I saw this on PBS as a little kid!!!! One of the shows that made me want to play guitar! 27 years later I learned every instrument I could. Thanks Tracy!!
The lyrics still ring true to this day. So many in the US still live the same hard reality that Woody wrote of almost a century ago. Bravo Tracy for this beautiful rendition, your refined voice and great picking works just as well as intentionally ragged original. Woody himself would have been proud.
@@tracynewman3256that’s great ..My Great Grandparents were dust bowl refugees who picked and lived in The Central Valley.. this song brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it . 🙏🏼
My, what a beautiful woman, and so many talents. I know I sound old and I am, but popular music today is all marketing and studio tricks. We are lucky to have RU-vid so we can enjoy real musicians plying their craft.
@@tracynewman3256 You are very welcome! Thank you for your gracious reply. I trust my ears for the first part and infer the second from the courage it must have taken to sing about migrant workers in 1965. Those poignant lyrics from Mr. Guthrie still ring so true today. I know a passionate young Social Studies teacher who shows clips to her students about the struggles of laborers in America. I will recommend this video, if it is OK with you.
@@nankerphelge3771 That would be nice. There are other songs from this same show that might be used in a Social Studies class. I wasn't particularly knowledgeable or accurate in my explanations, but I did the songs as they were known or written. Just type in: Tracy Newman, "What's New" channel. All of the videos should be there. Enjoy!
@@tracynewman3256 Great gobs of goodness! What a treasure trove. I love how you introduce the songs and even the emotions behind them to the audience. Just listened to Greensleeves and I'm a Stranger Here. I had no idea that Taj Mahal pinched the lyric about catching the Katy from an older tune. I also heard you teaching about the parts of the guitar. Do you still have that beautiful guitar with the spruce top and rosewood fingerboard you played in the show?
@@nankerphelge3771 I do! It's an 1898 New York Martin which would be worth a fortune if someone earlier than me hadn't put a clear pick-guard and kind of a shoddy finish on it. I still think I could make good money from it, but I don't want to sell it. I can't really play gigs with it though... the wood is very thin. Too delicate. But it is a beauty. You can find a picture of this guitar in the Martin Guitars book by Washburn & Johnston. Maybe this exact guitar... I'm not sure.
Those talented hands and fingers. I taught myself to play guitar and I love to sing. That was 60 plus years ago. I love your music. Too bad we never met but I do love you . Life is so strange.
Pardon my assuming, but it sounds like you're having a bit of a lonely time. I've been lonely for some time now, but the quarantine, in the end, helped me come to terms with it. Here's my advice on that: Take a pause on paying attention to the outside world. Take a break from social media, politics, and caring about whatever people around you are doing. Just focus on yourself and how you're feeling. You'll find that being alone doesn't have to be a sad thing, it can become your favorite places to be.
In my opinion this version of Pastures ranks second to none to other versions I have heard over the years. That includes Woody, Dave van Ronk and Ramblin' Jack (and I looove their versions). I hope your folk material from "back in the days" get a proper release one day and that the songs and you get the recognition deserved. Kind regards from Alta, Norway :)
This takes me to a place and time where I had not even yet existed...(b.1988)......but this, you can just feel it. I wish I would have lived through those times....nowdays things are horrible and they're only getting worse. Better times in those days :'(
No those times were not better-not for migrant workers. They didn’t even know if they would have shelter for sleep at night. It was a very hard life. The times were not easy for the rest of America either. Leading up to this-the depression, world war and although Woody Guthrie made some wonderful music from it, the times were difficult. This song was written the year penicillin was discovered but not yet available to the public. Before and after this a lot of disease befell people -there was not yet the knowledge and system which, for instance, allowed a vaccine, such as the one manufactured for COVID, to be available to citizens in only 3 years. Plenty of people still contracted Polio (poliomyelitis), If you can read “The Grapes of Wrath” it would be enlightening.
Absolutely beautiful. I got here via a Pete Seeger cover of this song (played on a banjo I think) which is superb, and now I realise he ad-lib'd the lyrics and I've got to re-memorise the whole song again. One of the pleasures in life... I kept thinking 'cameraman, STOP zooming in! I can't see the chords!!!'... Hope this finds you in both good health and spirits.
Growing up in parochial school, one of my favorite teachers was a lady who would sometimes bring out her guitar and lead us all in song. You never forget things like that. And...you're a far better player, which makes it even more interesting to me as an adult.
It's a mighty hard row that my poor hands have hoed My poor feet have traveled a hot dusty road Out of your Dust Bowl and Westward we rolled your deserts were hot and your mountains were cold I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes I slept on the ground in the light of the moon On the edge of the city you'll see us and then We come with the dust and we go with the wind California, Arizona, I harvest your crops Well its North up to Oregon to gather your hops Dig the beets from your ground, cut the grapes from your vine To set on your table your light sparkling wine Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down Every state in the Union us migrants have been We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win It's always we rambled, that river and I All along your green valley, I will work till I die My land I'll defend with my life if it be Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free
@@tracynewman3256 You're so welcome. Really... I enjoyed these vids so much. Even tho they were recorded for a kids program, your music is impeccable, and made me smile and maybe even made me feel like a kid again. Have always loved this old folk music, and it was quite a treat to run across your work. Take care... and again, Thanks so much. (and yes I know "Sinister" only has 1 n) It's just a silly online ID (and a long story) :)
wow, year of my birth! glad I came across your video, very nice! I wish French tv were playing your videos back then, I sure would have stuck to playing the guitar with a cool role model like Miss Tracy. Decades later and back on the guitar and finding you very inspiring... thank you :)
I always thought it would be better “your moon” so the back of your mind you’d be thinking about the fact that this is a planet with life and the way we’re all born we have to learn how this world works like (friggin) those said to come down from the heavens and study the earth
Not by me, but it's a well-known Woody Guthrie song and many people have recorded it. Just type in "Pastures of Plenty' here on RU-vid, and you'll see a whole bunch of options. I have never recorded the song, though, if that's what you're looking for. Only this video.
