CD Review

Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry, Lily May Ledford and more...
The Martins and the Coys
(from The Lomax Collection - Rounder, 2000 )

This real curio of American culture kicks off a part of the Lomax Collection called "The Ballad Operas." It's 1944 and the BBC is producing war propaganda for edgy Britons. So in this radio play, here come the Americans with their guns, planes, ships,... banjos and guitars. It's based on the infamous Hatfield/McCoy feud, which had already become standard fodder for popular songs and shows - well-known even on the other side of the Atlantic. In this version, narrated by Burl Ives, the Martins and the Coys are two coon-hunting, moonshining, blood-feuding families from an isolated Appalachian holler. But when the war comes, Ben Martin and Alec Coy (Woody Guthrie), the two remaining family scions, are sent across the ocean to fight the fascists together. Of course, they make up and become best friends as Ben falls in love with Sary Coy. Meanwhile, Ben's irrascible Uncle Boone, now left on his own, falls in love with Sary's widowed mother, Dellie, who takes him in for the duration of the war while they work the Victory Farms together.

The action is as clichéd as is possible, and the characters exploit every opportunity to sing rousing Almanac-like versions of traditional American songs like "Black is the Color," and "Nine Hundred Miles," peppered with topical songs hot off the press: "Deliver the Goods" (Seeger), "All You Fascists Bound to Lose" (Guthrie) and "'Round and 'Round Hitler's Grave" (Seeger/Guthrie/Lampel). It's a regular hootenanny. There are better, less hokey versions of the traditional songs elsewhere, but the uncharacterisically pro-war songs from Woody Guthrie - and Pete Seeger of all people - and the taste of dated radio drama make this a must-have album for history hounds.

-HB

For reviews of more CDs in the Lomax Collection, see:
http://folkmusic.balladtree.com/library/reviews/lomax.htm