Includes 80 original recordings with the orchestras of Paul Whiteman, Fletcher Henderson, Luis Russell, Bennie Moten, Earl Hines, Chick Webb, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Charlie Barnet, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and others – plus a 52 page booklet with an essay, notes on the recordings, and some great historical photos. CD

Includes music from Mike Seeger, Doug Wallin, The Golden Eagle String Band, Dillard Chandler, Iron Mountain String Band, Margaret MacArthur, Ewan MacColl, Pete Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Paul Clayton, and more. CD

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A wide ranging collection from the Folkways label, including folk, blues, and even some jazz. Includes work by Lead Belly, Dave Van Ronk, Peggy Seeger, Mary Lou Williams, Bill Monroe, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lonnie Johnson, and others – 26 tracks total. CD

Music from Sticks McGhee, Doc Watson, John Jackson, Bill Williams, Pink Anderson, Brownie McGhee, Archie Edwards, Lesley Riddle, Peg Leg Sam Jackson, Roscoe Holcomb and more. CD

Music from Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Vera Hall, KC Douglas, Roosevelt Sykes, Etta Baker, Henry Brown, Pink Anderson, Rev Gary Davis, Cat Iron, Willie Dixon, Henry Townsend and more. CD

Music from Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry, Warner Williams, Lead Belly, Nora Lee King, Pink Anderson, Little Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt Sykes, Roosevelt Sykes, Barbara Dane, and more – 22 tracks total! CD

Includes music from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Paul Robeson, Cisco Houston, Phil Ochs, and the New Lost City Ramblers. CD

Music from Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Janis Ian, The New World Singers, Liz Getz, Peter La Farge, Phil Ochs, The Bergerfolk, Pete Seeger, and more. CD

Music from Woody Guthrie, Ella Jenkins, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Lord Invader With The Calypso Orchestra, Dr. W. K. Amoaku, Ella Jenkins, Langston Hughes, Ruth Rubin, Alan Mills, Illinois School Children, Suni Paz, and more. CD

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Appalachian vocals and banjo tunes from great Roscoe Holcomb – mid 60s Folkways recordings with his gorgeously weary, soul stirring and sometimes otherworldly passionate voice commanding your attention and cutting real deep – and his banjo playing making a playful progressions underneath. Holcomb puts it all in that voice of his, an impressive, cutting instrument on its owns – and getting a lot of different sounds out of his banjo than many players of the era. Titles include "Wandering Boy", "Hook And Line", "Omie Wise"., "In The Pines", "Little Bessie", "Willow Tree", "Married Life Blues" and more. CD

Recordings by Alan Lomax, Fred Asch, and others. CD

A landmark collection of music – the now-famous series of American Folk Music volumes put together by Harry Smith in the 50s! The work here spans the space of a few early decades of recorded music – all in styles expertly chosen by Smith, with countless examples of music that might have fallen beneath the sands of time if not otherwise included in the series! Even back at the original release of the collection, the series was a crucial bit of musical archaeology – and over the ensuing space of decades, has only gone onto become even more important. Styles run the gamut from blues to roots to folk and other styles in between and features tracks by Dick Justice, Coley Jones, Buell Kazee, Kelly Harrell, the Carter Family, the Bently Boys, Henry Thomas, the Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, Blind Willie Johnson, Dock Boggs, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and more! CD

Music from John Snipes, Dink Roberts, Joe Thompson & Odell Thompson, Etta Baker & Cora Philips, John Jackson, Homer Walker, Irvin Cook & Leonard Bowles, 'Big Sweet' Lewis Hairston, John Tyree, Rufus Kasey and more. CD

Music from the Iron Mountain String Band, the New Lost City Ramblers, Dock Boggs, Clarence Ashley, Clark Kessinger, Maybelle Carter & Sara Carter Bayes, Doc Watson & Fred Price, Lee Sexton, Mike Seeger, John W. Summers and more. CD

