|
 Who
says government doesn't do some good work every day? To wit,
Smithsonian Folkways is the non-profit record label of the
National Museum of the United States and part of the Smithsonian's Center
for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in downtown Washington, D.C. The label
was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch,
founder of Folkways Records, donated the entire Folkways
Records label to the Smithsonian. The donation was made on the condition
that the Institution continue Asch's policy that each of the more than
2,000 albums of Folkways Records remain in print forever, regardless of
sales. Since then, the label has expanded on Asch's vision of documenting
the sounds of the world, adding six other record labels to the collection,
as well as releasing over 300 new recordings.
Smithsonian
Folkways supports efolkMusic, allowing us to offer
exceptional FREE MP3 downloads from their catalog. We thank them and hope
you support their good work!
Visit the Smithsonian
Folkways page on efolkMusic for more information, streaming previews
and downloads
Visit the
Smithsonian Folkways website
From Civil War Naval Songs: Monitor and Merrimac
by Dan Milner
 In
case you've been asleep, the Civil War is nation-hot right now! On April 5,
2011 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings commemorated the
150th anniversary of the start - the "shots fired at Fort Sumter" - with
the release of "Civil War Naval Songs," a newly-recorded
collection of period wartime ballads culled from the collections of many of
America's foremost museums and libraries. They are songs that bring to life
the patriotic spirit and brave exploits of our nation's Civil War-era
sailors.
Listen
> Download
Free MP3
From A Treasury of Civil War Songs:
When Johnny Comes Marching Home by Tom
Glazer
 Songs
with a good tune and rousing lyrics both mirrored and inspired the events
of the American Civil War (1861-1865). They told tales of battle, slavery,
emancipation, victory, and defeat, and a century and a half later, they
enshrine the shattered brotherhood of a nation and the lessons taught by
war. Popular American folksinger Tom Glazer (1914-2003) knew a good tune
when he heard one, and on A Treasury of Civil War Songs, Glazer's crystal
clear voice spins out classic songs that made history, while historian
Patrick Warfield's liner notes take us deeper into the history that made
the songs.
Listen
> Download
Free MP3
From A Life of Song: Whole World In His Hands
by Ella Jenkins
In A Life of Song, Ella Jenkins, "The First Lady of Children's Music,"
offers stories and songs that speak to her youthful years as an African
American child in a multi-cultural world. Her career of more than a half
century earned her the first Lifetime Achievement Grammy award for a
children's music artist, and her more than thirty recordings teach us to
learn from one another while taking pride in our own heritage. This African
American Legacy recording of Ella singing with children from the Cool
Classics after-school program spotlights her own heritage while showing her
delight for the traditions of others. 36 minutes, lyrics, photos, 28-page
booklet
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> Download
Free MP3
From Classic Piano Blues: St.
James Infirmary by Snooks Eaglin
Storyville nightclubs, Beale Street juke joints, gambling houses,
barrelhouse bars in the lumber and turpentine camps of East Texas?these
were the places African American piano bluesmen called home. Born of
ragtime and hard times, the piano blues migrated with its players from the
deep South to the urban North. Classic Piano Blues revisits
raucous boogie-woogie and blues legends Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon,
Champion Jack Dupree, Speckled Red, Meade Lux Lewis, Lead Belly, Little
Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt Sykes, James P. Johnson, and more, in 20
tracks drawn from the well of the Folkways Collections.
Listen
> Download
Free MP3
From Sunny Day: Oh, John, The Rabbit by
Elizabeth Mitchell:
Handmade music of the finest kind, for folks of all ages. Elizabeth
Mitchell, joined by her husband Daniel Littleton, daughter Storey, and lots
of musical friends including Levon Helm, Dan Zanes, Jon Langford and the
Children of Agape choir from South Africa, weaves a tapestry of loving and
spirited songs. Like her previous album You Are My Little Bird, Sunny
Day reminds us of the beauty of the natural world and the magic found
in the simplest moments of everyday life.
Listen
> Download
Free MP3
From Rappahannock Blues: Frankie & Johnny
by John Jackson
Raised in a large, musical farm family in Rappahannock County, Virginia,
John Jackson (1924-2002) was the most important black
Appalachian musician to come to broad public attention during the
mid-1960s. Having learned guitar and his wide-ranging stock of songs as a
youth from family and 78-rpm recordings, he enthralled major audiences
during more than three decades with his vintage style and repertoire.
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> Download
Free MP3
From Rising Sun Melodies: Look Down That
Lonesome Road by Ola Belle Reed
Ola
Belle Reed (1916-2002) grew up in western North Carolina's
Appalachian Mountains. Her story permeates the music and extensive liner
notes of 'Rising Sun Melodies,' from Smithsonian Folkways.
It is the story of a woman with a big heart and big voice and the wonderful
music community she and her family helped create; it is also the story of
her family still keeping it going today. The CD contains 19 tracks of Ola
Belle's pure, forceful singing and nimble banjo-playing; eight of the
tracks are previously unreleased live recordings from the Smithsonian
Folklife Festival (from '72 and '76), including her versions of Ralph
Stanley's "I Am the Man, Thomas" and Hank Williams's "I Saw
The Light."
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> Download
Free MP3
Three Free Tracks From Mike Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers
Collectively known as the New Lost City Ramblers, Mike
Seeger, John Cohen, and Tom Paley were pioneers in the revival of Southern
mountain music during the folk music revival of the late 1950s and early
1960s. They brought the sounds of genuine old-time string band music and
early bluegrass to eager city and college audiences who had grown
disillusioned with the commercial pap of the folk boom. Free downloads of Old
Joe Bone, Crow Black Chicken, and Pretty Little Miss
Listen
>> Download
Free MP3s
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