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Folkways (label)
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(Items 1 – 52 of 52)
African & Afro-American Drums —
African & Afro-American Drums ... LP 
Folkways, 1954. Very Good+ 2LP Box Set ... Out Of Stock
A drum-heavy spectacular – recorded with a really rootsy feel! The first half of the material was recorded in Africa – not credited especially well, but done with a stripped-down sound that's very heavy on drums and other odd percussion instruments – recorded in that rough, loud ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(In the original box with booklets! Box has a very small rip on the top seam, but this is a nice copy.)
Amiri Baraka, Jayne Cortez, & Others —
Before Columbus Foundation ... CD 
Folkways, 1980. New Copy Gatefold ... Out Of Stock
A hip batch of underground poetry tracks – collected together by the Before Columbus Foundation, a group dedicated to promoting the works of African-American and Native American artists! Despite the 1980 date, the collection has a feel that's similar to earlier righteous poetry albums on the ... read more CD
Bernard Barshay —
Four American Murder Mysteries ... LP Folkways, 1967. Very Good+ ... Out Of Stock
... LP, Vinyl record album
Dock Boggs —
His Folkways Years 1963 to 1968 ... CD Folkways, Mid 60s. Used 2CD ... Out Of Stock
Includes the albums Legendary Singer & Banjo Player, Dock Boggs Vol 2, and Dock Boggs Vol 3. CD
Folkways, 1968. Very Good+ ... $29.99
Features music, plus interview bits by Studs Terkel! LP, Vinyl record album
(Includes the booklet! Cover has light wear and aging, and a small peel spot from sticker removal.)
Folkways, 1959. Used 2CD ... $7.99
One of the strangest albums ever from John Cage – but one of the most compelling too – and a record that really gets at the larger person behind his incredible music! The album has a very spare format – and features John Cage reading 90 stories – all short, spoken bits that ... read more CD
Elizabeth Cotten —
Folksongs & Instrumentals With Guitar (shopfront cover) ... LP Folkways, 1958. Very Good ... Out Of Stock
A seminal album from Elizabeth Cotten – not just a backwoods lady with a guitar, but a self-taught player with a completely unique style that went on to shape generations of musicians in the 60s! This 1958 Folkways album was the first to bring Cotten's talents to a wider audience – and ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
Folkways, 1971. New Copy Gatefold ... $12.99 16.98
A really unique document of the struggle and story of Angela Davis – recorded in 1971 by ABC news, and packaged together here as kind of a sonic program by Folkways! The record works like a short news program – starting out with a statement by Angela, then moving to a narrated ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Ruby Dee —
What If I Am A Woman Vol 2 – Black Women's Speeches ... CD Folkways, 1977. Used ... Out Of Stock
A pretty cool collection produced by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee – focusing on famous speeches by important female African-Americans – mostly focusing on the civil rights era, but also featuring an early speech by Ida B Wells. Ruby reads the speeches, and works include "I Am A Black ... read more CD
Tod Dockstader —
Eight Electronic Pieces ... LP Folkways, 1961. Very Good ... $34.99
Wonderful early electronic works by Tod Dockstader – with a turgid sound that's very reminiscent of some of the early French Musique Concrete recordings from the 50s. Waves of sound collide and clash, opening up dark modern soundscapes that seem to point towards an outside referent – ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(Folkways pressing, with insert. Vinyl is nice and clean – cover has a sticker in one corner, and some seam splitting, which also has light traces of tape. Label has some marker.)
East New York Ensemble De Music —
At The Helm ... CD Folkways, 1974. New Copy ... Out Of Stock
An extremely righteous bit of soul jazz – originally issued in a very small pressing by Folkway Records, at a time when the label was doing some great underground recordings! The sound is loose and free – spiritually building in a manner that recalls the work of Ahmed Abdul Malik, Phil ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
East New York Ensemble De Music —
At The Helm ... CD Folkways, 1974. Used ... Out Of Stock
An extremely righteous bit of soul jazz – originally issued in a very small pressing by Folkway Records, at a time when the label was doing some great underground recordings! The sound is loose and free – spiritually building in a manner that recalls the work of Ahmed Abdul Malik, Phil ... read more CD
Folkways/Smithsonian, 1976. New Copy (reissue)... $18.99 24.99
An incredible album, and very unique! Sarah Webster Fabio was a hip 70s poet with a very righteous sound – and she's working here with funky backings by a tight group that includes family members, in a style that's similar to early 70s work by artists like Wanda Robinson and Camille ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(Beautiful heavy pressing – almost like the original!)
