DESCRIPTION:
Burl Ives - the true wayfaring stranger! What an enchanting album!

Side A:
John Henry - 00:00
Billy the Kid - 02:57
Fare Thee Well, O Honey - 05:29
Mah Lindy Lou - 08:00
Mule Train - 10:49
The Worried Man Blues - 13:32

Side B:
Greer County Bachelor - 16:14
Lilly Munroe - 19:14
Old Blue - 22:00
Ballanderie - 23:49
Lord Randall - 24:20
Riders in the Sky - 27:37
Wayfaring Stranger - 30:47
Woolie Boogie Bee - 32:00

Liner notes:
Burl Ives began singing at age five, when he entertained at a soldiers' reunion. He has been entertaining ever since. Taken early with wanderlust, Ives left Eastern Illinois State Teachers College at the end of his sophmore year and took off on assorted journeys, literally singing for his supper. En route, through the Alleghenies and along various rivers, Ives listend to other singers, learning their songs and building a base of his enormous repertoire.

He returned to school for his junior year and most of the senior session. Then, two months before graduation, Ives took off again, never to return. He spent the next two years as an itinerant troubadour, carrying his guitar in a bright yellow case and his clothes in a black valise.

Inevitably, Ives drifted toward New York City, where he settled down, appearing on occasional radio programs and on the stage. Then he was asked to appear on "Forecast", a series of experimental programs designed by the Columbia Broadcasting System. His own segment, called "Back Where I come From", proved so popular that it launched a regular Ives series. Later, Ives starred as "The Wayfaring Stranger", the title of his autobiography and of an earlier Columbia Collection (CL 628).

Although he has never given up singing, Burl Ives has expanded his performing range considerably. For his dramatic work in the motion picture, "The Big Country", he won an Academy Award in 1958 His performance in "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" on both stage and screen was widely acclaimed. He has also been seen on stage in "This Is The Army" and "Sing Out, Sweet Land", and many motion pictures, including "Thunderhead", for which his song "Ballad of Thunderhead" received a special citation.

But the Wayfaring Stranger has never strayed far from his first love, the songs and ballads of our country. He continues to sing these plaintive, lovely tunes in recitals and concerts everywhere. This collection offers vintage Ives, a handful of his favorite songs and two that stem from the folk tradition, "Mule Train" and "Riders In The Sky", both big hits a decade ago. All are sung in his inimitable manner and promise rich rewards for everyone who enjoys the music of America.