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Tracking the origins of American folk is much more vague than other things - especially since so much can be traced back to folk itself. The main inspiration, however, were work songs, largely born of slavery in America, as well as sea shanties and other communal songs. They were meant to keep rhythm in the work, but as slavery dissolved and as sailors came to shore, they just kept going, probably because people thought they just sounded nice. As was the case for the work-song medium, everything continued to be passed down orally.

There are certainly European influences as well, especially since it was a time when the country was so young. Ballads, akin to medieval bard sort of stuff, can be intertwined with folk, in the sense of telling of a story and its actual structure.

Much of its popularity (our modern definition of it) spread post-WWI, but it was a very poignant part of frontier living in the mid to late 1800s, in places that were a little farther away from the east coast.

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As was the case for most normal people in the 1800s, nearly all of their knowledge was gained by word of mouth, whether it be gossip, cooking recipes, or how to play a certain song. Oral history was how folk music spread through the country, as these songs were passed down through generations and taught to anyone who was willing to learn.

This created a culture that can only really exist in a time period such as this. There may have been songs that everyone knew, but it was likely that everyone had their own version of it. The lyrics for "I've Been Working on the Railroad" (a song that is very blatantly tied to the genre's origins of work music) may have been different with nearly everyone you meet. It was not necessarily out of creativity, like people just wanting to put their own spin on a certain song (although that happened all the time too) - it was likely how it was taught, and it was likely how they think it's supposed to be played. There wasn't a benchmark version of a song, because there was nothing that it could reliably spread through. Even if records and gramophones were a thing, they were rarely pressed with folk music, and not many could afford such a device.

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https://youtu.be/gSLIc9h5l2k

This was recorded in the 1920s-30s era, but is still essentially what you would have heard in the 1880s.

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American folk songs, with its relationship to ballads, were almost always about telling a story. The recurring topic of "the guy whose down on his luck" can be seen over and over again, and not to say their isn't variation, it shared a lot with the blues (sonically as well) in the sense that you were usually singing about something that was bringing you down, or someone who is being brought down.

As is the name, folk music ties with folklore. The genre was also a vessel for that American folklore, talking about things they might have believed back then.

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Folk still hangs around today, but it has certainly changed from being the music for the "wanderer with a heavy heart". That was in part to what many call the Folk Music Revival, which began in the 1940s. It inserted folk music into the blossoming music industry, and started to grow into one of the most popular genres.

You can't talk about folk in the more modern age without mention Bob Dylan, who was likely the greatest reason for folk's popularity at its height in the '60s. Most of his music was just him and his guitar, at least early on in his career.

Folk has changed, even if the music itself has stayed fairly similar. I would argue the most interesting parts have changed - the oral history, the wandering from town to town, etc. Now, and in the '60s, it has become sort of just another genre.

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The two kings of American folk were not people - the banjo and the guitar ruled over this style, and still does with modern iterations. Of course, there are others, like the harmonica and the violin, but those two kind of similar instruments are a folk singers choice. A lot of Americans during that period - late 1800s to early 1900s - wandered, or at least walked a whole lot more than we do now, so instruments had to be portable. A guitar or a banjo could be strapped to your back - a tambourine could hang off your belt - a harmonica could just sit in your pocket.

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https://youtu.be/ahnYw3KmX74

Has some really great examples of folk recorded in the 1800s, as well as shows just how oral history can change songs as the years go by, and how loose things were at the time. People heard a song and without a second thought wrote their own verse, or changed the structure, or maybe wrote a whole new song and just kept the title. The word "intellectual property" meant literally nothing, and that was kinda cool.

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The AFS, founded in 1888, was part of an effort to collect and record all these different songs and styles of folk. Because there were so many different variations and so many different people to talk to, their work was cut out for them.

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"Since 1928 the Library of Congress has been preserving America's folk cultural heritage by collecting sound recordings, manuscripts, motion pictures, and photographs; and for the last fifty years the Library has published a series of phonograph records and audiocassettes that provide highlights from the collections in the Archive of Folk Culture..."

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Jennifer Cutting
Project Coordinator

American Folklife Center
Library of Congress Washington 1990

SELECTION PANEL FOR 1989

Charlotte J. Frisbie Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University Past President, Society for Ethnomusicology

Barry Lee Pearson Department of English, University of Maryland

Neil V. Rosenberg Department of Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Mark Slobin Department of Music, Wesleyan University President, Society for Ethnomusicology

Joe Wilson National Council for the Traditional Arts

ISSN 0748-5905

This publication was funded partially by a grant from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc.

Available free of charge from the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540

INTRODUCTION

Since 1928 the Library of Congress has been preserving America's folk cultural heritage by collecting sound recordings, manuscripts, motion pictures, and photographs; and for the last fifty years the Library has published a series of phonograph records and audiocassettes that provide highlights from the collections in the Archive of Folk Culture. In keeping with this effort, since 1983 the Library's American Folklife Center has published _American Folk Music and Folklore Recordings: A Selected List_ to help promote the best recordings of American folk music and folklore issued by various companies and organizations the previous year.

