifully on these ballads, prior to WWII America was in many ways no more than a patchwork of territories, with local cultures and musical traditions reaching both far into the immigrant past of each area's inhabitants, but also into the future to create something wonderful and firmly rooted in the newness and adventure of life on this new continent.

Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music Volume 1: Ballads Track Listing

1.  Henry Lee - DICK JUSTICE
2.  Fatal Flower Garden - NELSTONE'S HAWAIIANS
3.  The House Carpenter - CLARENCE ASHLEY
4.  Drunkhard's Special - COLEY JONES
5.  Old Lady And The Devil - BILL AND BELLE REED
6.  The Butcher's Boy - BUELL KAZEE
7.  The Wagoner's Lad - BUELL KAZEE
8.  King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O - CHUBBY PARKER
9.  Old Shoes And Leggings - UNCLE ECK DUNFORD
10. Willie Moore - RICHARD BURNETT AND LEONARD RUTHERFORD
11. A Lazy Farmer Boy - BUSTER CARTER AND PRESTON YOUNG
12. Peg And Awl - THE CAROLINA TAR HEELS
13. Ommie Wise - G.B.GRAYSON
14. My Name Is John Johanna - KELLY HARRELL
15. Bandit Cole Younger - EDWARD L. CRAIN
16. Charles Giteau - KELLY HARRELL
17. John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man - THE CARTER FAMILY
18. Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand - THE WILLIAMSON BROS. & CURRY
19. Stackalee - FRANK HUTCHISON
20. White House Blues - CHARLIE POOLE & THE NORTH CAROLINA RAMBLERS
21. Frankie - MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT
22. When That Great Ship Went Down - WILLIAM AND VERSEY SMITH
23. Engine 143 - THE CARTER FAMILY
24. Kassie Jones - FURRY LEWIS
25. Down On Penny's Farm - THE BENTLY BOYS
26. Mississippi Boweavil Blues - THE MASKED MARVEL
27. Got The Farm Land Blues - THE CAROLINA TAR HEELS