Woody Guthrie Union Boys SONGS FOR VICTORY Music for Political Action ASCH 346
$
175
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Description
A series of great PERSONALITY Records from Movies, Vaudeville, Minstrel and Humor on 78 rpm Victrola Records
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Josh White (here at Café Society circa June 1946) sang lead on most Union Boys songs Background information Origin New York City Genres Folk Years active 11 March 1944 Pete Seeger entertaining Eleanor Roosevelt (center), honored guest at a racially integrated Valentine's Day party marking the opening of a Canteen of the United Federal Labor, CIO, in then-segregated Washington, D.C., 1944
"All-star leftist" UNION BOYS were Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, Tom Glazer (and Woody Guthrie by contributing a song).
The Union Boys (also "Josh White and the Union Boys"[1]) was an American folk music group, formed impromptu in 1944, to record several songs on an album called Songs for Victory: Music for Political Action.
The Union Boys, Woody Guthrie, Josh White – Songs For Victory: Music For Political Action
Label: Asch Records – 346
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
A The Union Boys– Hold The Fort We Shall Not Be Moved
B The Union Boys– Hold On
C The Union Boys– UAW-CIO
D The Union Boys– A Dollar Ain't A Dollar Any More
E Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston– Sally Don't You Grieve
F Josh White, The Union Boys– Jim Crow
Please see top of the page for condition
Background
Pete Seeger entertaining Eleanor Roosevelt (center), honored guest at a racially integrated Valentine's Day party marking the opening of a Canteen of the United Federal Labor, CIO, in then-segregated Washington, D.C., 1944.[6]
Songs of Victory fits with the Almanac Singers' album Dear Mr. President.[7]
In 1942, Army intelligence and the FBI determined that the Almanacs and their former anti-draft message were still a seditious threat to recruitment and the morale of the war effort among blacks and youth.[8] and they were hounded by hostile reviews, exposure of their Communist ties and negative coverage in the New York press, like the headline "Commie Singers try to Infiltrate Radio."[9] They disbanded in late 1942 or early 1943.
Recording session
On March 11, 1944,[10] Alan Lomax assembled the group for an impromptu recording at the Asch Recording Studio in New York City.[1][2][5][11]
The album represents a change from the anti-war, anti-racism, and pro-union philosophies of most of its members but a continuation of their anti-Nazi, anti-Fascist philosophies in the form for support for the US and the Allies (which included the USSR).
The Union Boys turned out to be a one-time, one session "group": Moe Asch gave them the name.[5]
Afterwards
A few months later, White and Glazer recorded another album with a similar title, Songs of Citizen CIO.[3] Songs for Victory also began White's association with recording engineer Moe Asch, who released White's next two albums on his Asch Records label.[2]
Track listing
The Recorded Sound Archives of Florida Atlantic University lists:
"Hold the Fort / We Shall Not Be Moved"[4]
"Hold On" (traditional, Union Boys led by Josh White)[1][10]
"UAW-CIO" (written by Butch Haws)[12]
"A Dollar Ain't a Dollar Any More" (written by Tom Glazer)
"Sally Don't You Grieve" (Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston)
"Jim Crow" (written by Josh White, sung by Josh White)[1]
"Hold On," itself a rewrite of a Gospel song "Gospel Plow,"[2] received a pro-war rewrite for this album, including the refrain:
Hold on – Franklin D. / Hold on – Winston C. / Hold on – Chiang Kai-shek / Hold on – Joseph Stalin / Keep your hands on that gun / And hold on.[2]
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