Small companies and organizations produce the greatest number of traditional music recordings. Many recordings result from field research projects that have received support from state arts councils, state humanities committees, and the Folk Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although these folk music and folklore recordings elude mainstream distribution networks and seldom appear in record shops and catalogs, they have been instrumental in preserving America's heritage and encouraging performers in local communities. The recordings are also valuable resources for students, teachers, and libraries. We hope that the publication of the selected list will foster an increased awareness of such recordings and of the forms of expression they present.

Each year a panel of specialists in American traditional music meets to select a group of outstanding recordings from the approximately two hundred phonograph records, audiocassettes, and compact discs submitted by producers and manufacturers or suggested by various interested parties. The resulting list is not comprehensive but is intended to make known to libraries, educators, and others important recent sound recordings. To be eligible for consideration for the 1990 list, a recording must:

1. have been released in 1990 (or 1989 if not previously submitted);

2. feature cultural traditions found within the United States;

3. emphasize "root traditions" over popular adaptations of traditional materials;

4. be conveniently available to purchasers in the United States;

5. include well-annotated liner notes or accompanying booklets relating the recordings to the performers, their communities, genres, styles, or other pertinent information.

The American Folklife Center hopes that this list will encourage the continuing production of documentary folk recordings, which in turn will help conserve our country's rich folk heritage. We also hope that the list will stimulate record companies to include sufficient documentation with each recording to make it an efficient tool for education.

The recordings in the following annotated listings are produced by the companies and organizations listed at the end of the booklet. None of the recordings listed is manufactured or distributed by the Library of Congress. The booklet also lists other publications that review folk music and folklore recordings, and major mail-order distributors of folk recordings. We have included Library of Congress control numbers for the convenience of librarians; they need not be used when ordering these recordings from the particular company.

This edition of the list inaugurates a change in format. Instead of recordings being grouped by a single category (i.e. regional, Anglo-American, African-American, other ethnic, and anthology), they are now alphabetized by title, with multiple categories at the end of each annotation. We hope this change will encourage a broader perception and provide a less rigid mechanism for describing artists and genres that do not fit neatly into one category.

To nominate recordings for the 1990 list or to receive additional copies of this booklet, please write to: Folk Recordings List, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Altamont: Black Stringband Music from the Library of Congress. Rounder Records 0238. LP/cassette/CD. Field recordings of rural black stringband music from the collections in the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress. One of very few recordings documenting the black stringband repertoire and style, this collection includes African American versions of widely known tunes as well as some that appear to be unique to the black stringband tradition. Side A contains recordings made in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942 of fiddler Frank Patterson and banjoist/vocalist Nathan Frazier; the recordings of Fiddler John Lusk's band on side B were made in Rocky Island, Tennessee, mostly in 1946. Notes by Charles Wolfe. LCCN 90-753742 (LP). Historical / African-American

Michael Doucet: Beau Solo. Arhoolie 321. Cassette/CD. Songs and solo fiddle and accordion music from Louisiana musician Michael Doucet, usually heard as a member of Cajun band Beausoleil. Mostly waltzes, blues, and two-steps (some original) plus an unaccompanied ballad. Guitar accompaniment to fiddle tunes by David Doucet. Booklet has notes by Michael Doucet, with French/English transcriptions and translations by Sharon Arms Doucet. LCCN 90-753744 (CD). Contemporary / Cajun (Acadian)

Bill Monroe: Bluegrass 1950-1958. Bear Family Records BCD 15423. CD. Four-CD set documenting the "father of bluegrass" music's first decade of recordings on the Decca label. These thirty-two recording sessions represent a creative peak in Monroe's career, during which he crystallized his sound and established his core repertoire. Accompanying sixty-five-page book includes biographical sketch, historical overview, and chronological and numerical discographies by Neil V. Rosenberg; song notes by Charles K. Wolfe; photos. LCCN 90-753746. Historical / Bluegrass

Calypso Pioneers 1912-1937. Rounder Records 1039. LP/cassette/CD. An anthology of early recordings of the West Indian African-Creole carnival music that became known as calypso, beginning with the earliest Trinidadian music on record. Most of the recordings were made in New York City by resident expatriate musicians and islanders who visited on special "recording trips"; a few examples were recorded by U.S. companies in Trinidad. Carnival and dance tunes are interspersed with songs, some accompanied only by guitar or piano and others by larger ensembles that typically include the cuatro (small guitar with four or five sets of double strings), and sometimes guitar, piano, violin, clarinet, string bass, and trumpet or saxophone. Notes on the evolution and history of calypso by Dick Spottswood and Don Hill. LCCN 90-753748 (LP). Historical / Caribbean / Calypso