Sarah Webster Fabio —
Together To The Tune Of Coltrane's Equinox ... LP Folkways/Smithsonian, 1977. New Copy (reissue)... Out Of Stock
Seminal 70s work from Sarah Webster Fabio – an amazing blend of poetry and music, and incredibly hip all the way through! Fabio's got a depth that goes beyond other commercial poets of the time – a righteousness that's right at home in the spiritual jazz scene of the 70s, and which is ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(Beautiful heavy pressing – almost like the original!)
Nikki Giovanni —
Cotton Candy On A Rainy Day ... CD Folkways, 1978. Used ... Out Of Stock
One of the lesser-known 70s albums by Nikki Giovanni – a wonderful selection of material from her book Cotton Candy On A Rainy Day – read in a spare setting, without any musical accompaniment! In some ways, this album's even better than the more famous Giovanni albums on Atlantic ... read more CD
Folkways, 1976. Near Mint- ... $29.99 34.99
A beautiful post-Atlantic album from Nikki Giovanni – much more intimate and personal than her better known work, with only Nikki's voice throughout the album – heard on a number of shorter poems! At some level, Giovanni seems to have left behind the more righteous themes of before, ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(In great shape!)
Woody Guthrie —
Struggle ... LP Folkways, 1976. Near Mint- ... $19.99
Folk legend Woody Guthrie was no stranger to struggle – which is the subject highlighted in most of these tunes – pulled together in the shape of this album, which offered a great counterpoint to the Bicentennial madness in America when it was released in 1976! The titles of the songs ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(Early 90s pressing. Cover is lightly bent at the top right corner and is bent a bit at the spine.)
Folkways/Legacy International, 1940s/1950s. Used ... $1.99
... CD
(Out of print.)
Langston Hughes —
Story Of Jazz ... CD Folkways, 1954. New Copy ... Out Of Stock
A very cool record! Langston tells the story of jazz, using snippets of work from the Folkways catalog – like tunes by Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodd, Ma Rainey, Leadbelly, and others – all sewn together in a rich narrative on the history of the music, delivered with some surprising ... read more CD
Langston Hughes —
Voice Of Langston Hughes ... CD Folkways, 1950s. Used ... Out Of Stock
A wonderful collection of work from Langston Hughes – material pulled from a handful of albums recorded for the Folkway labels in the 50s, all of which are pretty darn great and long out of print! Hughes' writings are well known – part of a rich tradition of African-American expression ... read more CD
Henry Jacobs —
Radio Programme No 1 ... LP Folkways, 1955. Very Good ... Out Of Stock
An incredible relic of the early days of experimental radio – a series of sound collages from the Berkley-based Music and Folklore program by Henry Jacobs! Henry Jacobs was a real pioneer in audio collage – stringing together bits of jazz, folk music, sound effects, and spoken bits in ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(Original pressing, with booklet! Vinyl is nice and clean. Cover has some splitting on the spine, but looks nice overall.)
Bob Kirkpatrick —
Feeling The Blues ... CD Folkways, 1973. New Copy ... Out Of Stock
A great little 70s album of electric blues – a set that begins with a song about Watergate – then moves off into a whole other great range of themes too! Bob Kirkpatrick's got a vibe here that's in the better style of the small club scene of Detroit or Chicago at the time – lean, ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Craig Kupka —
Clouds – New Music For Relaxation ... CD Folkways, 1981. New Copy ... Temporarily Out Of Stock
One of the most meditative albums ever recorded for the Folkways label – two side-long tracks from composer Craig Kupka, each of which has a dream-like, very hypnotic quality! It's a bit hard to say what exactly is going on here in the instrumentation – we definitely hear vibes, or ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Folkways, Early 1950s. Very Good+ 2LP Box Set ... $39.99
... LP, Vinyl record album
(Blue label pressing – FA 2942 – in the box set package. Includes the booklet, bent a bit at the top right corner. Box has light wear, split corners, center split at the right edge, and small splash spots of white paint in back.)
