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Titles include "Stewball", "Have You Ever Been To Nashville Pen", "Chicago House Rent Praty", "44 Blues", "Unlucky", and the three-part "Kansas City". LP, Vinyl record album

A great overview of overlooked banjo work from the postwar years – the king of lightning-fast performance that was made famous by Earl Scruggs, but which is served up here by a host of lesser-known talents from the time! Think of the set as a more underground take on the Flatt & Scruggs 50s material on Columbia – and revel in performances that include "Jesse James" by Eric Wissberg, "Pretty Polly" by Bob Baker, "Rueben's Train" by Kenny Miller, "Cindy" by Dick Tittler, "Wildwod Flower" by Eugene Cox, "I Don't Love Nobody" by JC Sutphin, "Rosewood Casket" by Smiley Hobbs, "Cacklin Man" by Joe Stewart, "Lonesome Blues" by Snuffy Jenkins, and "Jenny Lynn" by Don Bryant. LP, Vinyl record album

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A reunion concert of earlier folk activists from the start of the 60s – with work by Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Len Chandler, Peter La Farge, Eric Anderson, Sis Cunningham, and Blind Boy Grunt! LP, Vinyl record album

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Recorded by Harold Corlander. LP, Vinyl record album

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Not the kind of Mexican music you're likely to hear at your local taqueria – and instead a set of tracks that reach back to Mayan music traditions, and come across with a powerfully folkloric feel! The sounds were all recorded in Chiapas, in the best Folkways style – never polished or adorned with any sort of studio elements – and usually served up with just spare percussion, or acoustic guitar, or the occasional trumpet line. The vocals and song structures are quite unique – very unfamiliar, with almost no reference to more contemporary Mexican music – which is perhaps a great illustration of the separate culture that's always marked the state of Chiapas. Titles include "New Year's Prayer", "Song Of Peace", "Tiger Stone Song", "Trumpet Choir", "Todos Santos", and "Senor De Tila". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic little package – and one that may well have more meaning these days than ever before! The lavish set features a huge hardcover book – 124 pages of notes, photos, and other information – all put together in conjunction with a Smithsonian exhibition of the same name – which presents the undeniable power of music in the 20th century – themes of progress, politics, struggle, and achievement – spun out over a variety of different genres that include blues, folk, jazz, gospel, and a huge amount of global styles too! As you'd guess from the label, many of the tracks come from the rich holdings of the Folkways label – but other imprints have also been folded into the mix, which makes for a really fantastic assemblage of music. 4CDs feature over 80 titles in all – with work by Woody Guthrie, Joe Glazer, Rumel Fuentes, Sandoval Begay, Cantor Abraham Brun, The Old Harp Singers Of Eastern Tennessee, Pete Seeger, Strange Creek Singers, Inger Nielsen, Grupo Raiz, Caravan, Mikis Thedorakis, Chippewa Nation, Lester Bradley & Friends, Sam Brothers Five, Austin Pitre, John Littlehohn, Quetzel, Kristin Lems, and many others. CD

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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 give plenty of an idea of the nature of the music – with classic Guthrie recordings done for Folkways in the 40s, including "The Dying Miner", "Waiting At The Gate", "A Dollar Down & A Dollar A Week", "Lost John", "Union Burying Ground", and "Ludlow Massacre" – many of which echo the continuing struggle of the working man, even as America was shining forth as an industrial giant. The recordings mostly feature Woody on vocals and guitar, but there's also some guest contributions from Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry – both key contemporaries of Guthrie. LP, Vinyl record album

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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 diversity that's really great – and they're equally well-suited to longer, trippier funk instrumentals, and shorter more soul-based tunes. The vocal numbers are especially haunting, as they've got a moody and sad feel that's more like New Jersey or Detroit group soul of the time than the usual Miami soul – and the funkier tunes have a nice psychedelic approach that uses plenty of sweetly-tuned guitar! 8 tracks in all – "Party Fever", "Precious Wing", "Montgomery Movement", "Gotta Make A Comeback", "Who", "Steal Away", "I'm Standing By", and "Left Me With A Memory". LP, Vinyl record album

Pete Seeger's billed as "Peter Seeger" on the cover – maybe out of some fake sense of seriousness, given that the record features a few songs by Beethoven, Bach, and other composers! But don't worry at all, as Pete's very much as down home as usual – playing here mostly solo – not just on banjo, but also mandolin and chalit – using the stringed instruments in this amazing way, as he completely transforms the tunes in a sense of imagination that moves through both time and musical space – all years before John Fahey made his first record! Titles include "The Mexican Blues", "Woody's Rag", "Russian Folk Themes & Yodel", "Cindy", "The Girl I Left Behind Me", "Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring", and "Oh Liza Poor Gal". LP, Vinyl record album

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One of the first higher-concept recordings from pianist Mary Lou Williams – recorded in the mid 40s, but with a musical vision that holds up beautifully all these many years later! Despite the large group expectations you might have from the "suite" in the title, the tracks are all relatively intimate – played by a trio with Williams on piano, Al Lucas on bass, and Jack Parker on drums – and recorded in a way that often has Mary's piano out front in the mix, with Lucas' basslines providing a close second – working together in almost drumless formation at many points in the session. Titles include "Taurus", "Leo", "Libra", "Capricorn", "Pisces", "Cancer", "Virgo", "Scorpio", and "Aquarius" – and the CD feeatures 6 previously unreleased alternate takes! CD