Dave Tarras: Volume One. Global Village C 105. Cassette. Historic recordings, 1929 to 1939, of one of the United State's leading clarinetists in the klezmer (Eastern European Jewish instrumental music) tradition. Originally from the southern Ukraine, Tarras absorbed American influences, expanding the boundaries of traditional klezmer style. His eight-decade career encompassed contributions in the recording studio (as soloist and bandleader), and in Yiddish theater and radio. Includes dance tunes such as hora, sirba, sher, and bulgar as well as free-rhythm improvisational forms such as doina and kale bazetsn. Notes by Michael Schlesinger, Michael Alpert, and Joel Rubin. LCCN 90-753750. Historical / Jewish-American / Klezmer

Down Around Bowmantown . . . Then and Now. Center for Appalachian Studies and Services/Tennessee Folklore Society, Now and Then Records N&T 1001. LP and cassette. Portrait of a musical community in northeast Tennessee, a region known for its vigorous old-time string band tradition. Side one contains remastered home disc recordings made between the late 1930s and early 1950s of banjo player Clyde Dykes, fiddler Gilbert Broyles, guitarist and singer Tom Slagle and others; recent recordings of informal music-making sessions on side 2 include some of the same musicians featured on the home disc recordings. Twenty-page booklet with extensive notes by Tim Stafford and Richard Blaustein gives regional history, biographical information on the musicians, song notes, and a history of home disc recording. Maps; photos; illustrations. LCCN 90-753751 (LP). Contemporary and Historical / Appalachian / Tennessee

Dusty Miller. June Appal Recordings JA 0057. LP/cassette. Debut album from Dusty Miller, a nationally acclaimed group of young bluegrass musicians from East Tennessee. This album is a mix of originals, gospel, Bob Wills songs, and some material not usually heard in a bluegrass context. The band includes Adam Steffey (mandolin, lead and harmony vocal), Tim Stafford (guitar, lead and harmony vocal), Tammy Steffey (fiddle, lead and harmony vocal), Barry Bales (bass, harmony vocal) and Brian Fesler (banjo). Jacket notes by Jack Tottle. LCCN 90-753752 (LP). Contemporary / Bluegrass

Early Mandolin Classics, Volume 1. Rounder Records 1050. LP/cassette/CD. A cross-cultural anthology of recordings documenting bands that featured the mandolin in the pre-bluegrass 1920s and 1930s. Examples of Puerto Rican, African-, Anglo-, Italian-, and Ukrainian-American styles performed primarily on the flatback mandolin, with a few banjo-mandolin selections. Remastered from 78 rpm records, most of which have never been reissued in collections. Jacket notes by Terry Zwigoff. LCCN 90-753753 (LP). Historical / Multi-ethnic / Mandolin

Eight-Hand Sets and Holy Steps: Early Dance Tunes and Songs of Praise from North Carolina's Black Tradition. Folklife Section, North Carolina Arts Council/North Carolina Museum of History, Longleaf Records LL001RE. LP. A sampler of African-American traditions that flourished in North Carolina from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, recorded in the late 1970s as part of the North Carolina Museum of History exhibit "The Black Presence in North Carolina." Side 1 presents the secular music of dance parties and social gatherings--dance tunes such as rags and reels, and ballads accompanied on fiddle, banjo, harmonica, guitar, and bones. Side 2 contains spirituals and songs of praise performed by congregations, sacred singing groups, and individuals with guitar or harmonica accompaniment. Twenty-four-page booklet with extensive notes by Glenn Hinson gives descriptions of the traditions, biographies of musicians, and photographs. LCCN 88-743072. Contemporary / African-American / North Carolina

Ethnic Dance Music in Northern Indiana: Greek, Macedonian, Serbian and Croatian. Archives of Traditional Music, no catalog number. Cassette. Social dance music of four culturally overlapping ethnic communities in northern Indiana from the collections of Indiana University's Archives of Traditional Music. Mostly current field recordings from church dances, festivals, and restaurants, with two historic recordings of the first Macedonian band formed in the United States. Recordings show the coexistence of old- and new-world pieces in current repertoires, and, with the exception of the tamburitza groups, the use of modern Western instruments. Notes by Paul Tyler. LCCN 90-753756. Contemporary and Historical / Greek-American, Macedonian-American, Serbian-American, Croatian-American / Indiana

John Check and the Wisconsin Dutchmen: Everybody's Favorites. North Star Appli NSA 153. LP/cassette. Polka music from one of the upper Midwest's leading exponents of the Dutchman style, characterized by its hard-driving rhythm, staccato execution of the melody, three- and four-part harmonies, and a typical instrumentation that includes tuba, concertina, trumpets, saxophones, clarinets, and drum set. This nineteenth album from the Wisconsin Dutchmen is a representative cross-section of their repertoire, including polkas, waltzes, laendlers, schottisches, and several "Big Band Modern" tunes. Jacket and insert notes by John Check. LCCN 90-753760 (LP). Contemporary / Polka: Wisconsin

