A 1961 collection of traditional ballads and more recent story-songs such as a pair of
Woody Guthrie classics,
Story Songs is a fine traditional folk-style album. Although story-songs are often thought of as children's music -- and there are some safe-for-the-kiddies songs here, most notably "The Foolish Frog," a story his musicologist father
Charles Seeger had told his own children -- this selection of tunes also includes a fair amount of material for more grownup tastes, most notably
Guthrie's gangster ballad "Pretty Boy Floyd" and the snarky "Aimee McPherson," about the disgraced evangelist. Overall,
Story Songs is a typically fine and well-chosen selection of songs given
Pete Seeger's usual treatment, but there's little that's genuinely gripping here in terms of performances. In the end, it feels as if
Story Songs was an interesting idea competently executed, but with little in the way of passion or enthusiasm. As a result, it's a listenable album, but hardly a great one.