American Ballads (Folkways FA 2319, 1957) is one of Pete Seeger's landmark solo recordings, gathering a range of narrative songs drawn from American history and folk tradition. Seeger performs on five-string banjo and guitar, delivering colonial-era ballads, 19th-century broadsides, and rural folk pieces with the combination of scholarly intent and populist directness that distinguished his best Folkways work. The album reflects the folk revival's investment in ballad singing as civic education — Seeger held that knowing the nation's songs was inseparable from understanding its social history. Extensive liner-note annotation, typical of Folkways releases, situates each piece in its historical and regional context. The record remains a primary resource for educators and tradition-bearers alike.
Tracklist
- 1 Peg and Awl 2:30
- 2 The Blind Fiddler 1:17
- 3 Buffalo Skinners alt version 5:15
- 4 Eight-Hour Day 1:01
- 5 Hard Times in the Mill 2:16
- 6 Roll Down the Line 3:16
- 7 A Hayseed like Me 1:17
- 8 The Farmer is the Man (Who Feeds Them All) 1:43
- 9 Come All You Hardy Miners 2:01
- 10 He Lies in the American Land 2:01
- 11 Casey Jones alt version 3:07
- 12 Let Them Wear Their Watches Fine 3:42
- 13 Cotton Mill Colic 1:41
- 14 Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat 1:59
- 15 Mill Mother's Lament 1:38
- 16 Fare Ye Well, Old Ely Branch 2:12
- 17 Beans, Bacon, and Gravy 2:56
- 18 The Death of Harry Simms 2:14
- 19 Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues 1:10
- 20 The Ballad of Barney Graham 1:49
- 21 My Children are Seven in Number 4:00
- 22 Raggedy 2:32
- 23 Pittsburgh Town 1:31
- 24 Sixty Percent 1:01
- 25 The Big Rock Candy Mountain alt version
- 26 The Golden Vanity alt version