Santiago Jimenez, Jr.: Familia y Tradicion. Rounder Records 6033. LP/cassette/CD. Conjunto (a Mexican-American dance music tradition from south Texas) played and sung by button accordionist Santiago Jimenez, member of a respected San Antonio musical family. Jimenez, who specializes in the older conjunto style played by his father Santiago, Sr., stresses family ties in this album. Among the typical mix of rancheras, corridos, polkas, and schottisches are three originals written for family members, five written by Jimenez's father, a version of a recent hit by his brother Flaco, and a bilingual version of "You Are My Sunshine." Other band members are Toby Torres on bajo sexto (a type of twelve-string guitar) Juan Viesca on tololoche (acoustic bass) and Cookie Martinez on drums. Jacket notes by John Morthland; insert has song notes by Dr. Jose Reyna and Spanish/English lyric transcriptions and translations by Yleana Martinez. LCCN 90-753762 (LP). Contemporary / Mexican-American / Conjunto Narciso Martinez: The Father of Tex-Mex Conjunto: El Huracan del Valle, Volume Two. Arhoolie/Folklyric 9055. LP/cassette. Button accordionist Narciso Martinez, born in 1911, set the standard for instrumental conjunto (a Mexican-American dance music tradition from south Texas) in the 1930s and 1940s. This collection, reissued from 1948-60 recordings made during the zenith of Martinez's career, contains instrumental dance tunes as well as accompaniments for popular solo and duet singers such as Lydia Mendoza and the Mendoza sisters. Jacket notes by Chris Strachwitz. LCCN 90-753795 (LP). Historical / Mexican-American / Conjunto

John Cephas and Phil Wiggins: Guitar Man. Flying Fish 470. LP/cassette/CD. Southeastern, or "Piedmont," blues from Washington, D.C., musicians "Bowling Green" John Cephas and "Harmonica" Phil Wiggins. Guitarist/singer Cephas and harmonica player Wiggins, who have been playing acoustic blues together for fifteen years, present in this album a mix of traditional Piedmont and contemporary urban blues stylings. Jacket notes by Barry Lee Pearson include a brief bibliography. LCCN 90-753763 (CD). Contemporary / African-American / Blues: Piedmont

Hawaiian Drum Chants: Sounds of Power in Time. Smithsonian/Folkways Records SF 40015. LP/cassette/CD. Documents the traditions of hula pahu (Hawaiian drum dances and drumming) with 1989 recordings of a family of contemporary masters; and historic recordings, beginning from 1923, of the earliest generation of masters known to have established the hula pahu traditions perpetuated today. Insert notes by Elizabeth Tatar have a discography and transcriptions and translations of the chants. The recording was prepared in conjunction with the publication Hula Pahu, An Exploration of Movement and Sound of a Hawaiian Performing Genre, by Adrienne L. Kaeppler and Elizabeth Tatar (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1989). LCCN 90-753765 (CD). Historical and Contemporary / Hawaiian

Honkers and Bar Walkers, Volume One. Delmark DL-438. LP/cassette/CD. Anthology of some of the lesser known, but important tenor sax players who helped to shape early 1950s rhythm and blues. Mostly reissues of recordings made between 1949 and 1953, including Jimmy Forrest's "Night Train" and Cozy Eggleston's "Big Heavy," with some previously unissued titles and alternate takes. Jacket notes by Bob Porter. LCCN 90-753767 (LP). Historical / African-American / Rhythm & Blues: Saxophone

Carl Perkins: Honky Tonk Gal: Rare and Unissued Sun Masters. Rounder Records SS-27. LP/cassette/CD. Singer, guitarist, and composer of "Blue Suede Shoes," Carl Perkins was a pioneer of the country/blues hybrid now known as rockabilly. These potential singles, experiments, and alternate takes, most of them previously unissued, were made in Memphis for the Sun label from 1954 to 1957 and include an alternate version of Perkins's hit "Dixie Fried." Jacket notes by Colin Escott. LCCN 90-753774 (LP). Historical / Rockabilly: Memphis

The Tau Moe Family with Bob Brozman: Ho'omana'o I Na Mele O Ka Wa U'i (Remembering the Songs of Our Youth). Rounder Records 6028. LP/cassette/CD. Current recordings (and one historic reissue) of Hawaii's Tau Moe Family, with steel guitarist Bob Brozman, performing the now-archaic acoustic hula style that flourished from the 1880s to the 1920s, before the introduction of the electric steel guitar. One of the most widely traveled groups of Hawaiian musicians, the family spent over fifty years touring Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. Mostly hulas, with a waltz, a rag, two Samoan songs, and a hapa-haole (half-white) song. The group includes Tau Moe, guitar and bass vocals; Rose Moe, lead vocals; Lani Moe, ukelele and vocals; Dorian Moe, second guitar and vocals; and Bob Brozman, Hawaiian guitar and harp guitar. Jacket notes by Bob Brozman. LCCN 90-753775 (LP). Contemporary / Hawaiian

Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones: It's Our 25th Anniversary. Bel Aire 3041. LP/cassette/CD. Silver anniversary album from six-member Chicago group whose bandleader, Eddie Blazonczyk, Sr., is one of the most important figures in the creation of the contemporary Polish-American polka sound. Spirited vocals, crisp trumpet lines, reedy concertina, and powerful electric bass characterize the Versatones' sound. Lyrics on side 1 are sung in English, and on side 2 in Polish or Polish and English. Repertoire is a mixture of contemporary compositions, new versions of traditional polkas, and several "country-flavored" polkas. Jacket has photo history of the group; insert notes by Margy McClain give background on polka music in the Polish-American community and biographical information on Eddie Blazonczyk, Sr. LCCN 90-753776 (LP). Contemporary / Polish-American / Polka: Chicago

Ray Hicks: Jack Alive June Appal Mountain Masters Series JA 0052. Cassette/CD. Master storyteller Ray Hicks of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, usually known for his "Jack" tales, mixes songs and "just talk" with stories from his own life on this album, recorded at the Hicks home. Among others there are stories of hard times faced during the Depression ("The Vision of the Automobile Engine"), of humorous events ("The Sign was In the Knees"), and the supernatural ("The Witch on Stone Mountain"). Cassette comes with insert notes by Doug Dorschug and Gurney Norman; CD comes with a sixteen-page booklet containing a Hicks family history by Doug Dorschug and an essay by Gurney Norman. LCCN 90-741052 (CD). Contemporary / Appalachian / Storytelling

Flory Jagoda: Kantikas Di Mi Nona (Songs of My Grandmother). Global Village C 139. Cassette. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia (now Yugoslavia), Flory Jagoda sings in Ladino, the language of Sephardic Jews who settled in other Mediterranean countries following their expulsion from Spain after 1492. Mostly songs passed down in Jagoda's family, with four originals recalling memories of family holidays, all performed in a 1930s Bosnian style. Guitar, mandolin, and tambourine accompaniment. Song transcriptions and notes by Flory Jagoda. LCCN 90-753777. Contemporary / Sephardic Jewish-American

Live Again WCYB Bristol Farm and Fun Time. Rebel 854. LP/cassette. Selected performances from legendary live radio show "Farm and Fun Time," a noontime musical variety show aimed at rural listeners that was broadcast by Bristol, Tennessee, radio station WCYB in the late 1940s and 1950s. This album features early bluegrass and post-war hillbilly music from the program's most popular musicians Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Curly King, Carl and J.P. Sauceman, Mac Wiseman, and Carter and Ralph Stanley (companion album Rebel 855, The Stanley Brothers, presents their broadcasts from two years earlier). Jacket notes by Jack Tottle. LCCN 90-753778 (LP). Historical / Appalachian

Liz Carroll. Green Linnett 1092. LP/cassette/CD. Jigs, hornpipes, reels, and other dance tunes, mostly original, from Chicago Irish-American fiddler Liz Carroll, one of the foremost instrumentalists in contemporary Irish-American music. Includes one original tune by Daithi Sproule, who accompanies Carroll on the guitar throughout the album. Song notes by Liz Carroll. LCCN 90-753779 (CD). Contemporary / Irish-American

Low Blows: An Anthology of Chicago Harmonica Blues. Rooster Blues R7610. LP/cassette. Classic 1950s Chicago blues featuring harmonica and electric guitar, mostly from players who seldom or never recorded when the style was in its heyday. All of the tracks, recorded between 1972 and 1980, are previously unissued. Presents better-known harpmen like Big Walter Horton and Carey Bell, along with other players Easy Baby, Big Leon Brooks, Mojo Buford, Good Rockin' Charles, Golden Wheeler, and Big John Wrencher. Band members include guitarists Joe Carter and Big Guitar Red. Insert notes, musicians' biographies, and recording session data by Jim O'Neal. LCCN 90-753780 (LP). Contemporary / African-American / Blues: Chicago: Harmonica

Magic Sam: The Magic Sam Legacy. Delmark DS 651. LP/cassette. Tribute album for the late Chicago blues singer and guitarist Samuel "Magic Sam" Maghett, one of the leading exponents of the complex "West Side" electric guitar style that evolved from the economic necessity of the three-piece band. These tracks, all previously unissued, are made up mostly of material from 1966-68 recording sessions for Magic Sam's two Delmark albums. Accompanying musicians include Eddie Shaw (tenor saxophone), Shakey Jake (harmonica), Mighty Joe Young (rhythm guitar), Lafayette Leake (piano), Mack Thompson (bass), and Odie Payne, Jr. (drums). Jacket notes by Robert Koester. LCCN 90-753781 (LP). Historical / African-American / Blues: Chicago

