I picked up a nice Hoyt Axton LP collection over the winter. Most of his classic A&M recordings, plus some later independent records and his first major label release from 1969. Like most people, I know most of Hoyt’s music from those who recorded it. Until I discovered this detailed discography, I didn’t know that Axton was part of the folk revival of the early 1960s. I have been searching for his pre-1970s recordings ever since. Post some comments if you can help me find any of these! So far I have only managed to find two songs from this Design label issue from 1966: Shepherd, and 5th Day of July.
I am the creator and site administrator at The Basement Rug. I have been collecting LP's and CD's for more than 30 years. I
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This is an album from ‘62 (i think) called The Balladeer. It is missing two tracks because the rip from soulseek was really bad. Some really powerful vocal workings on this. This version of John Henry is on of the best i’ve heard.
Just heard Arlo Guthrie takin about his cuz Hoyt and how he got into a lot of trouble with him, but since he was so big, he didn’t mind.
CBC Radio 2. You never know.
Hey Paul. Thanks for dropping by. Hoyt’s songs have become hits for a lot of other people, which I suppose can be a drag financially. But then look at Arlo. He’s got a cult following, but he isn’t exactly raking in the cash, and he will always live in his father’s shadow.
Thanks for the heads up on The Balladeer. It’s pretty hard to find decent downloads of his earliest recordings. I think there may have been a collection on CD at some point, but it would be long out of print by now.