Columbia River Collection

Columbia River Collection
Studio album by
Released1987
Recorded1941
GenreFolk
LabelRounder
ProducerMoe Asch
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic
New Musical Express6/10

Columbia River Collection, originally released as the Columbia River Ballads, is a compilation album of songs folksinger Woody Guthrie wrote during his visit to the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington in 1941. Guthrie traveled to these states on the promise of a part narrating a documentary about the construction of public works dams and other projects in the Pacific Northwest. The documentary was delayed by WWII but eventually was released in 1949. 17 of the 26 songs he wrote during this period were later compiled and released in 1987 as this collection, including some of his most famous songs, such as "Roll on Columbia", "Grand Coulee Dam", "Hard Travelin’," and "Pastures of Plenty."

"I pulled my shoes on and walked out of every one of these Pacific Northwest Mountain towns drawing pictures in my mind and listening to poems and songs and words faster to come and dance in my ears than I could ever get them wrote down."

Guthrie's introduction in the Columbia River Songbook