Fred McDowell: Mississippi Delta Blues. Arhoolie 304. Cassette/CD. Delta country blues from singer and guitarist Fred McDowell (1904?-1972), a master of the bottleneck slide guitar style and a major influence on contemporary artists. Includes two songs recorded with early influence and teacher Eli Green. Notes by Chris Strachwitz. LCCN 90-753782 (CD). Historical / African-American / Blues: Delta Moving in the Spirit: Worship Through Music in Clear Creek, Miss. Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Southern Culture Records SC 1705. LP. Field recordings of music and spoken word in worship services at Clear Creek Missionary Baptist Church, located in a small, rural black community in northeast Mississippi. The broad range of expression documented within this one community includes the older lined hymns (the repetition by the congregation of lines called out one at a time by a leader), congregational hymns, newer gospel pieces, chanted prayer, and sermonizing. Jacket notes and photographs by Therese Smith. LCCN 90-753783. Contemporary / African-American / Mississippi

Norwegian-American Music from Minnesota: Old-Time and Traditional Favorites. Minnesota Musical Traditions series (cosponsored by the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota State Arts Board) C-002. LP and cassette. Field recordings, made in 1987 and 1988, sampling some of the musical traditions of Norwegian-Americans whose forebears settled in Minnesota in the nineteenth century. Selections are mostly from the current gamaldans, or "old-time dance" music tradition, including waltzes, schottisches, and polkas, with one vocal. Other selections are a Hardanger fiddle tune from the bygdedans tradition of Norwegian regional dance music, and a hymn played on the psalmodikon (single-string bowed instrument). Notes by Philip Nusbaum. LCCN 90-751417 (LP). Contemporary / Norwegian-American / Minnesota

Now That's a Good Tune: Masters of Traditional Missouri Fiddling. University of Missouri Cultural Heritage Center, Grey Eagle Records 101. 2-LP set/2-cassette set. Recent recordings (1984-89) of thirteen Missouri fiddlers, mostly older men and women, documenting both regional styles and the role of women in traditional fiddling. Accompanying sixty-four-page book has an overview of Missouri fiddling styles and contexts by Howard Wight Marshall; musicians' biographies by Amy E. Skillman, Charles Walden, and Julie Youmans; tune annotations and transcriptions; extensive bibliography and discography; photos, map, and other illustrations. LCCN 89-50679 (LP). Contemporary / Fiddling / Missouri

Ojibway Music from Minnesota: A Century of Song for Voice and Drum. Minnesota Musical Traditions series (cosponsored by the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota State Arts Board) C-003. LP/cassette. One hundred years of Ojibway music, from early wax cylinder to recent digital recordings. Most of side A contains secular songs typical of those performed at large community dances, usually called powwows. The other two selections are contrasting recordings made sixty years apart of the same "dream song." Side B contains moccasin game [gambling] songs from 1899 and 1988; a story song; the oldest recorded Ojibway love song paired with two more contemporary ones; and two urban popular songs. Fifteen-page booklet by Thomas Vennum, Jr., has photos, map, some song text transcriptions and translations. LCCN 90-753785 (LP). Contemporary and Historical / Native American: Ojibway / Minnesota

Puerto Rican Music in Hawai'i: Kachi-Kachi. Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40014. LP/cassette/CD. Field recordings of kachi-kachi, the dance music tradition of Puerto Rican immigrants who came to Hawaii as plantation laborers beginning in 1900. These recordings of bomba, plena, seis, and other song/dance forms were made in a variety of settings, including clubs, churches, parties, and informal gatherings. Instruments in a typical group include the cuatro (small guitar with four or five sets of double strings) or the sinfonia (button accordion) as the lead instrument; the six-string Spanish guitar; the guiro (serrated gourd played by scraping); electric bass guitar; and other percussion instruments such as bongos, congas, and maracas. Transcriptions and translations of song texts; notes by Ted Solis. LCCN 90-753786 (CD). Contemporary / Puerto-Rican / Hawaii

Morgan Sexton: Rock Dust. June Appal Mountain Masters Series JA 0055. LP/ cassette. Songs and tunes from traditional Appalachian ballad singer and banjo player Morgan Sexton, born in 1911 in Linefork, Kentucky. Sexton has been singing and accompanying himself with his two-finger banjo style for seventy years. Sexton is joined on a few selections by his nephew Lee "Boy" Sexton on the fiddle. Jacket notes contain Sexton's recollections of his life as a coal miner, and other notes by D. Gregory White and Mike Seeger. Eight-page insert has interview excerpts; texts, banjo tunings, and notes for each song by D. Gregory White. LCCN 90-753788 (LP). Contemporary / Appalachian

Songs of Indian Territory: Native American Music Traditions of Oklahoma. State Arts Council of Oklahoma/Center of the American Indian, no catalog number. Cassette. A sampler of Oklahoma Native American musical traditions, recorded live at the Songs of Indian Territory workshops and the Indians For Indians Hour tribute concert in Oklahoma City in 1988. Selections include love songs, handgame songs, lullabies, and hymns; war dance, gourd dance, round dance, and stomp dance songs, as well as examples of Plains Indian flute tradition. Accompanying book edited by Willie Smyth has essays describing historical and contemporary American Indian musical practices and specific collections documenting Oklahoma Indian music. Photos; illustrations; some bibliographical and discographical information. LCCN 89-82566. Contemporary / Native American: Caddo, Cherokee, Comanche, Creek, Kiowa, Pawnee/Otoe, Ponca, Potawatomi, Seminole / Oklahoma

