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Ochs was one of the most enthusiastic contributors to Broadside, the original folk-music zine. This posthumous 1976 LP has live performances he gave for Broadside benefit concerts and demos he made... more

Mike, Peggy, Barbara, and Penny Seeger join forces on this album of folk songs, which includes ballads, lullabies, and ring games. Particularly interesting is the accompanying essay by musicologist... more

In the mid-1940s, Elizabeth Cotten (1895-1987) chanced to meet composer Ruth Crawford Seeger at a department store. They began to talk, and Seeger soon hired Cotten to work in the Seeger household.... 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

After researching, learning, and polishing songs found on early recordings of country music, multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger laid down these rousing tracks in 1962 at his home in New Jersey. His... more

Another classic recording from Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon finds the powerhouse blues duo playing a collection of fine songs. Pete Seeger joins the guys for two tracks on the album: "Stew ball" and... more

After attracting attention with his live sets in NYC (where he often played in a duo with Dylan), Spoelstra signed to Folkways and got the chance to show off his inspired takes on folk classics and... 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

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

Capoeira is a unique Brazilian art form with African roots, combining movement, music and philosophy. The essence of capoeira is a graceful, flowing game played by two people inside a circle called... 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

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

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

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

Blacklisted actor and tireless social activist Will Geer toured government work camps with Guthrie and Burl Ives long before Geer and Guthrie released this 1956 LP. They tell it like it is the songs... 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

Ten years after British scholar Cecil J. Sharp declared the traditional English ballad a "moribund" art form, he discovered a rich and thriving tradition of ballad-singing in America's southern... more

Folksinger and Kentucky mountain midwife Aunt Molly Jackson caught the attention of Alan Lomax and Woody Guthrie with her stories and songs about the struggles of working-class life. Here presented... more

The Ramblers amble back to the days of the Great Depression and unearth these sorrowful songs: No Depression in Heaven; Breadline Blues; White House Blues; How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and... more

In his liner notes, Ewan MacColl writes, "In the days before TV, radio, and newspapers, the broadsides helped both to mould and reflect public opinion; their authors acted as political commentators,... more

Dallas performer Bob Kirkpatrick plays classic blues on this 1973 Folkways album. Kirkpatrick began making a name for himself after a performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1971. He regularly... more

It is voices like Peggy Seeger's on this album that helped to make significant strides in the struggle for gender equality. Seeger's commentary is poignant and timeless as songs like "Nine-Month... 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