Consumer Guide Album

Woody Guthrie: Early Masters [Tradition, 1996]
The godfather as seminal folkie on a "sonically cleansed" reissue of a 1961 compilation of a dozen mid-'40s recordings, nine or so famed for good reason. Though the credits state otherwise and the notes are sketchy, he wrote maybe half these songs, but the familiar support of Cisco Houston's harmonies and the occasional relief of Sonny Terry's harmonica compensate handily for his interpretive shortcomings. In short, a fine how-de-doo. A-