Moses Asch
founded
Folkways Records
in 1948 with the express purpose of recording music on the margins of the music industry, where the freedom was greater and the risks were considerably less.
Folkways
became a sterling example of how to run an independent label, and everything
Asch
recorded continues to be available, thanks to the
Smithsonian Institution
music arm, which now handles the catalog along with the backlist of several other small labels (
Monitor
,
Paredon
Cook
Dyer-Bennet
Fast Folk
Collector
). This brings the
Smithsonian
album total to well over 3,000 titles, all of which are maintained in print, a truly amazing achievement. This sampler of that vast collection concentrates on the urban-based folksingers of the so-called
folk revival
, and as such, works as a companion volume to the more rural-centered compilation called
Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways
. There are easily a dozen gems here, including
Woody Guthrie
's
"Pastures of Plenty"
(a song about migrant workers set to the tune of
"Pretty Polly"
),
Doc Watson
's beautifully archaic version of
"John Henry"
(with his brother
Arnold Watson
on banjo and father-in-law
Gaither Carlton
on fiddle),
Jean Ritchie
's airy dulcimer work on
"Most Fair Beauty Bright,"
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten
's childhood composition
"Freight Train,"
and a tender and innocent-sounding version of
"Changes"
by
Phil Ochs
. Obviously this is but the barest tip of the
Smithsonian Folkways
iceberg, but as a sampler, it features a diverse array of interpretations and approaches to American vernacular music. ~ Steve Leggett