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Jean Ritchie is a national treasure, one of America's finest and best known traditional singers. She grew up in Viper, Kentucky, and is part of a large family, the famous "Singing Ritchies of... more

The Youngbloods and Holy Modal Rounders covered songs from this 1964 Folkways LP, the debut by this Pennsylvania-born singer-songwriter (whose unconventional singing and songs made him a hero in '60s... more

You don't need to be a card-carrying member to get swept up by the message and music here. This 1955 Folkways LP collects generations of working-man's anthems: We Shall Not Be Moved; Casey Jones (The... more

Banjo player and singer Ola Belle Reed created this album and it's accompanying notes as an autobiography, a document that describes her childhood in the mountains, her experiences, and her opinions... more

Released in 1966, two years after the "Freedom Summer" of 1964, when civil rights activists concentrated their energy on registering black voters in the South, this album explicitly addresses the... more

Singer, activist, and founder of Paredon Records (now also under the stewardship of Smithsonian Folkways), Barbara Dane was born in 1929 and was still going strong last time we spoke with her. This... more

This volume is half of a two-recording set that includes recordings not issued on the Vanguard or Elektra Newport compilations. Intended to represent music from the American South and then-current... more

This album features classic sea shanties from the 19th century, "sung in the traditional manner, accompanied on historic 19th-century instruments, and recorded aboard historic sailing ships" at the... more

Songs of the frontier, of work, love, and despair are presented here by Rosalie Sorrels, a dedicated folklorist and true Idaho icon. Some of the regional repertoire was passed on by locals from Boise... more

Legendary Beat poet Allen Ginsberg explores the fusion of poetry and music in this rare 1970s recording. Called a "venerated bard of resistance" Ginsberg sought "how the raw mind actually works"... more

Their 1958 eponymous LP includes Dallas Rag; East Virginia; Take a Drink on Me; Brown's Ferry Blues; Roving Gambler; Davy, Davy; Tom Cat Blues; Don't Let Your Deal Go Down, and more great old songs... more

Born in Brooklyn in 1936, Dave Van Ronk was Bob Dylan's "first New York guru," writes Dylan's biographer Robert Shelton. "Dave Van Ronk was the musical mayor of MacDougal Street," Shelton continues,... more

Named for the folk magazine Broadside, this 1963 LP (later reissued by Smithsonian Folkways) was recorded in Broadside's cramped NY apartment in decidedly intimate fashion. Along with "The Ballad of... more

Joined on this recording by fiddler Tracy Schwarz, this album explores new musical territory "at least ten years in either direction," including unaccompanied ballad singing and bluegrass. Of... more

Von Schmidt and Cahn's musical friendship grew out of ill-fated road trips, rebelliousness, and of course, a shared love for the blues. As Cahn writes, "What we had in common was a feeling about... more

This volume is half of a two-recording set that includes recordings not issued on the Vanguard or Elektra Newport compilations. It features folk songs and ballads sung by Irish, Canadian, and... more

Banjo player Dock Boggs once said, "Lonesome songs always appealed to me." This collection features classic dark and lonely songs like "Pretty Polly" and "Oh Death." Meant as a companion album to... more

Cisco Houston's first solo album on Folkways Records represents a small portion of the artist's repertoire of American folk music. Extensive liner notes (complete with a glossary of cowboy slang such... more

Moran "Dock" Boggs, miner and musician, was first recognized for his "unorthodox" playing style. His popularity only grew after he was featured on the Anthology of American Folk Music (SFW40090) in... more

Recorded in 1940, and later reissued by Folkways Recordings in 1950, Guthrie's first album chronicles the American Dust Bowl through his prosaic style of talking blues. Using only guitar and vocals,... more

Malvina Reynolds, the well-known songwriter and activist for social justice and the environment, performs some of her most famous songs in the compilation of studio and live recordings fro mthe 1960s... more

Long-overdue collection from one of the seminal figures in American folk music, featuring 29 tracks—eight unreleased, including two duets with Woody Guthrie—drawn from the Folkways vaults. With notes... more

Reissue of the stunning introduction to the musical world of the unique guitarist from the Bahamas, Joseph Spence. Recorded in 1958 on the porch of a shack in Fresh Creek Settlement, it captures... more