Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennet of the alternative country band Wilco recorded 3 live songs for the album The Harry Smith Connection: A Live Tribute, released by Smithsonian Folkways in 1998. The album was recently uploaded onto Last.FM so you can hear these artists going back to the roots which got them where they are today. Other artists on the compilation include: Ella Jenkins, Dave Van Ronk, even The Fugs, plus many more renowned musicians all paying tribute to Harry Smith's seminal Anthology of American Folk Music.

We have uploaded Dock Boggs: His Folkways Years 1963-1968, Woody Guthrie's Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti and Hard Travelin'. Enjoy!

Woody Guthrie's recordings with folkways heavily influenced to work of Bob Dylan, who recorded for folkways under the name 'Blind Boy Grunt.'

Dylan appears on Broadside Ballads, Vol.1 (http://folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=967), Broadside Ballads, Vol.6 (http://folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=978), and Best of Broadside (http://folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=3003)
Recordings of Woody Guthrie include The Asch Recordings, Vol.1-4 (http://folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=2652), a new 4-CD set of 105 tracks recorded in the 1940s. Guthrie's Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti (http://folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=2380) is also a neat album of songs written about and from the viewpoint of Sacco and Vanzetti, the two Italian-Americans convicted of murder and executed in the 1920s.

On My Journey: Paul Robeson's Independent Recordings
Paul Robeson

An American giant of 20th-century music, Paul Robeson stood tall against racism, McCarthyism, and blacklisting to proclaim the majesty of African-American culture. Recorded on his own Othello label in the 1950s, Robeson’s voice rings out with traditional spirituals and folk melodies from around the globe inspiring international audiences to embrace him as the people’s bard of faith, hope, and freedom. On My Journey inaugurates the Smithsonian Folkways African American Legacy series, co-presented with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. 34-page booklet, historic photos, 74 minutes.

On the…

Here are some new releases from Smithsonian Folkways you should check out:

Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda
Various Artists (2007)

Ugandans have triumphantly tapped the power of their traditional music to battle the AIDS pandemic. Performed with dramatizations and dance in settings all through rural Uganda, their unique blend of music and public health has helped make Uganda's record of success against HIV/AIDS one of the best in Africa. In turn, the traditional music of Uganda is revitalized and made contemporary. Singing for Life affirms the profound strength of a people’s music in promoting…

Here are some new releases from Smithsonian Folkways you should check out:

Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda
Various Artists (2007)

Ugandans have triumphantly tapped the power of their traditional music to battle the AIDS pandemic. Performed with dramatizations and dance in settings all through rural Uganda, their unique blend of music and public health has helped make Uganda's record of success against HIV/AIDS one of the best in Africa. In turn, the traditional music of Uganda is revitalized and made contemporary. Singing for Life affirms the profound strength of a people’s music in promoting…

Here are some new releases from Smithsonian Folkways you should check out:

Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda
Various Artists (2007)

Ugandans have triumphantly tapped the power of their traditional music to battle the AIDS pandemic. Performed with dramatizations and dance in settings all through rural Uganda, their unique blend of music and public health has helped make Uganda's record of success against HIV/AIDS one of the best in Africa. In turn, the traditional music of Uganda is revitalized and made contemporary. Singing for Life affirms the profound strength of a people’s music in promoting…