Viola Turpeinen: The Early Days - Finnish-American Dance Music, 1928-1938. Thimbleberry Recordings THC 1006. Cassette. Reissues of 78 rpm recordings made for Victor by Finnish-American accordionist Viola Turpeinen (1909-1958) of Champion, Michigan. A legendary figure to a generation of Finnish-Americans, Turpeinen's thirty-year career included recording for several record labels and performing at concerts and dances across the country. Three of the fourteen selections feature Turpeinen playing solo; others are duets with singer/violinist John Rosendahl, and trio configurations of two accordions with violin, or accordion with trumpet and piano. Notes by Toni and Oren Tikkanen; photos. LCCN 90-753790. Historical / Finnish-American

Zydeco: Volume One, The Early Years (1961-1962). Arhoolie 307. Cassette/CD. Historic live recordings of zydeco, the accordion-powered dance music of Gulf Coast Creoles that evolved from a fusion of African-Caribbean and Acadian (Cajun) elements, with influences from blues and early rock music. Some of the featured accordionists are Albert Chevalier, Sidney Babineaux, Peter King, Willie Green, and Clifton Chenier, recorded mostly at taverns and house dances in Houston, Texas and southwest Louisiana in 1961 and 1962. Groups consist of one or more accordions with either "rubboard" or drum set; some also have piano or guitar. Some selections are reissues; over half have never been released before. Notes by Chris Strachwitz. LCCN 90-753791 (CD). Historical / African-American Creole / Zydeco

The following recordings, though different in presentation concept from those listed above, were considered by the panel to be excellent educational products.

Los Mariachis An Introduction to Mexican Mariachi Music. World Music Press, no catalog number. Cassette/booklet set designed for classroom participation or individual study; appropriate for fifth grade and above. Available directly from World Music Press, P.O. Box 2565, Danbury, Connecticut 06813; or from distributor Baker &Taylor, 501 South Gladiolus Street, Momence, Illinois 60954. LCCN 90-191669

Los Tesoros del Espiritu: Familia y Fe (Treasures of the Spirit: Family and Faith.) - A Portrait in Sound of Hispanic New Mexico. Museum of International Folk Art, no catalog number. Three-CD set. Recording is a companion to the museum's exhibit Familia y Fe (Family and Faith), and includes narration, historical readings, and field recordings documenting a wide spectrum of New Mexico's regional folklore. Introductions are in English; most of the other material is in Spanish. Available from the Museum of International Folk Art Gift Shop, P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504. LCCN 90-741051

Sounds of the World - Music of East Asia: Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Traditions in the United States. Music Educators National Conference 3036. Study guide by William M. Anderson. LCCN 90-753792. Sounds of the World - Music of Eastern Europe: Albanian, Greek, and South Slavic Traditions in the United States. Music Educators National Conference 3038. Study guide by Patricia Shehan Campbell. LCCN 90-753794. Both are three-cassette sets with study guides that feature narration, interviews, and music examples; for use in elementary school and above. Available from Music Educators National Conference Publication Sales, 1902 Association Drive, Reston, Virginia 22091-1597

Publishers of Listed Recordings

Archives of Traditional Music Morrison Hall Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405 Arhoolie Records 10341 San Pablo Avenue El Cerrito, CA 94530

Bear Family Records, distributed by County Sales P.O. Box 191 Floyd, VA 24091

Bel-Aire Records 7208 S. Harlem Avenue Bridgeview, IL 60455 Delmark Records 4243 N. Lincoln Chicago, IL 60618

Flying Fish Records 1304 W. Schubert Chicago, IL 60614

Global Village Music Box 2051 Cathedral Station New York, NY 10025

Green Linnet Records 43 Beaver Brook Road Danbury, CT 06810

Grey Eagle Records Extension Publications 115 South Fifth Street Columbia, MO 65211

June Appal Recordings 306 Madison Street Whitesburg, KY 41858

Longleaf Records c/o Folklife Section North Carolina Arts Council Department of Cultural Resources Raleigh, NC 27611

Minnesota Historical Society Press Order Department 1500 Mississippi Street St. Paul, MN 55101

North Star Appli 1451 W. Mason Street Green Bay, WI 54303

Now and Then Records c/o Center for Appalachian Studies and Services East Tennessee State University Box 19180A Johnson City, TN 37614-0002

Rebel Records, distributed by County Sales P.O. Box 191 Floyd, VA 24091

Rooster Blues Records 232 Sunflower Avenue Clarksdale, MS 38614

Rounder Records One Camp Street Cambridge, MA 02140

Smithsonian Folkways, distributed by Roundup Records P.O. Box 154 Cambridge, MA 02140

Southern Culture Records c/o Center for the Study of Southern Culture The University of Mississippi University, MS 38677

