Tracks:
I'M SO GLAD - Skip James
DONE GOT WISE - Big Bill Broonzy
STAGOLEE - Mississippi John Hurt
GOSPEL TRAIN - Golden Gate Quartet
OH MARY, DON'T YOU WEEP - Swan Silvertones
THE PRODIGAL SON - Rev Robert Wilkins
BOSCO STOMP - Cajun Band
BLUES IS A BOTHERATION - Otis Spann
TOO MUCH ALCOHOL - J.B. Hutto & His Hawks
BLUES AFTER HOURS - Pee Wee Crayton
I CAN'T BE SATISFIED - John Hammond
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH THE MILL - Koerner Ray & Glover
COCAINE - Dave Van Ronk
SAMSON AND DELILAH - Rev Gary Davis
COTTON CROP BLUES - James Cotton
CLAY'S TUNE - Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band
I CAN'T QUIT YOU BABE - Otis Rush
YOU LIED TO ME - Junior Wells
FEVER - Buddy Guy
BALL AND CHAIN - Big Mama Thornton
DEEP RIVER BLUES - Doc Watson
HELLO STRANGER - Mike Seeger
HOUSE CARPENTER - Almeda Riddle
500 MILES - Hedy West
LITTLE GLASS OF WINE - Stanley Brothers
GOING DOWN THIS ROAD FEELING BAD - Watson Family
STEWBALL - John Herald with The Greenbriar Boys
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND - Weavers
PRETTY BOY FLOYD - Cisco Houston
WALK RIGHT IN - Rooftop Singers
THE ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN - Liam Clancy
JUG OF PUNCH - Clancy Brothers
THE LEAVES THAT ARE GREEN - Country Gentlemen
WALLS OF TIME - Bill Monroe with Peter Rowan
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE? - Pete Seeger
ANGER IN THE LAND - Hedy West
THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE - Phil Ochs
THIRSTY BOOTS - Eric Andersen
THE LAST THING ON MY MIND - Tom Paxton
SAN FRANCISCO BAY BLUES - Jesse Fuller
ROLL ON BUDDY - Kentucky Colonels with Clarence White
HARD, AIN'T IT HARD - Kingston Trio
MANY A MILE - Patrick Sky
NORTH COUNTRY BLUES - Bob Dylan
FAREWELL, ANGELINA - Joan Baez
EARLY MORNING RAIN - Ian & Sylvia
REFLECTIONS IN A CRYSTAL WIND - Mimi & Richard Fariña
DRIVING ON BALD MOUNTAIN - Odetta
FOUR STRONG WINDS - Ian & Sylvia
MOBILE LINE - Jim Kweskin
DOPE AGAIN - Serpent Power
I-FEEL-LIKE-I'M-FIXIN'-TO-DIE RAG - Country Joe & The Fish
SOCK IT TO ME - Sandy Bull
DOWN IN THE BASEMENT - Notes From The Underground
NEGATIVE DREAMER GIRL - Circus Maximus
ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC - Frost
CRISTO REDENTOR - Charlie Musselwhite With Harvey Mandel
NOBODY BLUES - Serpent Power
BORN IN CHICAGO - Paul Butterfield Blues Band
OUD AND DRUMS - Sandy Bull
JANIS - Country Joe & The Fish
SWEET LADY LOVE - Frost
LONELY MAN - Circus Maximus
THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN - Joan Baez
HOBO'S LULLABYE - Gary & Randy Scruggs
DUELING BANJOS - Dillards
SHELL GAME - Jerry Jeff Walker
GET YOUR BISCUITS IN THE OVEN AND YOUR BUNS IN THE BED - Kinky Friedman
I'M A WOMAN - Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band with Maria Muldaur
MARCH! FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING - John Fahey
THE DEATH OF STEPHEN BIKO - Tom Paxton
HERE I GO AGAIN - Country Joe & The Fish
YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL - Elizabeth
SOLDIER BLUE - Buffy Sainte-Marie
SOLD AMERICAN - Kinky Friedman
SAIL - Oregon
RENE'S THEME - Larry Coryell & John McLaughlin
COMMEMORATIVE TRANSFIGURATION AND COMMUNION AT MAGRUDER PARK - John Fahey
MORNING SONG TO SALLY - Jerry Jeff Walker
SHE USED TO WANT TO BE A BALLERINA - Buffy Sainte-Marie
A NICKEL'S WORTH OF BENNY'S HELP - 31st Of February
WISH I WAS A PUNK - Notes From The Underground
KISS MY ASS - Country Joe McDonald

Performer Notes:

• Liner Note Author: John Crosby .
• Introduction by: Samuel Charters.
• Begun in 1950 by brothers Maynard & Seymour Solomon, Vanguard Records was initially a classical label, although it issued some two-dozen jazz recordings between 1953 and 1958 under the direction of John Hammond. The brothers weren't as much interested in the commercial side of the record business as they were interested in presenting and archiving American musical history, and they had standards. When they signed blacklisted artists Paul Robeson and the Weavers in the mid-'50s, they garnered the respect of the emerging folk scene, putting the label in a wonderful position to document the urban folk and blues revivals that broke through to new commercial levels just as the '60s opened. Not only did Vanguard issue live albums of the Newport Folk Festivals, the label had also assembled an impressive catalog of young, cutting-edge folk singers, including Joan Baez, Patrick Sky, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ian & Sylvia, Richard & Mimi Faria, Hedy West, the Rooftop Singers, Eric Andersen, and many others, and had also issued important albums from blues rediscoveries Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt, made forays into bluegrass, and released Doc Watson's first LPs, all of which made Vanguard the most successful of the folk and blues labels of the '60s. Later in the decade the label tried its hand at rock, signing and issuing fine albums by Country Joe & the Fish and the Frost, although it is as a folk label that Vanguard's reputation rests. This four-disc set provides an in-depth survey of the breadth of Vanguard's catalog, and also serves as a sort of musical journey through the cultural shifts and changes of the '60s. The '70s weren't as kind to Vanguard as the '60s were, and the label was sold to the Welk Music Group in 1985, undergoing a kind of resurgence with albums from John Fogerty, Greg Laswell, Merle Haggard, Chris Isaak, Linda Ronstadt, Robert Cray' and others, but Vanguard's '60s catalog continues to be the label's defining jewel. This set shows why. ~ Steve Leggett

Professional Reviews: Uncut (pp.87-88) - "[T]he pulse of its heartening story is captured here."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - "This is a beautifully sequenced collection that takes you on a trip through some great, refreshingly unfamiliar music linked by mood, spirit and intent."

Format: CD (4 Disc); Stereo

Country: USA

Guest Artist: Dewey Balfa; Revon Reid; Greenbriar Boys; Peter Rowan; Clarence White; Harvey Mandel; Maria Muldaur

Release Date: 5 June, 2012

Label: Unbranded

Dimensions: 14.6 x 3 x 12.7 centimeters (0.18 kg)