2012 compilation album by Woody Guthrie
Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection is a 150-page large-format book with three CDs containing 57 tracks, including Woody Guthrie's most important recordings such as the complete version of "This Land Is Your Land," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore," and "Riding in My Car." The set also contains 21 previously unreleased performances and six never-before-heard original songs, including Woody's first known—and recently discovered—recordings. It is an in-depth commemorative collection of songs, photos and essays released by Smithsonian Folkways in June 2012.
Compilation and release
Robert Santelli, CEO of the Grammy Museum, contacted Jeff Place in October 2010 and suggested they compile a Guthrie box set to go along with the celebration of Guthrie's 100th birthday. Santelli and Place looked for the most important and representative of Guthrie's compositions.[1] They also included the earliest known recordings of Guthrie (made in 1939), which were discovered by researcher Peter LaChapelle in 1999.[2]
Design
The design for Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection was created by Visual Dialogue, a graphic design company from Boston, Massachusetts. The firm based the collection's design on the plain typography and simple design of classic Folkways Records albums. The box set consists of a 150-page hardcover textbook containing Guthrie essays, sketches, and photographs. Three pockets hold CDs in the last pages of the book.[3]
Reception
Woody at 100 currently holds a 92 rating from aggregate review site Metacritic.[4] Rolling Stone critic David Fricke wrote, "This sumptuous birthday celebration of America's greatest folk singer is really a present to us: two CDs of his greatest songs and recordings, mostly from the mid-1940s, and a disc of illuminating rarities."[5]
Rachel Maddux of Pitchfork wrote, "in the world of Woody at 100, everything about Guthrie's career seems fluid, boundaryless, as if considering him just as a great American musician and not also as a man of letters and a painter, too, has maybe been a huge mistake."[6]
Awards
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection received two 2013 GRAMMY nominations, winning in the category of Best Boxed Set or Limited Edition Package.[9] The box set also won Independent Music Awards for Best Compilation Album and Best Album Packaging[10] as well as an American Association of Independent Music Libby Award for Creative Packaging.[11]
