We're starting a new season of Homegrown Plus with a concert and oral history from the Riley Family Band featuring Steve Riley. Steve is a widely acclaimed master of the Cajun accordion, and also sings and plays fiddle and guitar with his acclaimed band Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. Steve has two very talented sons: Burke, who was 10 when the concert was recorded, and Dolsy, who was 7. In this concert father and sons perform together in their own backyard, billing themselves as The Riley Family Band. In the oral history interview, I asked Steve about his whole musical history. Find both videos right here on the blog!
As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve been working with No Depression, The Journal of Roots Music, which is published by the nonprofit Freshgrass Foundation. They’re publishing a column called Roots in the Archive, featuring content from the American Folklife Center and Folklife Today. Find the series at this link, over at their website! The latest Roots in …
The following is a guest blog post by National Court Reporters Foundation Chair, Early Langley nee Zimpfer. Most individuals arbitrarily assume that I was named “Early” as I was a premature surprise for my parents. The reality is that I came after. I was named after my uncle, Pvt. First Class Earl K. Zimpfer, a …
The following is a guest blog post by Sarah Dachos, a Navy veteran, farmer and beekeeper, who works in ecological food waste diversion and environmental justice. She is one of the participants on the Veterans History Project’s (VHP) virtual discussion panel, “Veteran Grown: Urban Farming.” I joined the Navy in 1989 for many of the …
The following is a guest blog post by Margo Hale, Southeast Regional Director of the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), and moderator of the Veterans History Project’s (VHP) virtual discussion panel, “Veteran Grown: Urban Farming.” My maternal grandfather left the timber stands of South Arkansas to serve in World War I. When he returned, …
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is happy to open applications for paid summer internships for 2021! In summer 2018, we launched a paid internship opportunity as part of a program established through a generous gift from our late colleague and longtime AFC staff member, Peter Bartis (1949 – 2017). These positions introduce …
Every day next week, March 15-21, at noon Eastern time, you can listen to, and sing along with, a respected musician performing a song from the American Folklife Center archive at the Library of Congress. That's because next week, the American Folklife Center is working with the Daily Antidote of Song, a daily online concert and singalong in which diverse singers lead a single song each day at noon Eastern time. Next week, starting March 15, all the singers will be performing songs they learned from the AFC archive! AFC staff members Stephen Winick and Jennifer Cutting will be there to co-host each day's Antidote as well. Gallery of images featuring Dom Flemons, Low Lily, Hubby Jenkins, Kumera Zekarias, Steve Winick & Jennifer Cutting, Kevin Elam, and Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer. March 15: Jennifer Cutting & Steve Winick/ March 16: Low Lily/ March 17: Kevin Elam/ March 18: Dom Flemons/ March 19: Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer/ March 20: Hubby Jenkins/ March 21: Kumera Zekarias
Here at the American Folklife Center, we’re busy working on the 2021 Homegrown at Home Concert Series. These concert videos, recorded at home by the artists, will be presented online every other Wednesday starting at noon (Eastern U.S. Time Zone), initially on the AFC Facebook page and then permanently on the Library of Congress YouTube …
In this blog, Stephen Winick looks into the mysterious background of two French-language folksongs in AFC's Maine Acadian Cultural Survey collection, "Fox Henry" or "Faux Henry," sung by Ida Burgoin Roy, and "Chambre et chaînes" sung by Connie Morin Desrosier. He identifies other versions of each song and provides audio, transcriptions, translations, and pictures of the singers.
