15 Brain-Twisting Concept Albums That Are Endlessly Rewarding

12. Dust Bowl Ballads €“ Woody Guthrie

Few composers offer a more vivid chronicling of the story of America than Woody Guthrie. He€™s the direct ancestor and single-biggest influence of singers like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan and has become a national treasure. Like so many good folk singers, he lived the life he sang about, actively participating in demonstrations and famously writing, €œThis machine kills fascists€ on the front of his guitar. Dust Bowl Ballads, often regarded as the first-ever concept album, is also Woody€™s best. It€™s a collection of some of Guthrie€™s earliest recordings, inspired by his time traveling the central United States during the Dust Bowl, a period of time when dust storms ravaged farmland and caused widespread ecological and economic damage. The songs serve as semi-autobiographical portraits of this trying period of American life and indictments of the contemporary political establishment. Listening to it is like stepping inside of a time machine, as Guthrie paints the inside of your brain with 1930s America €“ the people, the places, and the events; you practically hear it in black and white. There€™s little difficulty understanding his straightforward lyrics, whether they be political, personal or pastoral, but the poignant, picturesque stories still rile the imagination. For lovers of folk music especially, Dust Bowl Ballads is an essential chapter in a story that€™s still ongoing €“ the story of America.