Maps of Music

Struggle (1945)

Where the lyrics of Struggle take you, and where it was really made.

Six core songs on this album were first issued in 1946 under another title, and this LP form only appeared in 1976.

Place unknown

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Struggle is an album by folk artist Woody Guthrie, released by Folkways Records
Issued as a vinyl LP with catalogue number FA 2485 in 1976
Issued as a CD in 1990
Contains recordings by Woody Guthrie
Some tracks are accompanied by Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry
Songs on the album are commonly referred to as protest music, songs associated with a movement for social change
Track listing of 12 songs, including Struggle Blues, Union Burying Ground, Lost John, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ludlow Massacre and 1913 Massacre

The album was originally called STRUGGLE: DOCUMENTARY #1
Moses Asch, then director of Folkways Records, wrote the general introduction in the booklet
Asch issued the original version in 1946 on Asch Records
Asch recorded six songs: Pretty Boy Floyd, Buffalo Skinners, Union Burying Ground, Lost John, Ludlow Massacre and The 1913 Massacre
The recordings were made at Woody's insistence on a series of records showing the struggle of working people
The other songs come from Asch's recordings of Woody during the years they worked together at Asch, DISC and Folkways Records

1	Buffalo Skinners	3:23
2	Pretty Boy Floyd	3:09

1	Ludlow Massacre	3:34
2	1913 Massacre	3:40

1	Lost John	2:57
2	Union Burying Ground	3:08

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, born July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma; died October 3, 1967 in New York.
Left Okemah in 1929 and followed his father to Pampa, Texas, where he began busking and playing music.
Moved to California during the Dust Bowl period and worked at Los Angeles radio station KFVD.

Solo artist; no group members.
Married Mary Jennings (1933), Marjorie Greenblatt (1945), and Anneke van Kirk (1953); fathered eight children in total.
His son Arlo Guthrie became a nationally known musician.

Known for songs such as "This Land Is Your Land" and "Tear the Fascists Down", with themes of American socialism and anti-fascism.
Wrote hundreds of country, folk, and children's songs; the 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads earned him the nickname "Dust Bowl Troubadour".
Wrote the column "Woody Sez" for the communist newspaper People's World (1939–1940); was never a formal Communist Party member.
Served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II before being drafted into the Army in 1945.
Diagnosed with Huntington's disease in 1952; hospitalized from 1956 until his death in 1967.
Influenced Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and many others; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

The songs are commonly referred to as protest music
The album is linked to a movement for social change
Asch's introduction presents the series as depicting working people's struggle for a place in the America they envisioned

The CD edition came out in 1990
The 1990 CD credits Smithsonian/Folkways Records USA and Topic Records/Special Delivery Ltd
The CD remastering was supervised by Mickey Hart
Cover art by David Stone Martin

The album was first titled STRUGGLE: DOCUMENTARY #1 and issued in 1946 on Asch Records
Moses Asch recorded six of the songs at Woody's insistence on a series of records
The album is dedicated to Marjorie Guthrie and Pete Seeger
The 1990 CD edition credits Mickey Hart for digital remastering supervision
The track listing opens with Struggle Blues
Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry accompany some of the tracks