In casual sessions beginning in the spring of 1944 and lasting for the rest of the decade, , sometimes joined by such friends as singer and harmonica player , recorded hundreds of tracks for record company owner , far more than had the capacity to issue at the time. Over the years, many of those tracks did appear on 's label, and by the mid-'60s, when was perceived as the godfather of the folk revival, they had more of a commercial cachet. made a deal with the subsidiary of resulting in recordings released on , including the August 1965 LP , a "new" album in the sense that it contained previously unreleased recordings. After the deal ended, reissued the album on proper under the title in 1968. Unfortunately, had long since combed through his holdings for the more impressive tracks, and the informally performed folk songs left to be gathered on this album were substandard in comparison. There were interesting curiosities for fans, such as and it often sounded as though , , and were having fun. But without the usual wit and poetry of his best work, , singing old folk songs, was often just mediocre. ~ William Ruhlmann