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Maybe the first collection we've ever seen that really gets at the multi-faceted genius of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival – that long-running event that's become one of the most important annual concert series on the planet, and which still stands as a continual revelation, even after 50 years! The book-style package has a large, hardcover volume – with many pages of writings on the event, photos shot over the years, and other great images too – as much a memento of years past, if you've visited – as it is a great way to experience the event even if you've never had the funds or the time to make it down to Nola in May! But to us, the real appeal is the music – 5CDs, and 50 long tracks all recorded at the event over the years – with music that runs the gamut from blues to jazz to soul, with a few surprises along the way – served up in a wealth of obscure tracks from Dr John, The Wild Magnolias, Dixie Cups, John Boutte, Irma Thomas, The Zion Harmonizers, Henry Butler, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Kenny Neal, The Neville Brothers, Beausoleil, Savoy Family Cajun Band, Big Freedia, Deacon John, Walter Wolfman Washington, Funky Meters, Earl King, Allen Toussaint, Donald Harrison Jr, The Golden Eagles, Champion Jack Dupree, Snooks Eaglin, The White Eagles, Marcia Ball, Professor Longhair, Clarence Frogman Henry, and many many more! CD

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 soon resulted in much greater attention, and even visits to her home by fans and legendary followers – which makes the whole thing almost a touchstone of acoustic music in the postwar years! Yet despite any later acclaim, the record's got a quality that grabs you right at the core – music that needs no introduction at all, and which has the same earthy power of early John Fahey recordings, and a similar individual sensibility. Elizabeth plays both guitar and banjo, and sings just a bit – on titles that include "Freight Train", "Vastopol", "I Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now", "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad", "Run Run/Mama Your Son Done Gone", "Spanish Flang Dang", and "When I Get Home". LP, Vinyl record album

A late 50s session, but an album that captures Lighnin Hopkins in a rootsy style that could well hearken back to the 78rpm blues records of the 30s – thanks to production by Samuel B Charters, who captured Hopkins alone making music in his apartment in Houston! The tracks have that beautifully spare, yet indescribably rich sound of Hopkins at his best – wonderfully expressive through just a few vocal inflections and deft changes on the guitar – augmented here by one track that also features Lighnin just speaking, recalling his meeting with Blind Lemon Jefferson. Titles include "Bad Luck & Trouble", "Penitentiary Blues", "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", "Tell Me Baby", "Fan It", "Goin Back To Florida", "Trouble Stay Way From My Door", and "Come Go Home With Me". LP, Vinyl record album

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 by Spence, which often echoes styles that you'd find much more in the rural south in the postwar years – particularly in the strength of its phrasing! No surprise, the set was recorded by Folkways blues historian Samuel B Charters – and titles include "Brownskin Girl", "Coming In On A Wing & Prayer", "There Will Be A Happy Meeting In Glory", "Jump In The Line", "I'm Going To Live That Life", and "Face To Face That I Shall Know Him". LP, Vinyl record album

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 and in her words, it's done with passionate, unflinching confidence and charisma the brings a smile to our faces as wide as the one she's wearing in the cover photo. More of a honky tonk record than a blues record, and a great one! Essential! Titles include "Lafayette", "Lost It", "Maria", "Happy Woman Blues", "Rolling Along", "Howlin At Midnight", "Hard Road", "Louisiana Man" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark album – and one of the best records you'll ever find by Mary Lou Williams! The record's a mixture of jazz and spiritual themes, and it features Mary Lou's piano set in some super-hip jazz arrangements that include players like Grant Green, Budd Johnson, Larry Gales, Melba Liston, Ben Tucker, and Percy Heath. The bass and piano work is amazing, and many tracks have a dark groove that's very subtle, but very compelling. About half the tunes feature hip choral vocalizing – in the mode of some of the Donald Byrd or Max Roach albums from the same time – mostly handled by the group of Howard Roberts. Includes the classic groover "A Grand Nite For Swinging", plus "A Fungus Amongus", "Anima Christi", "Miss DD", "The Devil", "It Ain't Necessarily So", and "My Blue Heaven". Great stuff all around – and even better than we're describing it! LP, Vinyl record album

Kind of silly – but also pretty darn hip! Nancy Dupree was one of the most righteous music teachers you could ever have – and here, she's working with some young kids from the rough side of Rochester, in an album of simple tunes that have a surprisingly soulful edge to them. Nancy plays piano, and the kids sing either solo or in ensemble format. The record's got a starkness that's extremely compelling, and it's a lot stronger than we expected, even if it's not like some of the funky stuff on the Folkways label. Includes a song called "James Brown" that has all the kids making grunts and groans ala 60s James, then singing about his shift from a process to an afro! Other titles include "I Want", "What Do I Have?", "Bag Snatchin", and "Docta King". LP, Vinyl record album

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