This compilation, the first ever on compact disc in America, features the best of Donovan's early landmark work including his first single Catch The Wind and classic tracks such as Colours and Turquoise; successful protest songs such as Universal Soldier and tracks from his first two British albums "What's Bin Hid and What's Bin Did" and "Fairytale." Although these records did feature the occasional sideman, it was mostly just Don, singing some of his most poignant and expressive songs while interpreting favorites by other writers such as Bert Jansch and Buffy St, Marie.
In later years Donovan adapted his style to explore the psychedelic revolution but these early simple songs are considered to be among his best…
“While [Pete] Seeger often found and adapted old songs for new situations, he also penned a fair number of new folk songs for use during the folk revival of the mid-20th century. Among them, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” was a lament on cycles of violence that take many to war and then to the grave… To pay tribute to Seeger, the Kronos Quartet enlisted the voices of Sam Amidon, Aoife O’Donovan, and others to tell the tale in a sort of relay, with a new voice for every verse. The result feels like the song is posing a question that a community ponders, rather than being the rumination of a single singer. Indeed, in these challenging and often troubling times, many of us find ourselves wondering ‘when we will ever learn.'”
Donovan's last truly great album of the 1960s, 1968's BARABAJAGAL shows interesting artistic growth at least as marked as his transformation from folk troubadour to daffy hippie-pop guru. The title track and "Trudi" feature the Rod Stewart-era Jeff Beck Group as Donovan's backing band; consequently both these songs have a surprising amount of sonic heft to them…
In his 2016 autobiography, “Born To Run”, Bruce Springsteen reveals the essence of his songwriting: “Most of my writing is emotionally autobiographical. I’ve learned you’ve got to pull up the things that mean something to you in order for them to mean anything to your audience. That’s where the proof is. That’s how they know you’re not kidding.”
Woody Guthrie was born on July 14th, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. Over the decades, his songs have run around the world like a fast train on a well oiled track. They've become the folk song standards of the nation, known and performed in many languages throughout the world. Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center, is the CD/ DVD centennial celebration of the birth of America's greatest folk singer, Woody Guthrie. John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Tom Morello, Donovan, Ani DiFranco, Rosanne Cash, Old Crow Medicine Show and others perform many of Guthrie's classics along with recently recorded lyrics from the Woody Guthrie Archives.