If Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music was the folk revival's bible, these recordings — 139 songs from the Fifties and early Sixties — read like its dictionary, from the obscure (the amusing "My Sweetheart Is a Mule in the Mines") to the familiar ("Black Girl," covered by Nirvana as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?") to the ingrained ("Oh, Susanna"). Seeger, who turned 90 this year, invests each tune with his cheeky spirit. Many have personalized this stuff, Bruce Springsteen most recently. But Seeger steps aside and lets the songs shine.

“He Will Break Your Heart”

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."