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.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."