This is just a small selection of some of my favourites from Smithsonian which have also featured on the station. All albums are available from the UK and US Listener Store.

As one of the first record companies to offer albums of "world music," and as an early exponent of the singers and songwriters who formed the core of the American folk music revival (including such giants as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Lead Belly), Asch's Folkways grew to become one of the most influential record companies in the world.

Anthology Of American Folk Music (Edited By Harry Smith)

For those that enjoyed the soundtrack to "O Brother Where Art Thou" this is where you'll find the original recordings of this kind of music. Raw, alive and unlike anything else you may have heard. There is nothing quite like it. When it was released in 1952 by Folkways it inspired and moved a generation that helped breathe new life into a Folk Revival. Features 6 CDs. There is a full track listing on the store page.

This impressive--and frankly, fun--musical document is still sending out shock waves almost 50 years after its original 1952 vinyl release. The Smithsonian's six-CD reissue is painstakingly researched, annotated, and packaged (even boasting an enhanced disc for the techno-capable). Unlike field recorders, eccentric filmmaker/collector/musicologist Harry Smith assembled the Anthology from commercially released (though obscure) 78 rpm discs issued between 1927 and 1935. Its broad scope--from country blues to Cajun social music to Appalachian murder ballads--was monumentally influential, setting musicians like Bob Dylan down the path to folk fandom. The White House started its own national music library with the Anthology; anyone with more than a passing interest in American roots music should do the same. --Michael Ruby

Tracks

• Henry Lee - Justice, Dick
• Fatal Flower Garden - Nelstone's Hawaiians
• House Carpenter - Ashley, Clarence
• Drunkard's Special - Jones, Coley
• Old Lady And The Devil - Reed, Belle
• Butcher's Boy (The Railroad Boy) - Kazee, Buell
• Wagoner's Lad (Loving Nancy) - Kazee, Buell
• King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O - Parker, Chubby
• Old Shoes And Leggins - Dunford, Uncle Eck
• Willie Moore - Burnett & Rutherford
• Lazy Farmer Boy - Carter, Buster
• Peg And Awl - Carolina Tar Heels
• Ommie Wise - Grayson, G.B.
• My Name Is John Johanna - Harrell, Kelly
• Bandit Cole Younger - Crain, Edward.L.
• Charles Giteau - Harrell, Kelly
• John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man - Carter Family
• Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand - Williamson Brothers
• Stackalee - Hutchison, Frank
• White House Blues - Poole, Charlie
• Frankie - Hurt, 'Mississippi' John
• When That Great Ship Went Down - Smith, William & Versey
• Engine 143 - Carter Family
• Kassie Jones - Lewis, Walter 'Furry'
• Down On Penny's Farm - Bentley Boys
• Mississippi Boweavil Blues - Masked Marvel
• Got The Farm Land Blues - Carolina Tar Heels
• Sail Away Lady - Stevens, Uncle Bunt
• Wild Wagoner - Jilson Setters
• Wake Up Jacob - Hunt, Prince Albert Texas Ramblers
• La Danseuse - Gaspard, Blind Uncle
• Georgia Stomp - Baxter, Andrew
• Brilliancy Medley - Robertson, Eric & Family
• Indian War Whoop - Ming, Floyd & His Pep-Steppers
• Old Country Stomp - Thomas, Henry
• Old Dog Blue - Jackson, Jim
• Saut Crapaud - Fruge, Columbus
• Acadian One-Step - Various Artists
• Home Sweet Home - Breaux Freres
• Newport Blues - Cincinnati Jug Band
• Moonshiner's Dance Part One - Cloutier, Frank
• You Must Be Born Again - Gates, Rev. J.M.
• Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting - Gates, Rev. J.M.
• Rocky Road - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
• Present Joys - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
• This Song Of Love - Middle Georgia Singing Convention
• Judgement - Nelson, Sister Mary
• He Got Better Things For You - Memphis Sancified Singers
• Since I Laid My Burden Down - McIntosh, Elder & Edwards' Sanctified Singers
• John The Baptist - Mason, Rev. Moses
• Dry Bones - Lunsford, Bascom Lamar
• John The Revelator - Johnson, 'Blind' Willie (1)
• Little Moses - Carter Family
• Shine On Me - Phipps, Ernest & His Holiness Singers
• Fifty Miles Of Elbow Room - McGee, Rev. F.W.
• In The Battlefield For My Lord - Rice, Rev. D.C. & His Sanctified Congregation
• Coo Coo Bird - Ashley, Clarence
• East Virginia - Kazee, Buell
• Minglewood Blues - Cannon's Jug Stompers
• I Woke Up One Morning In May - Hebert, Didier
• James Alley Blues - Brown, Richard 'Rabbit' (1)
• Sugar Baby - Boggs, Dock
• I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground - Lunsford, Bascom Lamar
• Mountaineer's Courtship - Stoneman, Ernest V.
• Spanish Merchant's Daughter - Stoneman Family
• Bob Lee Junior Blues - Memphis Jug Band
• Single Girl Married Girl - Carter Family
• Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme - Breaux, Clemo
• Rabbit Foot Blues - Jefferson, Blind Lemon
• Expressman Blues - Estes, 'Sleepy' John
• Poor Boy Blues - Thomas, Ramblin'
• Feather Bed - Cannon's Jug Stompers
• Country Blues - Boggs, Dock
• 99 Year Blues - Daniels, Julius
• Prison Cell Blues - Jefferson, Blind Lemon
• See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Jefferson, Blind Lemon
• C'Est Si Triste Sans Lui - Breaux, Clemo
• Way Down The Old Plank Road - Macon, 'Uncle' Dave
• Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line - Macon, 'Uncle' Dave
• Spike Driver Blues - Hurt, 'Mississippi' John
• K.C. Moan - Memphis Jug Band
• Train On The Island - Nestor, J.P.
• Lone Star Trail - Maynard, Ken
• Fishing Blues - Thomas, Henry

