Top of page
Posted by: Stephen Winick
[This post is part of a series of blog posts about the song “Hal An Tow.” You can find the whole series at this link.] It’s May 6, and the people of Helston, Cornwall, are celebrating Flora Day [1], a large outdoor festival featuring dancing in the streets throughout the town [2]. One of the …
Posted in: Celtic Music, Drama, Folk Music, Folksong, Hal An Tow, May Day, Uncategorized
Posted by: Stephen Winick
Note: This blog was updated in 2024 to add an oral history interview video, to convert it into a Homegrown Plus blog. Last Summer I profiled Billy McComiskey, Irish-American button accordion player, National Heritage Fellow, and leader in the east coast Irish traditional music scene. I promised to update our readers when the concert went …
Posted in: AFC Events, Celtic Music, Homegrown Concert Series, Homegrown Plus, Irish American History
Posted by: Stephen Winick
For the last two weekends of November, 2016, AFC was honored to be featured on The Thistle & Shamrock, the long-running and popular Celtic music show produced and hosted by Fiona Ritchie and distributed by NPR. If you want to hear the shows, follow the links to part 1 here and part 2 here. The …
Posted in: Appalachia, Celtic Music, Fiona Ritchie, Folk Music, Folklorists, Folksong, ireland, Irish Americans, Jean Ritchie, Radio, Scotland, Thistle & Shamrock
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The following post is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! As I mentioned in last week’s post, all of us at AFC are happy to congratulate Billy McComiskey on winning a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the …
Posted in: AFC 40th Anniversary, AFC Events, AFC History, Celtic Music, Folk Music, Homegrown Concert Series, ireland, Irish American History, Irish Americans
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The following post is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! The American Folklife Center is thrilled to congratulate Billy McComiskey, one of the country’s top button accordion players in Irish traditional music, for winning a 2016 National …
Posted in: AFC 40th Anniversary, AFC Events, AFC History, Celtic Music, Folk Music, Homegrown Concert Series, Irish Americans
Posted by: Stephen Winick
In a previous post, I discussed one of AFC’s most influential field recordings, Carrie Grover’s “Arthur McBride,” and the popular tracks it inspired: versions by Paul Brady and by Bob Dylan. I was inspired to write about the song again by Rosanne Cash, a fan of both Dylan and Brady, who enthused about “Arthur McBride” …
Posted in: Alan Lomax, Bob Dylan, Celtic Music, christmas, England, Folksong, Holidays, ireland, Irish American History, James Madison Carpenter, Rosanne Cash
Posted by: Stephen Winick
A few years ago, I wrote an article in Folklife Center News about popular recordings inspired by AFC collection items. One of the ones I chose was Paul Brady’s version of an Irish ballad he called “Arthur McBride and the Sergeant” (see the lyrics at this link). In the article I revealed that Brady had …
Posted in: AFC History, Alan Lomax, Bob Dylan, Celtic Music, Folk Music, Folklorists, Folksong, Irish American History, Rosanne Cash
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The following installment in Botkin Folklife Lectures Plus post introduces James P. Leary, a distinguished folklorist and researcher who has published extensively on Library of Congress collections in the American Folklife Center. In addition to his lecture video, it includes photos, audio, and video from AFC's collections of Midwestern folk music, including Croatian, French, Scandinavian, Oneida, English, Welsh, and other ethnic groups. Most of the quotations from Leary in this article come from an email interview we did in July 2015, but I also quote occasionally from the lecture itself, which is also here as an embedded video.
Posted in: AFC History, Alan Lomax, Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture Series, Botkin Folklife Lectures Plus, Celtic Music, ethnomusicologists, Folk Music, Folklorists, Folksong, Michigan, Sidney Robertson Cowell, Wisconsin
Posted by: Stephen Winick
As I have mentioned several times on this blog, the 100th birthday of Alan Lomax is fast approaching. We’ll be celebrating the birthday itself with an exhibit, and then extending our celebrations throughout the year. However, today I thought it might be fun to show you that we’ve already gotten a jump on our celebrations …
Posted in: AFC Events, AFC History, AFC Reading Room Visitors, Alan Lomax, Celtic Music, Concerts with Archive Challenge Content, ethnomusicologists, Folk Music, Homegrown Concert Series