State Arts Council of Oklahoma c/o Center of the American Indian Kirkpatrick Center 2100 N.E. 52 Street Oklahoma City, OK 73111

Thimbleberry Recordings c/o Postman North Route 1, Box 195 Calumet, MI 49913

For further listings and reviews of folk recordings, consult publications such as _American Music_, _Bluegrass Unlimited_, _Blues & Rhythm: The Gospel Truth_, _County Sales Newsletter_, _Devil's Box_, _Dirty Linen_, _Disc Collector_, _Down Home Music Newsletter_, _Ethnomusicology_, _Folk Roots_, _Journal of American Folklore_, _Juke Blues_, _Living Blues_, _Musical Traditions_, _Old-Time Herald_, _Old Time Country_, _Old Time Music_, _Record Roundup_, _Rejoice: The Gospel Music Magazine_, _Sing Out!_, _Tale Trader_, _Western Folklore_, _The World of Music_, and _Yarnspinner_. _Ethnomusicology_, the journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology, publishes a "Current Discography" feature in each issue. In addition, the free guide Folklife and Ethnomusicology Serial Publications in North America is available from the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.

For a more complete guide to folk record labels and direct mail-order sources, write for the free reference aid _Recording Companies in North America Specializing in Folk Music, Folklore and Ethnomusicology_ (LCFARA 3) prepared by the American Folklife Center.

_Folklife Sourcebook_, a directory of folklife resources in the United States and Canada, can be obtained by sending $10 to the Folklife Sourcebook, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.

Mail-Order Sources for Folk Recordings

Alcazar Records P.O. Box 429 Waterbury, VT 05676 (802) 244-8657

Andy's Front Hall Wormer Road Post Office Box 307 Voorheesville, NY 12186 (518) 765-4193

Appalshop Marketing and Sales 306 Madison Street Whitesburg, KY 41858 (606) 633-0108

The Celtic Trader P.O. Box 35495 Charlotte, NC 28235 (800) 822-2420

Country Dance and Song Society of America 17 New South Street Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 584-9913

County Sales P.O. Box 191 Floyd, VA 24091 (703) 745-2001

Down Home Music Mail Order 6921 Stockton Avenue El Cerrito, CA 94530 (415) 525-1494

Elderly Records 1100 North Washington P.O. Box 14210 Lansing, MI 48901 (517) 372-7890; 372-4161

Flying Fish Records 1304 West Schubert Chicago, IL 60614 (312) 528-5455

House of Musical Traditions 7040 Carroll Avenue Takoma Park, MD 20912 (301) 270-9090 after noon, E.S.T.

Music of the North American Indian Canyon Records and Indian Arts 4143 North Sixteenth Street Phoenix, AZ 85016 (602) 266-4823

National Catalog of Storytelling National Storytelling Resource Center P.O. Box 309 Jonesborough, TN 37659 (615) 753-2171

Note-Ably Yours 6865 Scarff Road New Carlisle, OH 45344 (800) 828-0115

Original Music R.D. 1, Box 190 Lasher Road Tivoli, N.Y. 12583 (914) 756-2767

Rooster Blues 232 Sunflower Avenue Clarksdale, MS 38614 (601) 627-2209

Roundup Records P.O. Box 154 North Cambridge, MA 02140 (617) 661-6064

Uncle Jim's Country Music Catalog P.O. Box A Arcadia, CA 91066 (800) 776-8742

World Music Institute 49 West 27th Street, #810 New York, NY 10001 (212) 545-7536

World Music Press P.O. Box 2565 Danbury, CT 06813 (203) 748-1131

Previous editions of _American Folk Music and Folklore Recordings: A Selected List_ are available from the American Folklife Center and at facilities across the United States through the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) of the U.S. Department of Education. Consult your librarian or online service vendor (such as BRS or DIALOG), or contact:

ERIC Document Reproduction Service 3900 Wheeler Avenue Alexandria, VA 22304 (703) 823-0500 (800) 227-3742

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Underlining, fonts, and diacritics have been removed from this document for distribution via the Internet. A published version is available upon request from the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540.

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American Folk Music and Folklore Recordings: A Selected List 1989

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Jennifer Cutting Project Coordinator American Folklife Center Library of Congress Washington 1990 Charlotte J. Frisbie Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University Past President, Society for Ethnomusicology Barry Lee Pearson Department of English, University of Maryland Neil V.

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The sort of real origin is very much of the traditional songs brought over from Britain when the U.S. was still just the Colonies. From then on, American folk music was near identical to that of English folk music or Scottish folk music.

However, it was the combination of work music, spread after the fall of slavery in the U.S., that made it what it is we might hear and consider truly American folk music.

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American folk, though its revival, went on to influence artists from just about every nationality, as music grew more accessible across the world. It's hard to find a folk singer, or really any artist, today who you can't track their influence back to Bob Dylan.

In 2021, we have subgenres, like indie-folk, where people have taken the Dylan-esque style and applied it to modern music making, as well as modern problems. Almost all the same instruments are still used, with some more thrown in.