“Talking Union” was the Almanac Singers second album, recorded in May 1941 in New York City for Keynote Records. The album included labor and traditional songs, including the title track, written and performed by Pete Seeger and set to the traditional “Walking Blues,” as well as the folk revival standard, “Which Side Are You On?” and Woody Guthrie’s “Union Maid.”

In the tradition of a musical collective, the group was joined by folk and blues artists Josh White and Sam Gary, and by White’s wife Carol and Bess Lomax on backing vocals. The album was reissued by the Folkways label in 1955, and in 2010 was added to the National Recording Registry.  

This image accompanies the audio recording of “All I Want,” one of twenty songs you can listen to in the exhibit Labor Sings! Songs from the 1930s and 1940s, featuring highlights from the extraordinary compact disc collection by Ron Cohen and Dave Samualson, Songs for Political Action.