The Smithsonian Folkways Collection

Tracklist

Best experienced from track one — press play and let it unfold.

Disc 1

• 1 Irene (Goodnight Irene) Standout 1:56
• 2 The Bourgeois Blues Standout 2:21
• 3 Fannin Street (Mister Tom Hughes Town) 3:34
• 4 The Midnight Special 2:05
• 5 John Henry Standout 3:13
• 6 Black Girl (Where Did You Sleep Last Night) 2:10
• 7 Pick a Bale of Cotton 1:33
• 8 Take This Hammer 2:18
• 9 Cotton Field 2:09
• 10 Old Riley 2:01
• 11 Rock Island Line 2:07
• 12 The Gallis Pole 2:48
• 13 Ha-Ha This a Way 1:37
• 14 Sukey Jump 1:07
• 15 Boll Weevil 3:09
• 16 Scottsboro Boys 4:35
• 17 Governor O.K. Allen 2:38
• 18 Governor Pat Neff 3:41
• 19 There's a Man Going Around Taking Names 1:28
• 20 On a Monday 1:50
• 21 You Can't Lose Me, Cholly 2:40
• 22 Keep Your Hands Off Her 2:55
• 23 We Shall Be Free 2:34

Disc 2

• 1 Alabama Bound 2:20
• 2 Almost Day 1:08
• 3 Fiddler's Dram 2:31
• 4 Green Corn 1:18
• 5 Sally Walker 2:43
• 6 Bring Me a Little Water, Silvy 0:51
• 7 Julie Ann Johnson 0:44
• 8 Linin' Track 1:13
• 9 Whoa, Back, Buck 2:13
• 10 Shorty George 1:31
• 11 Ham and Eggs 1:46
• 12 Moanin' 1:04
• 13 Out on the Western Plains 1:35
• 14 Noted Rider 2:53
• 15 Meeting at the Building 1:02
• 16 Good, Good, Good (Talking, Preaching) / We Shall Walk Through the Valley 2:15
• 17 Ain't You Glad (The Blood Done Signed My Name) 2:23
• 18 I'm So Glad, I Done Got Over 1:24
• 19 The Hindenburg Disaster 3:25
• 20 Ella Speed 5:52
• 21 Haul Away Joe 2:52
• 22 Old Man 2:38
• 23 Sweet Jenny Lee 1:54
• 24 Jean Harlow 1:43
• 25 Laura 1:44
• 26 Queen Mary 4:46

Disc 3

• 1 Good Morning Blues 2:26
• 2 Sail On, Little Girl 3:17
• 3 Easy Rider 2:53
• 4 Poor Howard 1:40
• 5 Duncan and Brady 4:09
• 6 How Long, How Long 2:16
• 7 T.B. Blues 3:46
• 8 Jim Crow Blues 3:33
• 9 Pigmeat 2:35
• 10 John Hardy 2:47
• 11 Outskirts of Town 2:43
• 12 4, 5 and 9 2:23
• 13 In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down) 3:31
• 14 Red Cross Store Blues 3:12
• 15 Diggin' My Potatoes 2:36
• 16 Blind Lemon 1:43
• 17 When a Man's a Long Way From Home 3:03
• 18 Alberta 3:14
• 19 Excerpt From "The Lonesome Train" 3:14
• 20 National Defense Blues 3:17
• 21 Hitler Song (Mr. Hitler) 4:34
• 22 Big Fat Woman 1:13
• 23 Been So Long (Bellevue Hospital Blues) 2:44

Disc 4

• 1 W.N.Y.C. - Folk Songs of America - Lead Belly 14:44
• 2 W.N.Y.C. - Folk Songs of America - Lead Belly and the Oleander Quartet 14:48
• 3 If It Wasn't for Dicky 2:18
• 4 What's You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire 2:16
• 5 Rock Me (Hide Me in Thy Bosom) 2:22
• 6 Packin' Trunk Blues 2:39
• 7 Leaving Blues 3:02
• 8 How Come You Do Me Like You Do? 3:30
• 9 One Dime Blues 2:29
• 10 I'm Going to Buy You a Brand New Ford 1:43
• 11 Jail-House Blues 2:26
• 12 Shout On 2:13
• 13 Come and Sit Down Beside Me 1:05
• 14 Red River 2:12

Disc 5

• 1 Yes, I Was Standing in the Bottom 1:44
• 2 Ain't Going Down to the Well No More (version 2) 1:26
• 3 Everytime I Go Out 1:28
• 4 Go Down, Old Hannah 5:01
• 5 Black Betty 1:56
• 6 Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out 3:46
• 7 Stewball 2:38
• 8 Ain't It a Shame to Go Fishin' on a Sunday 1:25
• 9 Relax Your Mind 4:08
• 10 Princess Elizabeth 3:36
• 11 Silver City Bound 6:04
• 12 The Titanic 5:13
• 13 House of the Rising Sun 2:27
• 14 It's Tight Like That 3:12
• 15 Diggin' My Potatoes 4:01
• 16 Springtime in the Rockies 3:06
• 17 Backwater Blues 3:26
• 18 Didn't Old John Cross the Water 1:59
• 19 De Kalb Blues 3:54
• 20 The Hung Him on the Cross (version 1) 2:29
• 21 The Hung Him on the Cross (version 2) 2:53
• 22 In the World 2:02

What to play next

Listen next

American Epic: The Best of Lead Belly

2017

Go back to

Sings for Children

1999