We're back with another episode of the Folklife Today podcast! In this latest Halloween episode, John Fenn and I continue our discussion with Hanna Salmon about the new Research Guide "Folktales and Oral Storytelling: Resources in the American Folklife Center Collections." Then we introduce some of our favorite spooky stories: the ghost legend "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" as told by students Marty Weathers and Bill Henry of Georgia; the witch story "Skin, Don't You Know Me" as told by master storyteller J. D. Suggs of Mississippi and later Michigan; and the truly spooky tale of "The Two White Horses," told by the great Connie Regan-Blake, a leading Appalachian storyteller who has lived in Tennessee and North Carolina among other places. Of course, in addition to some chat about the tales, the episode showcases the stories themselves. This blog post shows you how to find the podcast and gives you some additional background on the stories and storytellers. So prepare for a scare and give us a listen!
The American Folklife Center takes readers on a virtual tour through the graveyards and cemeteries documented in its archives on the eve of National Visit a Cemetery Day (October 29).
The latest post in the Homegrown Plus series features the Skye Consort and Emma Björling, an eclectic group performing British, Irish, Canadian, and Scandinavian music and songs in a variety of traditional and modern styles. Just like other blogs in the series, this one includes a concert video, a video interview with the musicians, and connections to Library of Congress collections.
This post continues Stephen Winick's series on the sea songs of retired sailor Patrick Tayluer, collected in 1942. One of the songs William Doerflinger collected from Tayluer was "The Leaving of Liverpool," the lyric lament of a nineteenth-century mariner who leaves his hometown of Liverpool for San Francisco, through the treacherous seas around Cape Horn. Doerflinger had previously collected it from another retired sailor, Richard Maitland. Years later, based on Doerflinger's publications, the song became a major part of the folk revival, with versions and adaptations performed and recorded by everyone from the Clancy Brothers to the Kingston Trio and Ewan MacColl to Bob Dylan. This post looks at Tayluer and Maitland and their field recordings of "The Leaving of Liverpool."
This post in the Homegrown Plus series features the Windborne Trio, a vocal group from New England. Windborne is usually a quartet, but Jeremy Carter Gordon was prevented from performing at this show. Luckily, before Jeremy joined the group, Windborne toured as a trio, so they had the repertoire, arrangements, and experience to put together a stunning show without him. Consequently, for this concert Windborne was Lynn Mahoney Rowan, Will Thomas Rowan, and Lauren Breunig. In their concert they performed a mix of old and new favorites, including American, English, Georgian, Corsican, and Basque songs. Just like other blogs in the Homegrown Plus series, this one includes a concert video, a video interview with the musicians, and connections to Library of Congress collections.
AFC Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas wheels out some gouda pictures and cheesy stories from the American Folklife Center’s collections to celebrate National Cheese Curd Day.
This is the third in a series of blog posts looking at the sea shanties, songs, and stories sung and told by retired sailor Patrick Tayluer for collector William Main Doerflinger in 1942. Many lovers of sea shanties have heard of Patrick Tayluer through Doerflinger's 1951 book "Shantymen and Shantyboys: Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman." Until now, however, very few singers or researchers have been lucky enough to hear Patrick Tayluer’s voice. This series of blogs aims to remedy that. This post focuses on Tayluer's commentary on sea shanties, including his beliefs about the origin of the genre among West African work crews. Of course, we get to hear some shanties as well!
The American Folklife Center announces the launch of the Chicago 1977: People, Places, and Cultures transcription campaign, as part of the Library of Congress By the People volunteer transcription initiative, and based on the Center's Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection from 1977.
With gratitude and best wishes, the American Folklife Center notes that on September 30, 2024, after more than 40 years on the air, our longtime friend and colleague Fiona Ritchie ended her successful and influential weekly public radio program “The Thistle & Shamrock,” an institution in the Celtic music world. Fiona Ritchie has had close ties over the years with AFC staff members; she has been a guest in our “Open Mic” series of interviews, and two members of the AFC staff were featured on a 2-part “Thistle and Samrock” episode about the AFC’s history for our 40th anniversary in 2016. In this blog post, we pay tribute to Fiona and provide links to those programs.
