American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie's published recordings are culled from a series of recording sessions in the 1940s and 1950s. At the time they were recorded they were not set down for a particular album, so are found over several albums not necessarily in chronological order. The more detailed section on recording sessions lists the song by recording date.
Selected published discography YearAlbum detailsComments 1940 Dust Bowl Ballads Label: Victor RecordsReissued in 1964 and 2000 by Folkways Records and Buddha Records respectively. 1951 Nursery Days Label: Folkways Records FC 7675Reissued in 1992 by Smithsonian Folkways 1956 Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child Label: Folkways Records FC 7015Reissued in 1991 by Smithsonian Folkways SFW45035 Bound for Glory Label: Folkways Records FA 2481Reissued in 2006 by Smithsonian Folkways FW02481 1960 Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti Label: Folkways Records FH 5485Reissued in 1996 by Smithsonian Folkways SFW40060 1961 Songs To Grow On, Volume 3: This Land Is My Land - American Work Songs Label: Folkways Records FC 7027 1962 Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs Label: Folkways Records FA 2483Reissued in 1989 by Smithsonian Folkways SFW40007 1964 Hard Travelin''' Label: Disc Records D-110
| Library of Congress Recordings Label: Elektra Records EKL-271/272 | Reissued in 1988 by Rounder Records |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 1972 | Greatest Songs of Woody Guthrie Label: Vanguard Records VSD 35/36
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 1976 | Struggle Label: Folkways Records FA 2485 | Reissued in 1990 by Smithsonian Folkways SFW40025 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 1987 | Columbia River Collection Label: Rounder Records 1036
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 1994 | Long Ways to Travel: The Unreleased Folkways Masters, 1944-1949 Label: Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40046
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"rowspan="2"| 1997 | This Land Is Your Land, The Asch Recordings, Vol.1 Label: Smithsonian Folkways SFW40100
| Muleskinner Blues, The Asch Recordings, Vol.2 Label: Smithsonian Folkways SFW40101
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 1998 | Hard Travelin', The Asch Recordings, Vol.3 Label: Smithsonian Folkways SFW40102
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 1999 | Buffalo Skinners, The Asch Recordings, Vol.4 Label: Smithsonian Folkways SFW40103
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 2007 | The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949 Label: Woody Guthrie Foundation | Reissued in 1990 by Rounder Records in 2011 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 2009 | My Dusty Road Label: Rounder Records
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;"| 2012 |Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection'' Label: Smithsonian Folkways SFW40200
Recording sessions
The list here is organized by recording session and is mostly sourced from the discography put together by Dr. Guy Lodgson in 1990–1991 at the Smithsonian Institution as it appears in the book "Hard Travelin' The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie".
Note: A blank cell below a date indicate that the date is repeated on that row.
1940, Library Of Congress, Washington, D.C., sessions with Alan Lomax TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentUnited States Department of Interior, Radio Broadcasting Division, interviewed by Alan Lomax Monologue; Boyhood of Woody Guthrie 3407 & 3408March 21, 1940The Train (Lost Train Blues)3407-AGuitar / HarmonicaRailroad Blues3407-BHarmonicaRye Whiskey3408-A,B1Vocals / GuitarOld Joe Clark3408-B2Vocals / GuitarBeaumont Rag3408-B3Vocals / GuitarDialogue on the "Green Valley Waltz"3408-B4Green Valley Waltz3409-AVocals / GuitarMonologue on the youth of Woody Guthrie3409-A,B1Greenback Dollar3409-B1Vocals / Guitar / HarmoniesBoll Weevil Song3409-B2Vocals / Guitar / HarmoniesMidnight Special3410-A1Vocals / Guitar / HarmoniesDialogue on Dust Storms3410-A2,B1So Long, It's Been Good to Know You3410-B2Vocals / Guitar Dialogue on the Dust Bowl3410-B3Dialogue on the Dust Bowl, cont.3411-A1Talking Dust Bowl Blues3411-A2,B1Dialogue on Experiences