Cowboys and Indians

These old Folkways Records were very special to those in the New York City music scene that Dylan came upon circa 1962. He writes of meeting Cisco Houston at a party on Fifth Avenue down in the Village. Cisco was a compatriot of and fellow traveler with Woody Gutherie. The real deal. Dylan imagined getting a recording contract with Folkways — never dreamt of recording for Mitch Miller’s Columbia until John Hammond signed him. These Folkways covers are distinctive for their think, heavy cardboard covers. This one includes a nice line drawing by artist Ben Shahn. Shahn did numerous covers in the Fifties and early Sixties for various labels.

Jiggers Story Time.  Jigger’s, the puppet, goes West.

Dead Eye and the Desperados “Saloon pour hors-la-loi”  Authentiques Chansons Cow-boys.  On the French label Mode Disques.

Halo was one of the greatest budget labels for cover art. Often the images used were incongruous or without regard to the music contained within. Halo’s on-a-shoestring unpretentiousness and stock photos somehow transcended the square foot format.

Clint Eastwood in the classic spaghetti western “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) by Sergio Leone. The second in the Italian trilogy that started with “Fistful of Dollars” (1964) and concluded with “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966). This is an lp from Maylasia.  I understand that there’s another movie soundtrack score on the flip side, “The Bridge On the River Kwai.” That kinda makes sense. But I don’t see or hear anything to justify the “A Go-Go” label on the cover. Maybe they didn’t understand or maybe they were looking to dupe some young kid into thinking this was a groovy, dance record.

Cousin Fuzzy and his Cousins. Classic cowgirl pin-up art on this otherwise run-of-the-mill polka lp. This cheesecake illustration might have been used on a wall calendar that hung in barns and stock rooms in the mid-fifties.