Leadbelly —
Leadbelly's Last Sessions – Part 1 ... LP Folkways, Early 50s. Very Good+ ... Out Of Stock
... LP, Vinyl record album
Leadbelly —
Leadbelly's Last Sessions – Part 4 ... LP Folkways, Early 50s. Very Good- ... Just Sold Out!
... LP, Vinyl record album
(Includes the booklet! Cover has light wear & aging.)
Leadbelly —
Sings Folk Songs With Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, & Sonny Terry (photo cover) ... LP Folkways, 1962. Sealed ... Out Of Stock
... LP, Vinyl record album
Timothy Leary & Ralph Metzner —
Psychedelic Experience ... CD Folkways, 1966. New Copy Gatefold ... Out Of Stock
A wonderful early bit of psychedelia from an academic perspective – a record that features Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert – all reading from the book The Psychedelic Experience A Manual Based On The Tibetan Book Of The Dead! The album's divided up into two sections ... read more CD
Brownie McGhee —
Traditional Blues Vol 1 ... LP Folkways, 1960. Very Good+ ... Out Of Stock
... LP, Vinyl record album
Montgomery Express —
Montgomery Express Does Party Fever & Other Songs Of The Montgomery Movement ... CD Ikef/Folkways, 1974. Used ... Out Of Stock
A massive lost funk classic – one of those rarer than rare albums that's well worth the fuss! The Montgomery Express were a Florida combo who played on the state's small club circuit – working equally well on their own, or backing up a number of better known singers. The group's got a ... read more CD
Folkways, 1958. New Copy ... $12.99 16.99
Kenneth Patchen, like Kenneth Rexroth, was one of the few poets who really understood what it meant to read and write in a jazz idiom – as you'll hear on this excellent set of beatnik jazz tracks! The album features Patchen reading in a great style – angular, cynical, really working ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Sonia Sanchez —
Sun Lady For All Seasons Reads Her Poetry ... LP Folkways, 1971. Very Good+ ... Out Of Stock
Very righteous work from this obscure 70s poet – a contemporary to Nikki Giovanni, Camille Yarbrough, and others – but not nearly as widely recorded! The album features no instrumentation, just Sonia reading her poems – and the work itself is pretty progressive, very much in the ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
(Blue label pressing. Includes the booklet, bent at the back page. Cover has peeled spots from sticker removal, patch of tacky adhesive, library stamp in front, and some splitting in the bottom seam. Label has a sticker and small ink stamp.)
Pete Seeger —
American Industrial Ballads ... LP Folkways, Mid 50s. Very Good ... Out Of Stock
... LP, Vinyl record album
Folkways, 1950s/1960s/1970s/1980s/1990s. Used Gatefold ... $4.99
... CD
(Out of print, penmark through barcode.)
Folkways, 1958. Very Good- ... $6.99
... LP, Vinyl record album
(Blue label pressing with deep groove. Includes booklet & inserts. Cover has a half split top seam, splitting on spine & bottom, some light surface wear.)
Pete Seeger & Sonny Terry —
Pete Seeger & Sonny Terry ... LP Folkways, 1957. Very Good ... Out Of Stock
... LP, Vinyl record album
Peter Seeger & Frank Hamilton —
Nonesuch & Other Folk Tunes ... LP Folkways, 1959. Near Mint- ... $9.99
... LP, Vinyl record album
(Includes booklet. Cover has a small split on the top seam and light wear.)
