Grade: B+

CD » Woody Guthrie's song "This Land is Your Land" has been relegated to being sung -- in an uninspired fashion -- by school children. But few realize the song is an angry response to Irving Berlin's jingoistic "God Bless America." The original intent of that song and the others (including the previously unreleased "Tear the Fascists Down") included on the 4-CD set "My Dusty Road" is expressed loudly and clearly on this digitally remastered collection of the Dust Bowl troubadour's 1940s recordings. (The original metal masters for these songs had languished for years in a Brooklyn basement, stacked in cardboard barrels.) Many box sets are sold as more of a history lesson than great music, but Guthrie's simple yet direct voice and sly wit brings him to vibrant life, and out of the hands of schoolteachers.

-- David Burger