The Anthology, notated.

March 12, 2009 9:15 AM

"With this blog, I want to use the Folkways Anthology as a roadmap to explore American folk music and maybe other countries traditions along the way. I’ll use texts, images, music and videos gathered from my personal collection and from the net to make this work-in-progress enjoyable and educational the best I can." (via)
posted by 1f2frfbf (17 comments total)

And I will read that blog faithfully and to the best of my ability, so help me God.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 9:16 AM on March 12

Oh hell yeah.

Great project. Thanks for posting it.
posted by Miko at 9:17 AM on March 12

So, this is NOT your blog, right? Because the post kind of makes it seem...
posted by joelhunt at 9:18 AM on March 12

It's a quote from the blog's introduction. Thanks, 1f2frfbf!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:21 AM on March 12

Oh, how awesome is this. Thanks.
posted by hifiparasol at 9:30 AM on March 12

Beautiful site but, yeah. If you're quoting somebody, use quote marks and cite it appropriately. I was ready to flag this as a self-link.
posted by ardgedee at 9:47 AM on March 12

Me, too. (Itchy trigger finger.)
posted by ocherdraco at 9:48 AM on March 12

Great find. Thanks for posting this.
posted by RussHy at 9:50 AM on March 12

This (via) sort of indicates it isn't a self-link, no?

Well, unless it led to a GIF of a smiling 1f2frfbf. But this is best handled at MeTa, anyhows.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:51 AM on March 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

I added quotes for clarity's sake. As you were.
posted by cortex at 9:58 AM on March 12

fantastic!! thanks!
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:59 AM on March 12

This is great! It's fascinating and incredibly informative. I am unfamiliar with the Anthology, but I will definitely check this out.

I have a good bit of folk music in my collection, and some if it is from this period in the 20's and 30's. And the thing that I love about folk music is that it gives me the best sense of what life is like at any time period. And the old stuff still works great today. Earlier today I was listening to Sam Baker who has a song called Odessa that intros and outros with a beautiful folk rendition of Stephen C. Foster's "Hard Times Come Again No More" from 1854. That traditional classic still resonates today, and it is used in Bakers song as a couterpoint to the story of a wreckless oil heir's empty and destructive life. The use of Foster's 1854 classict contrasts the strength of character and spirituality of the brave homesteaders of that day who worked the earth with the rich, privileged, but ultimately vacant rich boy in an oil town that got wealth because his dad took from the earth. Honest, hard days work v. trouble caused when free of any obligations as a result of inherited wealth and growing up in a spiritual wasteland. I think that song works on its own, but it is made more powerful with the counterpoint of the old time folk classic which has the power to call to life the time period in which it is made. And that's why I love this old stuff.

All just great stuff.
posted by dios at 10:04 AM on March 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Those interested will want to know that every year for the last many years, there's been a Harry Smith Frolic in Mass. in midsummer. (some photos). One of the highlights of the festival is the Midnight Reenactment, where musicians strive to recreate one full album side from the Anthology, with as much faithfulness as possible.
posted by Miko at 10:09 AM on March 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Found this last week sometime, it's amazing.
posted by mwhybark at 10:24 AM on March 12

Wonderful, thank you. I'm sitting here wondering if I'm going to have time to read all this, yet this person finds the time to research and write it. *sigh* It makes me think I'm doing something wrong. I want to have the time to do something like this with plastic army men or comic books.
posted by marxchivist at 11:13 AM on March 12

Yes, very nice.
posted by OmieWise at 11:50 AM on March 12

Wow!
posted by Wolof at 5:51 PM on March 12