Folkways, 1985. New Copy ... $12.99 16.99
An album from the 80s, but one that echoes a much older tradition of folk and blues – with a vibe that hardly fits the dated spelling of the duo's name! Serious Bizness is the team of Jaribu and Ngoma Hill – who harmonize together on some very message-oriented music, in a way that was ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Folkways, 1976. New Copy Gatefold ... $12.99 16.98
A rough-edged batch of spiritual jazz tracks from trumpeter Charles "Cha Cha" Shaw (not to be confused with Charles "Bo Bo" Shaw) – recorded in an open-ended loft jazz mode with a really open, echoey feel! The album's a rare 70s jazz date on the Folkways label, and it's ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Cha Cha Shaw —
Kingdom Come ... CD Folkways, 1979. New Copy Gatefold ... Temporarily Out Of Stock
The second Folkways album from trumpeter Charles Shaw – and even more wonderful than the first! This one changes up the groove a bit – still sticking in Shaw's spiritual jazz vein at times, but also tripping things out a bit more with use of electric guitar and the ultra-cool "bag ... read more CD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Folkways, 1940s. Near Mint- ... $6.99 9.99
... LP, Vinyl record album
(Late 70s blue label pressing in the textured paste-on cover. Includes the booklet. Cover has a light stain at the spine.)
Joseph Spence —
Music Of The Bahamas – Bahaman Folk Guitar ... LP Folkways, 1959. Very Good+ ... Out Of Stock
Seminal sounds from Joseph Spence – a groundbreaking Bahamian artist whose style was an equal mixture of calypso and blues! The rhythms here are certainly Caribbean, as is the style of the lyrics on many numbers – but the spotlight often shines most strongly on the acoustic guitar work ... read more LP, Vinyl record album
Art Tatum —
Art Tatum Trio – Footnotes To Jazz Vol 2 – Rehearsal (10 inch LP) ... LP Folkways, Early 50s. Very Good+ ... Out Of Stock
Rehearsal material – done with Slam Stewart on bass and Tiny Grimes on guitar. Titles include "If I Had You", "Variations On A Theme By Flotow", and "Long Long Ago". LP, Vinyl record album
Folkways, 1940s/1950s/Early 60s. Used ... $2.99
... CD
Folkways, 1958. Very Good+ ... $11.99 14.99
... LP, Vinyl record album
(Late 60s black & silver label stereo pressing.)
Lucinda Williams —
Happy Woman Blues ... CD Folkways, 1980. Used ... Just Sold Out!
Lucinda Williams second album for Folkways – and the first to feature her own material – introducing one of the best Americana singer songwriters of the past few decades! Happy Woman Blues has an apt title, and although there's plenty of heartache in her radiating from her vocal chords ... read more CD
Mary/Folkways, 1974. New Copy ... $12.99 14.98
An excellent album by Mary Lou Williams – a set recorded during the 70s period when she was mixing in a bit of funk with her jazz! The sound here is wonderful – quite different than other work you might know from Williams, and much more in the sort of groove you'd expect from Junior ... read more CD
Mary Lou Williams —
Zoning (with bonus tracks) ... CD Mary/Folkways, 1974. Used ... Out Of Stock
An excellent album by Mary Lou Williams – a set recorded during the 70s period when she was mixing in a bit of funk with her jazz! The sound here is wonderful – quite different than other work you might know from Williams, and much more in the sort of groove you'd expect from Junior ... read more CD
Also available Zoning (with bonus tracks) ... CD 12.99
Folkways, 1977. Very Good+ ... $6.99
Featuring The Children of Cuenca, The Children of Uruapan, and The Children of Loiza Aldea. LP, Vinyl record album
(Cover has light edge wear.)
Folkways, 1920s/1930s/1940s. Used 2CD & Book ... $19.99
Harry Smith's much revered efforts to compile the deepest early-to-mid 20th Century American folk music resulted in the monumental Anthology Of American Folk Music box set – plus this later volume that didn't make it into the original set or the celebrated reissue – and sadly went ... read more CD
(Out of print, paper band not included.)
Folkways, Mid 1950s. Very Good+ ... $29.99
With selections by Starlight Gospel Singers, Ella Cash, JT Cash, Joseph Massey, Dorothy Melton, Combs Gospel Singers, and Mississippi Wandering Travelers. LP, Vinyl record album
(Early 60s issue in a paste-on cover, with booklet.)
Various —
Tribal Music Of Australia ... LP Folkways, Late 1940s/Early 1950s. Very Good+ ... Out Of Stock
... LP, Vinyl record album
(Items 1 – 52 of 52)
