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American Industrial Ballads

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American Industrial Ballads
Studio album by
Released1956
Genre
Length49:25
LabelFolkways Records
ProducerMoses Asch
Alternative Cover
The 1992 reissue album cover.

American Industrial Ballads is a studio album by American folk singer Pete Seeger. It was released in 1956 by Folkways Records. It was reissued in 1992 by Smithsonian Folkways.

Album

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Seeger sings songs of struggle which emerged from the coal mines, textile mills and acres of farmland, and spoke of issues important to the American laborer. There are twenty-four songs, written about the unprecedented industrialization of the 19th century, including "Peg and Awl", "The Farmer is the Man", and "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues". Irwin Silber's notes provide a history of labor folk song and its role in American popular music.[1] The cover design for the 1992 reissue was done by Carol Hardy.[2]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]

Writing for Allmusic William Ruhlman wrote "Seeger presents the songs straightforwardly with only occasional flourishes, intent on getting the meanings across." He continued, "Taken together, they chronicle a century and a half of the efforts of farmers, textile workers, and miners, primarily, to get what they deserve from increasingly rich and powerful captains of industry."[4]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Peg and Awl"2:29
2."The Blind Fiddler"1:17
3."Buffalo Skinners"2:44
4."Eight-Hour Day"1:00
5."Hard Times in the Mill"2:16
6."Roll Down the Line"3:15
7."A Hayseed Like Me"1:16
8."The Farmer is the Man (Who Feeds Us All)"1:43
9."Come All You Hardy Miners"2:00
10."He Lies in the American Land"2:01
11."Casey Jones"2:20
12."Let Them Wear Their Watches Fine"3:41
13."Cotton Mill Colic"1:41
14."Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat"1:58
15."Mill Mother's Lament"1:37
16."Fare Ye Well, Old Ely Branch"2:11
17."Beans, Bacon, and Gravy"2:56
18."The Death of Harry Simms"2:14
19."Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues"1:09
20."The Ballad of Barney Graham"1:48
21."My Children are Seven in Number"3:59
22."Raggedy"2:32
23."Pittsburgh Town"1:30
24."Sixty Percent"1:00

References

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  1. ^ "American Industrial Ballads". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 1992-01-01. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  2. ^ "Pete Seeger – American Industrial Ballads (1992, CD)" – via www.discogs.com.
  3. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Pete Seeger - American Industrial Ballads". AllMusic. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  4. ^ "American Industrial Ballads - Pete Seeger | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.