MetaFilter posts tagged with folk and bluegrass

Joyful Noise

Miko — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:55:03 -0800

Pilgrim Productions Presents: Voices Across America, an archive of gospel music in a variety of genres, submitted for free play and download by church groups and folk and traditional groups across the country and beyond. Style, age, and quality vary greatly, but fans of noncommercial music will enjoy hunting for the gems of blues, Cajun, bluegrass, choral, shapenote, country, vintage, and mountain gospel and more.

The Anthology, notated.

1f2frfbf — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:15:25 -0800

"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)

Figuring out harmonies mathematically is like reading the mind of God.

1f2frfbf — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:36:29 -0800

The occasionally updated The Celestial Monochord claims to be the "Journal of the Institute for Astrophysics and the Hillbilly Blues" Highlights include: The connection between Gillian Welch and a rare South Carolina flower that was "discovered by a man who didn't name it, named for a man who didn't see it, by someone who didn't know where it was," . Did Tom Waits reinterpret Stephen Foster in Cold Cold Ground? A possible source for the title of Bob Dylan's breakout album. The connection between the New Lost City Ramblers and Voyager 1.

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

stavrogin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:03:26 -0800

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. He plays the banjo, but he isn't just some hick. He enjoys Chicks, jamming with friends, wide open spaces and fights.

folkstreams.net - A National Preserve of Documentary Films about American Roots Cultures

y2karl — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 06:19:56 -0800

Folkstreams.net has two goals. One is to build a national preserve of hard-to-find documentary films about American folk or roots cultures. The other is to give them renewed life by streaming them on the internet. The films were produced by independent filmmakers in a golden age that began in the 1960s and was made possible by the development first of portable cameras and then capacity for synch sound. Their films focus on the culture, struggles, and arts of unnoticed Americans from many different regions and communities. The filmmakers were driven more by sheer engagement with the people and their traditions than by commercial hopes. Their films have unusual subjects, odd lengths, and talkers who do not speak "broadcast English." Although they won prizes at film festivals, were used in college classes, and occasionally were shown on PBS, they found few outlets in venues like theaters, video shops or commercial television. But they have permanent value...

folkstreams.net Currently streaming are the films The Land Where the Blues Began , Cajun Country , Jazz Parades: Feet Don't Fail Me Now , Talking Feet: Solo Southern Dance: Buck, Flatfoot and Tap , Ray Lum: Mule Trader and Pizza Pizza Daddy-O , among many others.

Going Down the Crooked Road

srboisvert — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 07:04:12 -0800

Going Down the Crooked Road. Explore the sights and sounds of Virginia's Heritage Music Trail.

RealAudio 78s

staggernation — Mon, 10 Nov 2003 19:38:31 -0800

701 78s. A huge set of "old-time" music recordings from 1924-1946, made available in RealAudio format by honkingduck.com. Not high sound quality, but an invaluable collection for anyone with any interest in early recorded bluegrass, folk, country, blues, etc.