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Category: Homegrown Plus

A man plays guitar and another man plays bouzouki; they share a single microphone.

Homegrown Plus: The Murphy Beds

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!) I’m very happy to continue the series with The Murphy Beds, which is the duo of Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer. The Murphy Beds present traditional and original folk songs with close …

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

Homegrown Plus: Cora Harvey Armstrong

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 Cora Harvey Armstrong, a gospel singer, piano player, songwriter, choir director, and bandleader born and raised in King and Queen County, Virginia. The Richmond-born …

A dancer in Native American regalia on an ornate marble floor with a group of hoops merged to form a sphere.

Homegrown Plus: Nakotah LaRance, 1989-2020

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Normally, the Homegrown Plus series is a way to bring together the videos of Homegrown concerts with other information about the artists, including oral history interviews.  This time, however, we have a more solemn duty: to celebrate the life and legacy of Nakotah LaRance, an outstanding Native American hoop dancer from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New …

Lakota John, seated in a chair onstage, plays a cedar flute.

Homegrown Plus: Lakota John Locklear and Kin

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 Lakota John Locklear and kin, a blues family band of Native American heritage. Lakota John, born in 1997, blends traditional styles of the …

Tanya Nuñez and Jordan Wax of Lone Piñon perform in the Folklife Reading Room at the Library of Congress on January 29, 2020, while AFC staff members Thea Austen, John Fenn, Jesse Hocking, and Valda Morris look on. Photo by Stephen Winick.

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.

John McCutcheon plays fiddle in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress, for the American Folklife Center’s Homegrown Concert Series. September 12, 2018. Photo by Stephen Winick.

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.

Cedric Watson plays button accordion

Homegrown Plus: Cedric Watson Trio

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 Cedric Watson, a four-time Grammy-nominated fiddler, singer, accordionist, and songwriter. Watson is one of the brightest contemporary talents to emerge in Cajun, Creole and …

Three people play music on a stage

Homegrown Plus: Vishtèn

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 Vishtèn, an award winning Canadian band that performs both traditional and original Acadian music with rock energy. Their original “neo-traditional” compositions are based on …