This second volume (see Folkways FW03043, Broadside Ballads, Volume 1) continues Ewan MacColl's exploration of English broadside ballads. It features songs about the exploits of women, from a woman... more

In his liner notes, Ewan MacColl writes, "In the days before TV, radio, and newspapers, the broadsides helped both to mould and reflect public opinion; their authors acted as political commentators,... more

So versatile that she was able to sustain a professional career for more than thirty years, jazz pianist, composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams ran the gamut from Dixieland to swing, bop and... more

The New York Times called The Red Clay Ramblers "a musical group whose eclectic repertory is that of a fantasy roadhouse band from a vanished rural America." This collaboration with bluegrass fiddler... more

On February 13, 1960 approximately 124 students from American Baptist Theological Seminary, Fisk University, and Tennessee a & I State University staged their first sit-in demonstrations at three... more

Blacklisted actor and tireless social activist Will Geer toured government work camps with Guthrie and Burl Ives long before Geer and Guthrie released this 1956 LP. They tell it like it is the songs... more

Malvina Reynolds, the well-known songwriter and activist for social justice and the environment, performs some of her most famous songs in the compilation of studio and live recordings fro mthe 1960s... more

In the mid-1940s, Elizabeth Cotten (1895-1987) chanced to meet composer Ruth Crawford Seeger at a department store. They began to talk, and Seeger soon hired Cotten to work in the Seeger household.... more

20 stridin' classics recorded by the great jazz pianist for Mo Asch's Folkways label, including the only recordings of Johnson's symphonic jazz works Jazzamine Concerto; Jungle Drums, and Yamekraw.... more

This balanced collection of novelty rags includes compositions by the famed Zez Confrey and Roy Bargy, as well as expert interpretations of rarely heard pieces by Harry Jentes, Sid Reinherz, Jean... more

This album presents what seem to be the two sides of singer Cat-Iron's repertoire: that of the blues musician and that of the converted Christian. As Frederic Ramsey, Jr.. writes, "Cat-Iron might be... more

Recorded by V. P. & R. G. Wasson in Huautla de Jimenez, in the Mazatec Mountains in the northern corner of the State of Oaxaca, July 21, 1956. Updated liner notes include complete lyric... more

Named for the folk magazine Broadside, this 1963 LP (later reissued by Smithsonian Folkways) was recorded in Broadside's cramped NY apartment in decidedly intimate fashion. Along with "The Ballad of... more

Released in 1972, after many of it's artists had risen to international acclaim, Broadside Ballads, Vol. 6 contains previously unreleased songs that appeared in the folk publication Broadside... more

Icon of the American folk music revival Pete Seeger teaches folk guitar through a detailed written instruction guide (included in the liner notes) which accompanies in-depth teaching and classic folk... more

Released in 1966, two years after the "Freedom Summer" of 1964, when civil rights activists concentrated their energy on registering black voters in the South, this album explicitly addresses the... more

This documentary recording chronicles civil rights protesters singing during a march from Selma, Alabama, to the State Capitol in Montgomery, to demand fair access to voting registration. The songs... more

Behold the surging energy of the first years of swing, as the bands grew larger and arrangers endeavored to balance melody with rhythm. Hot stuff here: "Farewell Blues" Paul Whiteman, "Boston Tea... more

Banjo player Dock Boggs once said, "Lonesome songs always appealed to me." This collection features classic dark and lonely songs like "Pretty Polly" and "Oh Death." Meant as a companion album to... more

The Youngbloods and Holy Modal Rounders covered songs from this 1964 Folkways LP, the debut by this Pennsylvania-born singer-songwriter (whose unconventional singing and songs made him a hero in '60s... more

This double set brings together thirty-five sides recorded by Mary Lou Williams for Moses Asch between 1944 and 1947. Twenty-eight of these songs were previously only released on 78 rpm, and this... more

Reissue of the stunning introduction to the musical world of the unique guitarist from the Bahamas, Joseph Spence. Recorded in 1958 on the porch of a shack in Fresh Creek Settlement, it captures... more