Store Links:

Classic Maritime Music

This is a great collection from some of the best chantey singers of all time. Included in this fine compilation are Dave Van Ronk and the Foc’sle Singers, Lead Belly, Ewan MacColl, Louis Killen, Stan Hugill and many more. Classic Maritime takes you from the folk songs of Martha’s Vineyard down to the Bahamas and beyond. Compiled and annotated by Jeff Place. Extensive liner notes, a whopping 32 tracks, 68 minutes of music!

Tracks

• Roll Alabama Roll - Ex-Seamen's Institute
• Shenandoah - Ex-Seamen's Institute
• Clear The Track And Let The Bullgine Roll - Eskin, Sam
• Greenland Whale Fisheries - Gillespie, Stuart
• Paddy Doyle's Boots - Mills, Alan & The Shantyman
• Black Ball Line - Foc'Sle Singers
• Sloop John B - Dicey Doh Singers
• Tommy's Gone To Hilo - Frank, Stuart M.
• Lord Franklin' - Gold Ring
• Handsome Cabin Boy - Gillespie, Stuart
• Rio Grande - Foc'Sle Singers
• Run Come See - Ex-Seamen's Institute
• Ten Penny Bit - Cohn, Ellen
• South Australia - Hugill, Stan
• Haul Away Joe - Leadbelly
• Blood Red Roses - MacColl, Ewan & Peggy Seeger/A.L. Lloyd
• All For Me Grog - Killen, Louis
• Haul On The Bowline - Foc'Sle Singers
• Bully In The Alley - Morrigan
• Chesaspeake Born - Wisner, Tom & Mark
• Hundred Years On The Eastern Shore - MacColl, Ewan & Peggy Seeger/A.L. Lloyd
• Dredging Is Drudgery - Wisner, Tom & Mark
• Liverpool Judies - Frank, Stuart M.
• Santiano - Ex-Seamen's Institute
• Reuben Ranzo - Ex-Seamen's Institute
• Girls Around Cape Horn - Goux, Tom & Jacek Sulanowski
• Adieu My Lovely - Morrigan
• Dreadnaught - Sullivan, Tom
• Married To A Mermaid - Goux, Tom & Jacek Sulanowski
• Boney - Ex-Seamen's Institute
• Homeward Bound/The Old Slipper Shoe - Sullivan, Tom
• Homeward Bound - Frank, Stuart M.

Store Links:

I'll be bringing you more choice pickings from Smithsonian and other labels, but if you would like to have a hunt around what else I have on offer from Smithsonian Folkways in the store, then click on the store links below. If you have a Smithsonian favourite why not let us know in the listener forum.

See what else is on offer in the store from Smithsonian Folkways: