Woody Guthrie Lost Bonneville Power Recordings Preservation

The donation is in progress. I understand the concerns that the recordings will get buried but this is something that they are very excited to get started working on so i don't think that will happen. I plan to keep an open line of communication with them about the progress and have this thread serve as a place for continuing updates on the music.

 

They always say that.
Then a half century goes by.
You won't see or hear these records again until PBS gets a grant to do something with them 50-odd years from now.

Look, play the discs, put your cellphone between the speakers and press voice record.
At least the songs will be documented, immediate and real for listening.

 

Not true. AFC materials are still accessible through the main reading room in the Jefferson Building.

Somewhat misleading. While the Culpeper facility is not usually open to researchers, sometimes exceptions are made depending on what the research is. Most research can be performed in D.C.

All transfers and digitization are done in Culpeper, and the objects themselves are stored there (film, video, discs, cylinders, tapes, etc.) There are no digital copies "stored" in Culpeper, although "hard" safety copies of a photochemical nature are. All the digital files made are stored on multiple redundant servers which are accessible to the main reading room.

They will be handled with utmost care and digitized using industry standard best practices and on or near state of the art equipment.

 

Most of the transfers on the Rounder Columbia River Collection CD are very dead sounding without any additional processing if you listen through good headphones hooked up to a good computer system. The CD sounded best on my bedroom Sherwood Pro-Logic receiver with the Pro-Logic turned on using 2 speakers. The same songs that are on Smithsonian Folkways CDs and Folkways LPs sound better on the Folkways product right from the start without additional processing in the chain.

 

The Columbia River songs are my favorite Guthrie songs, by far, but many of the songs exist only in very poor quality. I am REALLY hoping to someday hear a relatively decent-quality version of Woody's recording of "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On." I see that is one of the songs on these newly rediscovered discs. Keeping my fingers crossed...

 

Library of Congress needs to put MMM on the job. Let him do the restoration and mastering on Woody Guthrie's catalog the same way he did Frank Sinatra for A VOICE ON AIR. It would be a revelation.

 

The Smithsonian Folkways CDs and the Buddha Dust Bowl Ballads are the best sounding Woody Guthrie on CD.

 

The Rounder Columbia River CD if you play it on iTunes, only the Bass Reducer and Vocal Booster settings with the preamp turned on and the gain turned up makes the disc acceptable to listen to. If these discs that are newly rediscovered are decent quality, Rounder would need to remaster the Columbia River CD. The Bass Reducer is the better option of the 2 for the Rounder CD.

 

BTW, if this material can get overhauled, I would be willing to buy this material again. For now, I have the Rounder CD which is lousy sounding, but great music throughout.

 

BTW, I made my opinion on the Rounder CD known to Amazon shoppers: Customer Review

 

Thanks for the update. Most of my experience in working through the Culpeper site comes from making requests through the Recorded Sound room squirreled away within the Performing Arts Collection in the Madison Building. My understanding of the practices and policies of the Culpeper site comes from conversations with staff members in Recorded Sound. I've been a frequent patron of the Library of Congress for 30+ years. I'll enter some responses below.

The one time I requested a recording through the American Folk Life Collection it was delivered to - and could only be listened to in - the Recorded Sound room, which is only open five days a week.

I've requested onsite access to the Culpeper facility several times (I live west of it) and have never been granted permission. Finding time during a work week to travel to the Recorded Sound room during its very limited hours is difficult.

Perhaps my technical language was inexact, but from my user perspective "digital files...stored on multiple redundant servers" is equivalent to copies stored in Culpeper. As noted above, the files I requested were not delivered to me in the AFC's reading room.

I don't doubt this. I'm not frustrated with the collection. It's limited access to the collection that I find distressing. I'm bewildered by an ongoing "closed stack" approach to serving digital data online.

 

They'll sound better once MMM has his way with them.
No doubt of it.

 

The Columbia film with Woody's soundtrack on Archive.org


If you wish to get it on DVD:
The film is on the BPA Film Collection, Volume One, 1939-1954 DVD. This as well as well as BPA Film Collection, Volume Two, 1950-1987, are also available on DVD. To receive a free copy, contact the BPA Library and Visitor Center in Portland at 800-622-4520 or [email protected]. One can also view and share the films and other BPA-produced videos on BPA’s YouTube channel.

The Columbia: America's Greatest Power Stream (1949)

 

Also check this out: Woody Guthrie & BPA

 

I have received the DVDs and they are well transferred and worth writing for and the BPA even sent me the "Roll On Columbia: Woody Guthrie and The Columbia River Songs" DVD along with the "Film Collection" sets.

 

BTW, I am glad that I bought the 1987 Rounder CD of the Columbia River recordings now since the remastering on the American Radical Patriot collection isn't an improvement over the 1987 disc. Do any of you feel the same way with the Library of Congress recordings on American Radical Patriot set vs. the 1980s 3 CD set.

 

How long did it take you to get the DVDs after you contacted the BPA? And did you call or email to request them? I sent an email to the [email protected] email address a little over seven weeks ago, and have yet to receive either a response or the DVDs.

 

The DVDs got sent very quickly. Contact them again and I e-mailed them.

 

That was my experience, too. No response to my email...

 

I'm thinking a phone call might have better results. Could be they're just a bit disorganized or overworked, and DVD requests may be a lower priority than other visitor center activities.

 

Any update on the acetates/discs?

 

Mine came very quickly also.

 

Any news on these discs??

 

bump!