Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series

In celebration of its 70th anniversary, Smithsonian Folkways is revisiting its unrivaled collection and selecting some of its most influential recordings for long-awaited vinyl reissue. The Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series offers fans and collectors a chance to own these masterpiece albums--meticulously redesigned from original prints and materials, photos, and remastered from original LP master tapes by GRAMMY-award winning sound engineer Pete Reiniger. Each limited reissue also features the classic black textured Folkways tip-on style album jackets and the liner notes booklet that was included in the initial release.

Folkways' unique nonprofit mission, to document "people's music," spoken word, instruction, and sounds from all around the world, has sustained the label for seven decades and built the most iconic and diverse collection of music of the 20th century. Some of the best-loved, all-time greats, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, and Elizabeth Cotten were Folkways artists, as are thousands of creators and preservers of cultural heritage.

The Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series begins on July 27th with a triplet of pioneering releases from the label: Woody Guthrie 'Struggle' (originally released in 1976), Lightnin' Hopkins 'Lightnin' Hopkins' (originally released in 1959), and Joseph Spence 'Bahaman Folk Guitar' (originally released in 1959).

 

 

Woody Guthrie - 'Struggle '(originally released in 1976)
This recording, first released by Folkways founder Moses Asch in 1976 to coincide with the celebration of America's Bicentennial, was originally recorded by Asch in the 1940s. The collection captures Woody Guthrie at his artistic best with gritty songs about the struggles of the American worker ("Waiting at the Gate," "The Dying Miner"), unions ("Ludlow Massacre," "1913 Massacre"), and an ode to a bad man ("Pretty Boy Floyd"). Blues harmonicist Sonny Terry sits in with Guthrie on "Lost John," and fellow traveling companion and folksinger Cisco Houston contributes his voice, guitar, and a song ("Get Along Little Doggie").

 

 

Lightnin' Hopkins - 'Lightnin' Hopkins' (originally released in 1959)
Texas bluesman Samuel "Lightnin'" Hopkins' musical career was reignited by this 1959 release. With the aid of a little gin and a borrowed acoustic guitar, musicologist Sam Charters recorded Hopkins in his tiny apartment in Houston, Texas. The result is nine tracks of pure country blues and Hopkins' reminiscences of his time performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson.

 

 

Joseph Spence - 'Bahaman Folk Guitar: Music of the Bahamas, Vol. 1' (originally released in 1959)
Recorded in 1958 and released on the Folkways label in 1959, this album introduced American listeners to Joseph Spence's unique guitar and vocal styles. These field recordings by musicologist Sam Charters capture Spence in a relaxed, expansive mood--only one of the six selections in the set is under five minutes in length. Spence's guitar style was due in part to the D tuning of his bass string, which produced a lower bass sound. Whereas many critics have called Spence's vocal style unorthodox, they have found his guitar playing spontaneous and iconic. Some music critics have gone so far as to refer to him as the "Thelonious Monk of folk guitar.

 

 

 

ABOUT SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS RECORDINGS:
Going into its 70th year, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the "National Museum of Sound," makes available close to 60,000 tracks in physical and digital format as the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian, with a reach of 80 million people per year. A division of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the non-profit label is dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among people through the documentation, preservation, production and dissemination of sound. Its mission is the legacy of Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document "people's music" from around the world. For more information about Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, visit folkways.si.edu.Follow Smithsonian Folkways Recordings here:
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