Folk music boasts many accomplished artists. Peter, Paul & Mary rose to fame as money-making trios; Phil Ochs’ political protest songs remain timeless classics.
Moses Asch founded Folkways Records to document folk, world and children’s music; later it was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987.
The Anthology of American Folk Music
Released as a quasi-legal set of three double LPs (and later on CD) in 1952 by Harry Smith of Northwestern Michigan (later rereleased on six CDs in 1997), The Anthology of American Folk Music became one of the core texts for folk revival artists like Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.
Smith focused his selections within specific parameters, selecting commercially available recordings of vernacular American folk music recorded between 1926 and 1932 on 78s available commercially for purchase. He excluded music by indigenous Americans or Spanish-language songs as well as any recordings featuring women; his work was often criticized as it failed to adequately represent vernacular America despite being accessible for listeners.
The original Anthology of American Folk Music features songs in three categories–Social Music, Ballads and Songs–ranging from hillbilly ballads to Cajun faisons. He also included cowboy songs and jug band music as well as non-narrative folk songs that offer insight into America’s musical past. Each disc in this collection offers a snapshot into this period in American musical history.
Anthology of American Songs offers a vast and intriguing compilation of timeless American themes such as love, murder, robbery, hunger travel and travelogue lyrics that speak about love murder robbery hunger travelogue politics prison religion gambling wilderness weirdness as issues from that era still resonate today when listening to this collection of American classics.
An Anthology offers an engaging variety of songs, but also conveys an underlying ethic of restlessness – somewhere among its 84 tracks there’s always someone venturing out, be it frustrated with life in the countryside or longing to fulfill some longed-for destiny that remains to be fulfilled.
Movement is at the core of what makes the set so influential, which explains its popularity with American dreamers and those seeking freedom and opportunity alike. Indeed, this album represents our cultural legacy.
Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger has passed away aged 94 after keeping the folk music tradition alive through singing and activism. He popularised folk songs during the 1940s and 50s before leading its revival in the 60s – hit songs including We Shall Overcome and Where Have All the Flowers Gone being among his many notable works. He was also a noted political activist and influential member of the left-wing Communist Party until around 1950, until being called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities who blacklisted them and their group The Weavers. Seeger was able to rebuild his career as both a solo performer and with groups like the New Lost City Ramblers after being blacklisted, although most often working alone or alongside family members (his brother Mike joined the Kingston Trio, while sister Peggy became one of Britain’s premier folk singers).
After leaving Harvard University where he studied sociology, Seeger began touring and playing concerts across taverns, churches and concert halls introducing young white people to folk music. In 1938 he met Woody Guthrie at a benefit for migrant workers where they formed his musical collective Almanac Singers with musicians including Lee Hays, Cisco Houston, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry (with other musicians joining or leaving at various points). They joined OWI broadcasts of radio programs sent out during World War II which brought wider recognition before soon all members had been called up by military duty duty and disbanded after WW II began.
Seeger became known for his dedication to environmental issues during the 1970s and 1980s, when his Hudson River sloop Clearwater served as an innovative floating classroom, laboratory, stage and speaker’s forum; folk festivals were held to promote environmentally-friendly attitudes; pollution campaigns were launched against nuclear weapons as part of this mission; Seeger organised protests to protest this situation as well.
His recordings can be found on labels like Folkways, Rounder and Topic, as well as books like How to Sing the Blues, Folk Songs of America and The Anthology of American Folk Music. He was frequently mentioned by music publications like American Music Magazine, Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine, Country Sales Newsletter Magazine DIRTY LINEN Magazine DISC COLLECTOR Magazine DDHMLN Journal Of American Folklore Journal And Ethnomusicology Journal
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie was an iconic folk musician and songwriter renowned for depicting the lives of working-class Americans through songs, ballads and poems that depicted historical events such as the Great Depression, Dust Bowl and World War II as well as social upheaval due to unionism and communism. His works remain highly influential today.
Guthrie began his musical career early after emerging from poverty in Oklahoma. Playing in numerous bands and becoming a local folk hero were his earliest musical endeavors, becoming well-known within Oklahoma itself by the 1940s. Moving to New York City during that same decade – where he recorded for Moses Asch’s Folkways Records label as well as helping form The Almanac Singers which sang left-leaning topical folk songs alongside Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry to promote labor causes. Through music they promoted labor causes as well as progressive causes – both locally and politically.
The late 1940s and early 1950s in America saw a period of intense anti-communist sentiment. Many musicians associated with progressive politics found themselves subjected to Red Scare tactics that blacklisted them from music industry jobs, something which greatly affected The Weavers, led by Guthrie and Seeger.
Guthrie was an expert folk singer, not shy to advocate for those less privileged. His music spoke out for workers of all backgrounds – oppressed or impoverished alike. Guthrie strived to break through popular culture barriers to reach a wider audience with his work.
At his peak, he was one of the most revered American folk musicians. With his distinctive voice and songwriting talents gaining him an ever-expanding following that continues today he remains one of the great folk performers ever.
Modern acts like The Lumineers, Jason Isbell and Buffy Sainte-Marie continue to keep folk alive, drawing upon its rich roots while adapting it to today’s political climate. While its popularity may have decreased somewhat over time, folk remains an enjoyable genre with room for new talent to emerge.
Folkways Records
In 1948, Moses Asch established Folkways Records & Service Company of New York to document music from all around the globe. He collaborated with Harold Courlander and Marian to produce a series of groundbreaking albums that were both culturally significant and political in nature. This label became an incubator of American folk music revival, featuring many singers such as Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie who helped propel it forward into popular culture. Not only did the label reissue classic music by artists such as Dock Boggs and Clarence Ashley, it was one of the first companies to produce compilations encompassing various styles of folk music such as The Anthology of American Folk Music or Samuel Charters’ Country Blues collection.
Asch’s dedication to documenting traditional cultures through recordings helped establish ethnomusicology as an academic field. Today, his legacy lives on through Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ extensive catalogue of both vintage releases and new projects.
This collection has now been made accessible as streaming samples and DRM-free digital downloads on the Smithsonian’s website, making them accessible by anyone with internet access. Physical CDs remain available through mail order. Peel often played several recordings from this label on his radio show Night Ride, including classic folk artists Joan Baez and Dave Van Ronk to contemporary acts Lightnin Hopkins and Elizabeth Cotten; anthologies compiled by Samuel Charters were also featured, often as budget LP releases such as Transatlantic’s Xtra series of budget LP releases Xtra from Transatlantic.
This year, the label is commemorating its 75th anniversary by joining forces with the Brooklyn Folk Festival to present incredible live performances from artists who recorded for it from its early years – such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Alice Gerrard – to newer talent such as Jake Blount and No-No Boy who represent an impressive new generation of talented artists working with it.