Ballad of the Blues is a 1959

1959 in music

-Events:*January 5 – The first sessions for Ella Fitzgerald's George and Ira Gershwin Songbook are held.*January 12 – Tamla Records is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan....

 album by Jo Stafford. It is a concept album which tells a story through song, showcasing the influence of the Blues. The album has a predominantly pop setting and sees Jo Stafford

Jo Stafford

Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...

 accompanied by her husband Paul Weston

Paul Weston

Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer and conductor. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts...

 and backed by The Starlighters. Originally released in 1959 it was re-issued in 2003 with extra tracks featuring a lengthy interview with Stafford by Michael Feinstein

Michael Feinstein

Michael Jay Feinstein is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an interpreter of, and an anthropologist and archivist for, the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs...

. One the Starlighters is Thurl Ravenscroft

Thurl Ravenscroft

Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was an American voice actor and singer best known as the deep voice behind Tony the Tiger's "They're grrreat!" in Frosted Flakes television commercials for more than five decades. Ravenscroft was also known, however uncredited, as the vocalist for the song "You're a Mean...

 who later became known as the voice of "Tony the Tiger

Tony the Tiger

Tony the Tiger is the advertising cartoon mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes breakfast cereal, appearing on its packaging and advertising. More recently, Tony has also become the mascot for Tony's Cinnamon Krunchers and Tiger Power...

," for Kellogg

Kellogg Company

Kellogg Company , is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods...

's Frosted Flakes

Frosted Flakes

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes is a breakfast cereal first introduced by the Kellogg Company. It consists of corn flakes "frosted" or coated with sugar. The "Frosted Flakes" name is used by Kellogg's in United States and Canada. The cereal was first introduced in 1951 as Sugar Frosted Flakes...

.

Track listing

Chapter 1.The Blues Is an Old Old Story

1. Street Cries
2. John Henry
   John Henry (folklore)
   John Henry is an American folk hero and tall tale. Henry worked as a "steel-driver"—a man tasked with hammering and chiseling rock in the construction of tunnels for railroad tracks. In the legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel-driver was measured in a race against a steam powered hammer,...
   
   
3. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
   Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
   "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" is a traditional Negro spiritual.The song dates back to the era of slavery in the United States when it was common practice to sell children of slaves away from their parents. An early performance of the song dates back to the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee...
   
   
4. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
   Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
   Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen is a spiritual. The song is well known and many cover versions of it have been produced, although the rendition by Louis Armstrong is the best known. Marian Anderson had her first successful recording with a version of this song on the Victor label in 1925. Lena...
   
   

Chapter 2.The Blues Is a Tale of Trouble

1. Kansas City Blues
   Kansas City Blues
   Kansas City Blues may refer to::*Kansas City Blues , a 1902-1954 minor-league baseball team*Kansas City Blues , a Rugby Super League team founded in 1966*Kansas City Blues , a minor-league hockey team...
   
   
2. Memphis Blues
   Memphis blues
   The Memphis blues is a style of blues music that was created in the 1920s and 1930s by Memphis-area musicians like Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie...
   
   

Chapter 3.The Blues Is a Traveling Thing

1. He's Gone Away
2. Seems Like When It Comes in the Morning
3. Every Night When the Sun Goes In

Chapter 4.Times Change and Things Change

1. Lover Man
2. Blues in the Night
   Blues in the Night
   "Blues in the Night" is a popular song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues...
   
   
3. The Blues Is an Old Old Story (Reprise)
4. A Conversation With Jo Stafford (2003 release)