Folkways Records
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Folkways Records is a record label founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1948. The label became very influential on a generation of folk singers because of its release of a great number of old-time and bluegrass recordings by re-discovered performers from the 1920s and 1930s like Dock Boggs and Clarence Ashley, as well as contemporary performers like the New Lost City Ramblers. The Anthology of American Folk Music originally appeared on the Folkways label.
Folkways was also one of the earliest companies to release albums of world music, including the Music of the World's Peoples collection edited by Henry Cowell.
After Asch's death in 1986, the Folkways catalogue was left to the Smithsonian Institution, which has re-issued many classic Folkways recordings under the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label. The entire Folkways back catalog remains available via CD-R, cassette, and (via Smithsonian Global Sounds) electronic download. Asch also donated a complete set of the Folkways recordings to the University of Alberta; FolkwaysAlive, a joint initiative between the University and the Smithsonian, is involved in digitization and archiving of the collection as well as maintaining a research center and sponsoring student research scholarships and an annual concert series.
