Folkways at 75

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of Folkways Records in NYC by Marian Distler and Moses Asch. The celebration will be observed in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on 6 July, and the Brooklyn Folk Festival in November; Smithsonian will also be reissuing many classic Folkways LPs on vinyl. Some of the details are given on the Smithsonian Folkways Facebook.

BIB editor's note: Folkways recordings (and their accompanying booklets) had an immeasurable influence on my own generation, especially those of us who were edging our way through the folk revival towards bluegrass and old-time music. I owe a particular debt to Pete Seeger's instructional albums on guitar- and banjo-playing; to the LPs recorded by Mike Seeger, American banjo: songs and tunes in Scruggs style and Mountain music bluegrass style; and to albums by the Country Gentlemen and the New Lost City Ramblers.

© Richard Hawkins