From USC
In a period of wartime rationing and shortages, one had aluminum, the other shellac. They both knew a fella who could sing. So they tossed their resources together to capture the singer's folk tunes. It would be six decades before the vivid, robust results would surface. And after they were unearthed from cardboard barrels in Brooklyn, a noted writer in Los Angeles would get a call to put it all in perspective. That's just a little of the backstory behind the recent release of dozens of never before heard Woody Guthrie recordings, all from pristine aluminum-and-shellac masters cut in 1944. The recordings of the legendary folk artist, who then was in the Merchant Marines, are said to be exceptional -- though a 14,000-word booklet by Trojan journalism prof Ed Cray, a Guthrie biographer and expert, puts it all in perspective.
A Trojan prof tells backstory of pristine, powerful reordings by legendary folks star
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