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Category: Jukebox

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The Old 97

Posted by: Bryan Cornell

Folklorist Norm Cohen has astutely observed that “[f]olklore thrives where danger threatens” (The Long Steel Rail, cited below, p. 169). The annals of commercially recorded traditional and popular song provide abundant support for this conclusion. In fact, by the early twentieth century — especially the decades of the teens and twenties — nearly every imaginable disaster or mishap was memorialized in song.  Natural disasters are …

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Where the River Shannon Flows

Posted by: Karen Fishman

This blog post was co-written with Jan McKee, Reference Librarian, Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress It wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without some sentimental Irish ballads to listen to with our green beer, and the name that is most synonymous with Irish ballads is John McCormack. John McCormack (1884-1945) was an Irish born American …

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It’s scandalous! It’s immoral! It’s the “Turkey Trot”!

Posted by: Karen Fishman

This blog post was co-written with Jan McKee, Reference Librarian, Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress. This year, after Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family, why not burn off some of those calories and thwart those tryptophans by dancing the Turkey Trot instead of sleeping on the living room sofa?  This vigorous dance was developed …

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The Elusive Buddy Bolden

Posted by: Bryan Cornell

 The following post is by David Sager,  Processing Technician in the Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress. This post is in commemoration of the 84th anniversary of Buddy Bolden’s death and the never-ending discussion of his legendary lost cylinder recording. Charles “Buddy” Bolden, 1877-1931, often referred to as the “first man of jazz,” holds an …

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A Look Inside the National Jukebox

Posted by: Bryan Cornell

What follows is a guest post by Carla Arton and Harrison Behl, processing technicians in the Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress   In May 2013, the staff-led Packard Campus Institute (PCI) hosted a presentation on the National Jukebox by Gene DeAnna, Head of the Recorded Sound Section at the Library of Congress. In his presentation, Gene showcases …

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78 RPM Records, Internet Radio, Phonofilms, and a Blog: Now That’s Media Convergence!

Posted by: Mike Mashon

This guest post was written by Dan Streible, Director of the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program at New York University, and James Irsay, host of “Morning Irsay” on WBAI-FM in New York City. Dan Streible: While chopping down trees in Kentucky recently, I was enjoying the benefits of twenty-first century living, listening to music …

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World War I

Posted by: Bryan Cornell

 The following is a guest post by Matt Barton, Recorded Sound Curator, National Audio-Visual Conservation Center This Monday marked the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of World War I.  Songs relating to World War I are very well documented in the Library’s National Jukebox, which provides over 10,000 78-rpm discs recorded in the 1920s and before. For …

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Of Cantonese Opera and Guatemalan Marimba

Posted by: Bryan Cornell

This week we will explore the wealth of ethnic recordings that are available in the Library’s National Jukebox and other online collections.  The Jukebox includes some 10,000 recordings of 78-rpm discs made before 1926. To browse these recordings, visit the site’s browse all recordings page and click the headings “language” and “target audience.” Pictured at the right are Alfredo and Flora de Gobbi, a husband …

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Not Just Country Music

Posted by: Karen Fishman

I recently returned from visiting Nashville, Tennessee, and while there visited the Ryman Auditorium. Being a fan of country music, I knew the Ryman was called “the Mother Church of Country Music,” and was the home for many years of the radio program The Grand Ole Opry, but I was very surprised to learn about  …