The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Folk Hits

by N/A

Overview

Though Ace's Golden Age series of discs was initially devoted entirely to rock & roll, after numerous such volumes it branched out with thematic installments covering other forms of music that experienced success on the U.S. pop charts between the mid-'50s and mid-'60s. The Golden Age of Popular Music: The Folk Hits is another such imaginative anthology, compiling 28 folk singles that reached the Billboard charts during the era. There are, as you'd expect, some of the biggest such smashes, including the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley," the Rooftop Singers' "Walk Right In," Peter, Paul & Mary's "If I Had a Hammer," Gale Garnett's "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," the Highwaymen's "Michael," the New Christy Minstrels' "Green, Green," the Springfields' "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," and the Brothers Four's "Greenfields." What makes this several cuts above the usual Time Life sort of collection of this material, however, is the inclusion of quite a few low-charting (or even barely charting) 45s that never get played on oldies radio, and give listeners a more rounded picture of the style than is commonly funneled through mainstream historical media. From well-known stars, for instance, there's Johnny Cash's cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe," Joan Baez's "We Shall Overcome," Pete Seeger's "Little Boxes" (his only chart single as a solo artist), and the Simon Sisters' "Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod" (featuring a young Carly Simon). There are also oddball items from less celebrated figures, like Bud & Travis' orchestrated, dramatic "Ballad of the Alamo"; Joe & Eddie's ridiculously exuberant "There's a Meetin' Here Tonite"; the Greenwoods' "Please Don't Sell My Daddy No More Wine," featuring C. Carson Parks, older brother of Van Dyke Parks; and the Shacklefords' "A Stranger in Your Town," co-written by group member Lee Hazlewood. If there are any grounds on which listeners might be mildly disappointed with this set, those would be that numerous major hits by the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary are missing (though to be fair, each of those acts could easily fill an entire disc of hits on their own), and that there's a dated, cutesy pop-folk feel to much of the material. You certainly don't get earthy roots folk from the likes of Dave Van Ronk, Odetta, or a young Bob Dylan here, so it shouldn't be taken as a representative overview of the folk revival as a whole. But as far as providing a thorough single-disc compilation of the folk revival at its most commercially successful, it would be hard to beat, especially considering it's packaged with 32 pages of informative liner notes. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	02/26/2008
Label:	Ace
UPC:	0029667030328
Rank:	31271

Tracks

1. Walk Right In  - Gus Cannon  -  Rooftop Singers  - Hosea Woods
2. If I Had a Hammer  - Lee Hays  -  Peter  - Pete Seeger
3. Where Have All the Flowers Gone  -  Kingston Trio  - Pete Seeger
4. Green, Green  - Barry McGuire  -  New Christy Minstrels  - Randy Sparks
5. It Ain't Me, Babe  - Johnny Cash  - Bob Dylan
6. Michael  -  Highwaymen
7. We Shall Overcome  - Joan Baez  -  Traditional
8. Greenback Dollar  - Hoyt Axton  -  Kingston Trio  - Kennard Ramsey
9. A Stranger in Your Town  - Marty Cooper  - Lee Hazlewood  -  Shacklefords
10. Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod  - Carlos Alomar  - Chuck Kentis  -  Simon Sisters
11. Ballad of the Alamo  -  Bud & Travis  - Dimitri Tiomkin  - Paul Webster
12. Tom Dooley  -  Kingston Trio  -  Traditional
13. A Dollar Down  - Cisco Houston  -  Limeliters
14. Greenfields  -  Brothers Four  - Richard Dehr  - Terry Gilkyson  - Frank Miller
15. Silver Threads and Golden Needles  - Dick Reynolds  - Jack Rhodes  -  Springfields
16. We'll Sing in the Sunshine  - Gale Garnett
17. Hootenanny  - Eddie V. Deane  -  Glencoves  - George Goehring
18. Don't Let the Rain Come Down  - Ersel Hickey  -  Serendipity Singers
19. Reverend Mr. Black  -  Kingston Trio  - Jerry Leiber  - Mike Stoller
20. Please Don't Sell My Daddy No More Wine  -  Greenwoods  - Tom Lane
21. Lizzie Borden  -  Mitchell
22. Ode to the Little Brown Shack out Back  - Billy Edd Wheeler
23. Cotton Fields  -  Highwaymen  -  Lead Belly
24. There's a Meetin' Here Tonite  - Bob Gibson  -  Joe & Eddie
25. Tom Cat  - Erik Darling  -  Rooftop Singers  - Willard Hooker Svanoe  - Lynne Taylor
26. Summer's Come and Gone  -  Brandywine Singers  - Terry Gilkyson
27. Little Boxes  - Malvina Reynolds  - Pete Seeger
28. The Unicorn  -  Irish Rovers  - Shel Silverstein

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Serendipity Singers   Primary Artist
The Shacklefords   Primary Artist
Joan Baez   Primary Artist
The Irish Rovers   Primary Artist
The Highwaymen   Primary Artist
The Limeliters   Primary Artist
The Kingston Trio   Primary Artist
Joe & Eddie   Primary Artist
Gale Garnett   Primary Artist
Pete Seeger   Primary Artist
Peter, Paul and Mary   Primary Artist
The New Christy Minstrels   Primary Artist
Rooftop Singers   Primary Artist
The Simon Sisters   Primary Artist
The Springfields   Primary Artist
Bud & Travis   Primary Artist
Billy Edd Wheeler   Primary Artist
Johnny Cash   Primary Artist
The Brandywine Singers   Primary Artist
The Brothers Four   Primary Artist
The Glencoves   Primary Artist
Greenwoods   Primary Artist
The Chad Mitchell Trio   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Hosea Woods   Composer
Shel Silverstein   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Terry Gilkyson   Composer
Paul Webster   Composer
Dick Reynolds   Composer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Chuck Kentis   Composer
Cisco Houston   Composer
Lead Belly   Composer
Jack Rhodes   Composer
Frank Warner   Arranger
Erik Darling   Composer
Frank Miller   Composer
Gale Garnett   Composer
Ersel Hickey   Composer
John A. Lomax   Arranger
Lee Hazlewood   Composer
Pete Seeger   Composer
Rob Finnis   Annotation,Liner Notes
Hoyt Axton   Composer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Randy Sparks   Composer
Mike Stoller   Composer
Duncan Cowell   Mastering
Tom Lane   Composer
Alan Lomax   Arranger
Malvina Reynolds   Composer
Zilphia Horton   Arranger
Bob Gibson   Composer
Barry McGuire   Composer
Frank Hamilton   Arranger
Carlos Alomar   Composer
Lee Hays   Composer
Dimitri Tiomkin   Composer
Richard Dehr   Composer
Marty Cooper   Composer
Guy Carawan   Arranger
Lynne Taylor   Composer
Willard Hooker Svanoe   Composer
Jools DeVere   Package Design
Gus Cannon   Composer
Kennard Ramsey   Composer
George Goehring   Composer
Seeger, Petersen + Marsalis   Arranger
Eddie V. Deane   Composer