Recorded By Colin Turnbull and Francis S Chapman. CD

A vital performance by Pete Seeger at a pivotal point in his career – captured at Maine's Bowdoin College in 1960 – the complete performance! You really get a powerful portrait of this good-natured giant of American musical history here. At a time when Seeger was under intense political scrutiny, he delivers a charismatic and inventively musical show for the people of Maine! He tells stories, leads sing-a-longs and plays the heck out of his banjo and acoustic guitar, and it's captured very well by Folkways. He more about honoring American folk songs and traditions here, but he does slyly put forward his beliefs, with subtlety and grace. A pretty amazing set, not only for how well documented it is, but for the wealth of material – a few dozen songs if you count the medleys (and you should!) with avuncular monologues and commentary on 2CDs – plus a generous booklet of notes. Includes "Penny's Farm", "He Lies In The American Land", "Oh, Riley", "D-Day Dodgers", "Al Smith Holds The Bottle", "Goodnight Irene", "Living In The Country", "Water Is Wide", "Big Rock Candy Mountain", "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream", "Wimoweh", "Bourgeois Blues", "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena", "Cripple Creek/Old Joe Clark/Old Dan Tucker" (in a brilliant banjo medley) and much more!" CD

Music from Gandy Dancers, John Cephas And Phil Wiggins, Warner Williams, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Etta Baker, Abner Jay, Claude Williams, Sammy Price, Booker T. Laury, White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, and more. CD

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Appalachian vocals and banjo tunes from great Roscoe Holcomb – mid 60s Folkways recordings with his gorgeously weary, soul stirring and sometimes otherworldly passionate voice commanding your attention and cutting real deep – and his banjo playing making a playful progressions underneath. Holcomb puts it all in that voice of his, an impressive, cutting instrument on its owns – and getting a lot of different sounds out of his banjo than many players of the era. Titles include "Wandering Boy", "Hook And Line", "Omie Wise"., "In The Pines", "Little Bessie", "Willow Tree", "Married Life Blues" and more. CD

A classic series – in which Pete Seeger brings back lost American classics, accompanying himself on banjo and 12-string guitar! CD

Music from Reverend Gary Davis, Yvonne Hunter, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Roscoe Holcomb, Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton, Carter Stanley, Mary Townsley, Bill Monroe, Eck Robertson, Last Forever, Elizabeth Cotton, Woody Guthrie & more. CD

Features Frank Wakefield on mandolin. CD

Beautiful guitar work from Elizabeth Cotten – much more sensitive and lyrical than you might expect – with a warmth that really goes beyond the usual Folkways record of this nature! Elizabeth sings on the set at points – in this raspy, time-worn style that's pretty compelling on its own – but honestly, it's the guitar that really grabs us – played with deftness that's impressive, and a sense of greater sound that really shows some unique phrasing throughout. Titles include "Freight Train", "Run Run Mama Your Son Done Gone", "Spanish Flang Dang", "When I Get Home", "Vastopol", and "I Don't Love Nobody". CD

50s material originally issued on two different albums on the Folklyric label. CD

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One of best ever records by gonzo rock genius Captain Beefheart and his incredible Magic Band – the proper follow up to Trout Mask Replica – and they;re still at the height of their powers! Art Tripp's marimba and percussion gives the group an extra rhythmic complexity, not that they EVER lacked for that, even while the bands strips down some of the more meandering tendencies of Trout. They don't skim on the aural art, even with the more focused approach, making one a leaner effort, but just as much a masterpiece. Tracks include "Lick My Decals Off, Baby", "I Love You, You Big Dummy", "Bellerin' Plain", "Petrified Forest", and "The Smithsonian Institute Blues (Or The Big Dig)". This may very well be their finest moment. CD

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 Revolutionary Woman (1971)" by Angela Davis, "The Right To A Decent Life & Human Dignity (1971)" by Coretta Scott King, "It Is Time For A Change (1969)" by Shirley Chisolm, and "Lynching, Our National Crime (1901)" by Ida B Wells. CD

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 Cohran, and some of the AACM – and the album has a style that's exploratory, but never goes too far out, or loses its sense of rhythm and swing. Tracks are longish, and the core group features soprano sax and Korean reeds by Bilal Abdurahman and vibes by Ameen Nuraldeen – plus guest work on bass by James Smith, and appearances by a lot of different world percussion players. There's a nice Eastern feel to some of the tracks, and titles include "Mevlana", "Ti Ti", "Sun Flower", and "Bent El Jerusalem". CD