100 Essential Folk Songs

... now here's a more-interesting-than-many kind of a list...
at least for someone like me who often thinks that the
current plague of originality is a a dubious blessing
in zone of roots/folk/global/whatever acoustic music.

It comes from the radio show Folk Alley, their suggestions
of the 100 essential folk songs. Here's the first 50- if you
want to see the rest, head over to their site 

How many of these have you heard performed live
in the past year*?

1. This Land is Your Land - Woody Guthrie


   2. Blowin’ in the Wind - Bob Dylan

   3. City of New Orleans - Steve Goodman
   
   4. If I Had a Hammer - Pete Seeger
   
   5. Where Have All The Flowers Gone
         - The Kingston Trio
  
    6. Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot
   
   7. Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
   
   8. We Shall Overcome - Pete Seeger
   
   9. Four Strong Winds - Ian and Sylvia
  
 10. Last Thing On My Mind - Tom Paxton

  11. The Circle Game - Joni Mitchell
  12. Tom Dooley - The Kingston Trio (Trad)
  13. Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
  14. Who Knows Where The Time Goes
        - Sandy Denny
15. Goodnight Irene - The Weavers (trad)
  16. Universal Soldier - Buffy St Marie
  17. Don’t Think Twice - Bob Dylan
  18. Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez
  19. Sounds of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
  20. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
         - Gordon Lightfoot

  21. Alice’s Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie
  22. Turn, Turn, Turn
       - The Byrds (Pete Seeger)
  23. Puff The Magic Dragon
        - Peter, Paul and Mary
  24. Thirsty Boots - Eric Andersen
  25. There But For Fortune - Phil Ochs
  26. Across The Great Divide - Kate Wolf
  27. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
        - The Band

  28. The Dutchman - Steve Goodman
  29. Matty Groves
        - Fairport Convention (Trad)

  30. Pastures of Plenty - Woody Guthrie
  31. Canadian Railroad Trilogy
       - Gordon Lightfoot
  32. Ramblin’ Boy - Tom Paxton
  33. Hello In There - John Prine
  34. The Mary Ellen Carter - Stan Rogers
  35. Scarborough Fair
       - Martin Carthy (Trad)
  36. Freight Train - Elizabeth Cotton
  37. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
  38. Paradise - John Prine

 






  39. Northwest Passage - Stan Rogers
  40. And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
       - Eric Bogle
  41. Changes - Phil Ochs
  42. Streets of London - Ralph McTell
  43. Gentle On My Mind - John Hartford
  44. Barbara Allen - Shirley Collins (Trad)

  













  45. Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds
  46. The Water is Wide - Traditional
  47. Blue Moon of Kentucky - Bill Monroe
  48. No Regrets - Tom Rush
  49. Amazing Grace - Odetta (Trad)
  50. Catch The Wind - Donovan

* which poses an interesting (to me) question...
if a folk song isn't sung anymore,is it still a folk song?


to be continued....

-30-