in California3411-B2Do-Re-Mi3411-B3Vocals /Guitar / HarmonicaHard Times3412-A1March 22, 1940Vocals / GuitarBring Me Back to My Blue Eyed Boy3412-A2Vocals / GuitarDialogue on Love Songs3412-A3Dialogue on Outlaws3412-B1Billy the Kid3412-B2Vocals / Guitar (Fragment)Pretty Boy Floyd3412-B3Vocals / GuitarPretty Boy Floyd, cont3413-ADialogue about Jesse James3413-B1Vocals / GuitarThey Laid Jesus Christ in His Grave3413-B2Vocals / GuitarThey Laid Jesus Christ in His Grave, cont.3414-A1Vocals / GuitarI'm a Jolly Banker3414-A2Dialogue on Bankers3414-A2,3 I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore3414-A3B1Vocals / Guitar / HarmonicaDirty Overhauls3414-B2Vocals / GuitarDirty Overhauls, cont3415-A1 'Mary Fagen' and Dialogue3415-A2B1 Vocals / GuitarChain Around My Leg3415-B2Vocals / GuitarDialogue on the Blues3416-A1The Bluest Blues (900 Miles?)3416-A2Worried Man Blues3416-B1Vocals / GuitarChurch House Blues - Lonesome Valley3416-B2Vocals / GuitarDialogue on Walking Railroad Ties3416-B2Monologue Railroads and Men Out of Work3417-ARailroad Line Blues3417-B1Vocals / GuitarGoin' Down the Frisco Line3417-B2Vocals / GuitarI'm Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad3418-A1Vocals / GuitarSeven Cent Cotton3418-A2Vocals / Guitar (fragment)Wagon Yard Blues3418-A3Vocals / Guitar (fragment)Dust Bowl Refugees3418-B1Vocals / GuitarDialogue about man going to California for contract work3418-B2Dialogue about man going to California for contract work, cont.3419-AGreat Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster) and dialogue3419-B1Vocals / GuitarI'm Sittin' on the Foggy Mountain Top3419-B2Vocals / GuitarStory Of Oil Booms and Dust Storms3420-A1March 27, 1940Dust Pneumonia Blues3420-A2Vocals / GuitarDust Bowl Blues3420-B1Vocals / GuitarDialogue about California3420-B1California Blues3420-B2Vocals / GuitarDialogue about Jimmy Rogers and "California Blues"3421-ADo-Re-Mi3421-B1Vocals / GuitarLiving conditions in California3421-B1 Dust Bowl Refugees3422-AVocals / GuitarDialogue about Okies in California, Pride in Oklahoma, and Wil Rogers3422-B1Highway 66 / Wil Rogers Highway3423-A1Vocals / GuitarNew Years Flood3423-A2Vocals / GuitarSongs by Woody Guthrie and Guitar, Recorded in the Phonoduplication Studio by Alan Lomax and John LangeneggerStewball4491-A1Jan 4 1941Vocals / GuitarStagolee4491-A2Vocals / GuitarOne Dime Blues4491-A3Vocals / GuitarWoopie Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Doggies4491-B1Vocals / GuitarTrail To Mexico4491-B2Vocals / Guitar (fragment)The Gypsy Davy4491-B3Vocals / GuitarThere is a House in this Old Town4491-B4Vocals / Guitar
American Studio of the Air, Radio Show TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentBoll WeevilLibrary of Congress (LOC) 4507A4April 2, 1940Harmonica / Vocals / Guitar with the Golden Gate Quartet It's Hard on We Poor FarmersLOC 4507A3Harmonica / Alan Lomax on Guitar & VocalsTrain BluesLOC 4508A1Harmonica So Long, It's Been Good to Know YouLOC 4508A2Harmonica / Vocals / Alan Lomax on GuitarTalking Dust StormLOC 4508A3Vocals Guitar
1940, RCA Victor Sessions, Dust Bowl Ballads TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / Instrument*The Great Dust Storm ("Dust Storm Disaster")(26622-A) BS-050145-1April 26, 1940Guitar*Talking Dust Bowl Blues(26619-A) BS-050146-2GuitarDust Pnemunonia Blues(26623-B) BS-050147-1Guitar*Dusty Old Dust ("So Long, It's Been Good to Know You")(26622-B) BS-050148-1GuitarDust Bowl BluesLPV-502, BS-050149-1Guitar*Blowin Down This Road ("I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way")(26619-B) BS-050150-1Guitar / Harmonica*Tom Joad pt 1(26621-A) BS-050151-1Guitar / Harmonica*Tom Joad pt 2(26621-B) BS-050152-1GuitarDo Re Mi(26620-A) BS-050153-1Guitar*Dust Bowl Refugee(26623-A) BS-050154-1Guitar / HarmonicaI Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore(26624-A) BS-050155-1Guitar / Harmonica "Vigilante Man"(26624-B) BS-050156-1Guitar / Harmonica*Dust Can't Kill Me(26620-B) BS-050600-1Guitar / HarmonicaPretty Boy FloydLPV 502, BS-050601-1Guitar * These recording were released on the record Talking Dust Bowl on Folkways Records in 1950 by Moe Asch, but without RCA's licences. All these recordings were made by RCA Records in 1940 and released on the albums Dust Bowl Ballads vol 1 and 2. These records have been subsequently reissued in 1964 and 1977.
