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 r-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. Tracks - Side A: 1. Henry Lee · Dick Justice 2. Fatal Flower Garden · Nelstones Hawaiians 3. The House Carpenter · Clarence Ashley 4. Drunkards Special · Coley Jones 5. Old Lady and the Devil · Bill and Belle Reed 6. The Butchers Boy · Buell Kazee 7. The Wagoners Lad · Buell Kazee Side B: 1. King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O · Chubby Parker 2. Old Shoes and Leggins · Uncle Eck Dunford 3. Willie Moore · Richard Burnett and Leonard Rutherford 4. A Lazy Farmer Boy · Buster Carter and Preston Young 5. Peg and Awl · The Carolina Tar Heels 6. Ommie Wise · G. B. Grayson 7. My Name Is John Johanna · Kelly Harrell Side C: 1. Bandit Cole Younger · Edward L. Crain 2. Charles Giteau · Kelly Harrell 3. John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man · The Carter Family 4. Gonna Die with My Hammer in My Hand · The Williamson Brothers and Curry 5. Stackalee · Frank Hutchison 6. White House Blues · Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers 7. Frankie · Missisippi John Hurt Side D: 1. When That Great Ship Went Down · William and Versey Smith 2. Engine 143 · The Carter Family 3. Kassie Jones · Furry Lewis 4. Down on Pennys Farm · The Bently Boys 5. Mississippi Boweavil Blues · The Masked Marvel 6. Got the Farm Land Blues · The Carolina Tar Heels