CLASSIC ALBUM REVIEW: VARIOUS ARTISTS- ‘The Little Red Box Of Protest Songs’ (2000)Album Review, Best Of’s, Biography, Classic Album Reviews,

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The Little Red Box Of Protest Songs is a truly outstanding release. A three CD box-set full of the finest protest folk music from the USA of the early 20th century. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first American protest song book, ‘The Little Red Song Book’ this collection traces the roots of protest song in the US from the first half of the last century up to the Fifties illustrating how the stage was set for the folk protest giants of the Sixties such as Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. Featuring classic performances by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Josh White, Leadbelly, The Almanac Singers, The Weavers and many many more.

The usual suspects – Woody, Pete, Leadbelly, Josh White – are all present and politically correct (or not, depending on your ideological viewpoint!). The 60 tracks are mostly circa the Second World War – more than 60 years old, but all worth preserving and hearing. The best songs here – Leadbelly’s The Bourgeois Blues, Josh White’s Jim Crow Train, Brownie McGhee’s Black, Brown and White – are superb, but even the ones with less artistic value are historically significant.