1941, Bonneville Power Administration, The Columbia River Songs The masters of this session were lost, but a collection of 6 discs was collected from BPA employee copies from the time. Most were eventually released on Rounder Records Woody Guthrie, Columbia River Collection C1036 in 1987. The 6 discs are housed in the National Archives, Washington D.C. The catalogue numbers here relate to National Archive listings.
TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentPastures of Plenty305.01May 1941Vocals / GuitarThe Biggest Thing Man Has Ever Done305.01Vocals / GuitarRoll Columbia, Roll305.01Vocals / GuitarWashington Talkin' Blues305.02Vocals / GuitarThe Biggest Thing Man Has Ever Done305.02Vocals / GuitarRamblin' Blues (Portland Town)305.03Vocals / GuitarIt Takes a Married Man to Sing A Worried Song305.03Vocals / GuitarSong of the Grand Coulee Dam ("Way Up in That Northwest")305.03Vocals / GuitarRoll On, Columbia305.04Vocals / GuitarThe Grand Coulee Dam305.04Vocals / GuitarJackhammer Blues305.05Vocals / GuitarThe Grand Coulee Dam305.05Vocals / GuitarColumbia Waters305.05Vocals / GuitarTalking Columbia Blues305.05Vocals / Guitar
Unissued LOC Recordings: Home Disc Recordings & 1941 Almanac Singers Series of Discs for the Library of Congress, recorded by the Almanac Singers, only those written by or featuring Woody Guthrie are included here. Notes are Woody's parts. TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentRound and Round Hitler's Grave6100-BFebruary 1942GuitarHulaballobalay6101-AGuitarTaking it Easy6101-BGuitarBiggest Thing Man Has Ever Done6102-BGuitar / VocalsHigh Cost of Living6103-AGuitarSinking of the Ruben James6103-BGuitarGoin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad6105-AGuitarPretty Boy Floyd4793-AAugust 1941Vocals
Keynote Recordings TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentSong for BridgesQB 1548June 1941Guitar / Vocals* Babe O' MineQB 1549Guitar / Vocals* Boomtown Billx-5000June 1942* Keep That Oil a Rollin'QB 1548June 1942Vocals * Songs that have been released on Songs for Political Action, Bear Family Records BCD 15270
General Records TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentBlow Ye Winds, Heigh Ho5015-A, R-4160July 1941Away Rio5017-A, R-4161HarmonicaBlow the Man Down5016-A, R-4162VocalsThe Golden Vanity5017-B, R-4174HarmonicaThe Coast of Old Barbary5015-B, R-4176HarmonicaHaul Away Joe5015-B, R-4176House of the Rising Sun5020-B, R-4163Ground Hog5018-B, R-4164State of Arkansas5019-B, R-4165I Ride an Old Paint5020-A, R-4169Vocals / GuitarHard Ain't It Hard5019-B, R-4170HarmonicaThe Dodger Song5018-A, R-4171HarmonicaThe Weavers SongR-4168Greenland FishingR-4172
The Martins and the Coys: A Contemporary Folk Tale Recorded by Decca Records in March 1944, and written by Elizabeth Lomax. Alan Lomax shopped this around but no stations were interested, eventually being sold to the BBC. The recordings included Woody as well as several members of the Almanac singers.
TitleCatalogue No.Recording DateNotes / InstrumentYou Better Get ReadyMarch 1944Vocal / Guitar w/Sonny Terry on HarmonicaYou Fascists Are Bound to LoseVocal / Guitar w/Sonny Terry on HarmonicaBound for the MountainsGroup VocalsRun Boys RunBlack is the Color of My True Love's HairOn Top of Old SmokeyGonna Take Everybody (All Work Together)When We March Into BerlinHow Many Biscuts Can You Eat?Smokey Mountain GirlsTurtle DoveRound and Round Hitler's GraveThe Martins and the Coys
1944 and 1945, The Asch Recordings