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Category: Archive Challenge

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Archive Fans Take the Challenge!

Posted by: Stephen Winick

About a month ago we introduced the idea of taking the archive challenge from home. This blog will update you with some examples of our fans who have taken the challenge, with an eye toward inspiring you to take the challenge yourself.

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Live! In the Archive: an Interview with Lone Piñon

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

On January 29th, the AFC launched the Live! In the Archive concert series, where artists are invited to perform selections from the Center’s collections live in its reading room. The first artists featured in this new concert series were Lone Piñon. The video of their Live! In the Archive concert is embedded in this blog post, which also contains an interview with Jordan Wax and Tanya Nuñez of Lone Piñon.

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

“The Sun’s Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday”: Songs Of Hope In A Time Of Fear

Posted by: Stephen Winick

This guest post by Jennifer Cutting is part of a series of blog posts highlighting performances by contemporary artists at special “Archive Challenge” showcase stages, both at the Folk Alliance International conference, and at the Library of Congress as part of the Homegrown concert series. (Find all entries in the series here!) In both of …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: John McCutcheon Takes the Archive Challenge!

Posted by: Stephen Winick

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. We’re continuing the series with John McCutcheon, an American folksinger, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. McCutcheon is regarded as a master of the hammered dulcimer, and in the concert displayed jaw-dropping proficiency on guitar, banjo, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, fiddle, jawharp, piano, body percussion, and other instruments. McCutcheon is a master performer whose 36 albums have earned 6 Grammy nominations. For this concert, McCutcheon did something else that was very special to us: he took the Archive Challenge, playing exclusively material from American Folklife Center collections. The oral history is filled with fascinating stories of his long career.

Billy Bragg plays guitar and sings into a microphone

Spending a Lot of Time at Home? Take the Archive Challenge!

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Take the Archive Challenge–From Home! The following post was co-authored with Jennifer Cutting At the American Folklife Center, we know it’s been hard for those of you who are cooped up at home in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Most of the staff live in areas under stay-at-home orders, and have …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: 2017 Archive Challenge Sampler Concert

Posted by: Stephen Winick

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with the 2017 Archive Challenge Sampler concert in the Coolidge Auditorium. It’s a little different from the other Homegrown concerts in that it featured …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Lomax Challenge Videos Part 3

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Note: This post is part of series of blog posts celebrating the centennial of Alan Lomax’s birth, and also part of another series celebrating the 40th anniversary of AFC! In a previous blog post, Jennifer Cutting and I explained the background to our Lomax Challenge showcase at last year’s Folk Alliance meeting. (We also presented the …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Lomax Challenge Videos Part 1

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Note: This post was co-written with AFC Folklife Specialist Jennifer Cutting. It is part of series of blog posts celebrating the centennial of Alan Lomax’s birth, and also part of another series celebrating the 40th anniversary of AFC!    Part Two of this series of posts is now available, featuring videos of contemporary artists performing French …