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No one could pound out that incessant bass with the left and still lead the way with a thunderous right like Slim. This 1959 LP features one stunning solo after another by one of the most exciting... more

The music on this recording is at once far-reaching and intimate. It has a quality enjoyed well beyond contemporary fans of this style of music, and yet this recording gives the listener the sense of... more

I've never had the blues, says Brownie McGhee in an interview with famed oral historian, Studs Terkel, "the blues has always had me." the trio of legendary bluesmen played, talked, and traded stories... more

This Folkways LP came out in '61, but the tracks take you from John's first year of recording ('29) through his '30s prime. The Memphis blues icon is backed by the unmistakable mandolin playing of... more

There is no single kind of music that led to the creation of Jazz. Instead, the genre evolved, and continues to evolve, from diverse musical avenues. Following the popularity of swing music in the... more

While recording in the South in the early 1960s, producer, writer, and music historian Samuel Charters was inspired not only by the sound of Furry Lewis's guitar, but by the patterns of movement in... more

In the spoken introduction that opens this recording, Memphis Slim says, "I'm doing something now that I've always wanted to do. This is my interpretation of some of my favorite blues singers-some of... more

Originally released in 1959, The Country Blues features a range of styles and a collection of recordings not included in other Folkways compilations. This selection-mostly recorded between 1927 and... more

Moses Asch purchased the "race records" heard on this album in 1941 for 15 cents each. Demonstrating some of the musical styles characteristic of the American South that proved influential in shaping... more

This second volume continues Folkways' The Country Blues (FW00RF1) and is the result of efforts in the early 1960s to find singers who were previously known only as names on commercial recordings.... more

During the folk revival of the 1950s and 60s, documentarians and aficionados searched for country blues singers whose music had previously only been known through old recordings. This album's music... more

As the Depression's early days brought Southern musicians to Northern cities, the Chicago blues scene absorbed and incorporated these new arrivals. Ensembles grew, the blues became more popular, and... more

This album features big-voiced blues pianist and singer Memphis Slim and legendary bassist Willie Dixon, who is credited with having helped create the Chicago blues sound. Several tracks from this... more

Singing and begging are about the only two ways a blind man can make a living in farm country. Several years after Blind Willie Johnson's death in 1949, Samuel B. Charters tries to get to know the... more

From the early blues of Son House, Willie Brown, and Charley Patton to the assertive music of the Depression, the Mississippi delta has produced songs and singers with a fierce honesty that has... more

Taken from unreleased recordings, previous Folkways releases, and early blues recordings, this two-disc set offers an introduction to the vocal styles, ornamentation, and instrumentation of this... more

The classic 1957 release from one of the greats of gospel blues, a rough diamond of hard, pure country gospel expression, at odds with the earthly concerns of the blues and yet entwined with the... more

This is volume 2 of a projected 3-volume set of Lead Belly's performances recorded by Moses Asch during the 1940s. The original masters now reside in the Folkways Archive at the Smithsonian... more

Texan Blind Willie Johnson was one of the most successful recording artists in the South in the late 1920s, before the Depression ruined the company for which he recorded. This collection... more

Of Brownie McGhee's expressive thumb-and-forefinger guitar style Charles Edward Smith writes, "[it] sings and rings and whangs and talks to you." Indeed it does, and his versatile voice molds each... more

Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Brownie McGhee's voice rings clear over his strumming about love, cheating, and remembering his friend Big Bill Broonzy. Liner notes include song lyrics and brief... more

Pink Anderson (1900-1974) spent most of his life working as a roving entertainer in the small medicine shows that traveled throughout the South. His stage repertoire included blues, comedic songs,... more

This fascinating album of storytelling and music includes some of minstrel, composer, businessman, and bluesman Perry Bradford's best-known works, including "That Thing Called Love," the first song... more