Dust Bowl Ballads
by Woody Guthrie

Album
Dust Bowl Ballads by Woody Guthrie
(Compilation album)
Year: 1964
Release date: 1964-08-00
Overall rank: 3,088th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 156 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1964 (23rd)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (264th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,088th)

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Woody Guthrie bestography

Dust Bowl Ballads is ranked as the best album by Woody Guthrie.

Woody Guthrie album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (3,088th)
Dust Bowl Ballads Lower ranked (3,088th) »
Dust Bowl Ballads

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Dust Bowl Ballads rankings

Dust Bowl Ballads rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,088th | 1960s rank: 264th | 1964 rank: 23rd  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)

Dust Bowl Ballads collection

Dust Bowl Ballads ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 156 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 156 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 !		08/03/2026 21:15 LedZep  Ratings distribution  5,16479/100
 
60/100
 !		02/25/2026 22:45 dukeboxkool  Ratings distribution  2,28572/100
 
25/100
 !		09/19/2025 02:52 Proto  Ratings distribution  4,39033/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.2/100, a mean average of 78.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.3.


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Dust Bowl Ballads favourites

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Dust Bowl Ballads forum mentions

This album has been referenced 27 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/19/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5440): By LedZep
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by LedZep () 1. (2001) 2. by (2025) 3. by (1971) 4. by by (1969) 6. by (1995) 7. by (2019) 8. by (1980) 9. by by (1978) 11. (1955) 12. (1977) 13. by (2025) 16. by (2000) 17. by (1992) 18. by (2002) 19. by (1964) 20. by (2003) 21. by (1981) 22.…”
(1 mentions across Chart of the Day topics)
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From baystateoftheart 10/06/2024 18:18 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“:love:”
View topic (2 mentions) →

From Romanelli 06/21/2023 12:53 in The Romanelli Music Diary: Mexican Moon
“1717 WOODY GUTHRIE DUST BOWL BALLADS 2000 – BUDDHA Produced By ROBERT P WEATHERALD 1. The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster) 2. Talking Dust Bowl Blues 3. Pretty Boy Floyd 4. Dusty Old Dust (So Long It’s Been Good To Know Yuh) 5. Dust Bowl Blues 6. Blowin’ Down The Road (I Ain’t Going To Be…”
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Dust Bowl Ballads comments

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Rating:  
95/100
From 06/16/2010 19:51 | #12941 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
One of the most important albums of American music ever made. Woody is the great American trubador and "Dust Bowl Ballads" is a kind a musical narrative of the Great Depression that is the equal to Stienbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" for gritty realism. Woody's influence on the music Bob Dylan, the Byrds, Ry Cooder, Billy Bragg, Joe Strummer, Neil Young, Hank Williams and Jeff Tweedy shows the enduring quality of Guthrie's body of work on nearly every generation that proceeded him.
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From 09/04/2013 05:59 | #85162 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
What a treat, Guthrie's rugged honesty is irresistable. Dylan fans in particular will appreciate this early folk album. Guthrie is every bit Dylan's equal when it comes to cheeky indignation, even if the latter has a leg up in overall songwriting ability.
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Rating:  
100/100
From 05/17/2018 22:15 | #215067 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Everything Bob Dylan has ever done stemmed from this, which is weird since this album is amazing and Bob Dylan sucks
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Rating:  
100/100
From 08/25/2021 19:33 | #272839 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
One of the most historically significant albums ever recorded. It's strange to think that at some point in time this whole coronavirus pandemic will be nothing more than history much like the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. (Edited)
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Rating:  
60/100
From 06/28/2012 17:35 | #45537 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Phrasing gets a bit old in a listen all the way through for me. Poetry is spot on, and there's some great standouts on here. Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues is my favorite.
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Best Albums of  1964
1. A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles
2. Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz & João Gilberto
3. The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan
4. Beatles For Sale by The Beatles
5. Another Side Of Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
6. Out To Lunch! by Eric Dolphy
7. Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica by The Ronettes
8. Ain't That Good News by Sam Cooke
9. Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes
10. Kinks by The Kinks