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A mentor to everyone from Bob Dylan to Suzanne Vega, "The Mayor of MacDougal Street" was a treasured figure in the Greenwich Village scene for four decades. His autobiography and its portrait of the... more

It's more than an instrument—it's a symbol of the American South. Here are 30 prime examples of banjo artistry from more than 300 LPs (44-page booklet, too): "Bright Sunny South" Dock Boggs; "Johnson... more

Songs of Our Native Daughters gathers together kindred musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell in song and sisterhood to communicate with their forebears.... more

Dave Van Ronk - Ballads, Blues & a Spiritual - Dubbed "The Mayor of MacDougal Street," Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002) was an iconoclastic folksinger and an influential figure in the American folk music... more

Barbara forged her own path, singing for peace and justice and refusing to recognize music-biz boundaries between folk, jazz and blues. The 40-page booklet and 150 minutes of music here take us... more

Over 50 years after its original 1952 vinyl release, this is still the best American roots music collection around! Musicologist Harry Smith assembled the anthology from 78 rpm discs issued between... more

Leyla McCalla's Vari-Colored Songs is a celebration of the complexity of Black culture and identity, and a tribute to the legacy of poet and thinker Langston Hughes. A songwriter and... more

Woody recorded for a variety of labels, but the real meat of his repertoire rests in the 300 or so songs he recorded for Mo Asch's Folkways label. And now that classic material is finally coming out... more

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (1896-1987) wrote her well-known song "Freight Train" at the age of 11 and sang it for nearly 80 years. Through her songwriting, her quietly commanding personality, and her... more

Who could chronicle the history of this great American art form—the train song—better than Smithsonian Folkways? A 36-page booklet rides along with Jay Gould's Daughter Pete Seeger; Wabash Cannonball... more

The music is traditional, their voices are utterly distinctive—this is Bill Monroe and Doc Watson, and these are 17 unreleased duets: Foggy Mountain Top; Kentucky Mandolin; Soldier's Joy; Chicken... more

He might have set out just to be a folk singer, but Seeger emerged as a beloved rebel, a voice of the people, one that would endure and only rise in stature decade after decade. This new... more

Easy Rider - Leadbelly songs - Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is proud to present 'Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection' - the first in-depth, career-spanning box set of songs, photos,... more

Two dozen cuts tap the traditions of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. These banjo/fiddle workouts, bluegrass gems and ballads include Sugar Baby Dock Boggs; Southbound Doc & Merle Watson;... more

Concerts, jam sessions, festival workshops…27 unreleased performances by Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys! Rare pix and copious notes join 75 minutes of precious music: "Roanoke," "Kentucky Waltz,"... more

This award-winning compilation (2011's Independent Music Awards prize for best reissue) collects eleven tracks culled from Ola Belle's two Folkways albums along with eight previously unreleased live... more

24 more of the historic recordings Woody made for Mo Asch's Folkways label, including such classics as Hard Travelin'; So Long It's Been Good to Know You; Mean Talking Blues; Talking Columbia, and I... more

Part two in Folkways' painstaking release of Woody's fabled recordings for the label! Includes 27 songs, mostly folk standards including Wreck of the Old 97; Take a Whiff on Me; Stackolee; Worried... more

Are there still previously unknown Woody Guthrie treasures to be found? As it turns out, Smithsonian Folkways had some real pastures of plenty in store for us in the year of Guthrie's centenary. For,... more

The events they recount made history, and so did the songs themselves. These are 25 treasured Civil War songs, explained in the liners and sung wonderfully by Tom: The Cumberland Gap; The Yellow Rose... more