News & Updates — folk

Let's hear it for animal rights activists who double as successful musicians! Fred Neil, friend of the dolphins and singer-songwriter, is from Florida but went to NYC in the '50s to write songs at the Brill Building. While there he wrote tunes for Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, cut demos for Elvis and Bobby Darin, while also recording some rockabilly 45s. In the early 60s he was part of the Greenwich Village folks scene, making records with Vince Martin and his backing groups included people like John Sebastian, Bob Dylan and the Seventh Sons in its ranks. He was an...

Here's a birthday shout-out to Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins, the influential blues great from Texas. He played both electric and acoustic guitars, but his first instrument was a home-made cigar-box "guitar" with chicken wire for strings. He was boogieing from the '20s (although didn't record until '46) until the '80s, mostly in Texas until 1960 when he played at Carnegie Hall for an integrated audience for the first time. (Pete Seeger and Joan Baez were also on the bill). In the period between he worked with his cousin Texas Alexander and even played with Blind Lemon Jefferson on at least one...

Here's a brand new mixtape put together by DJ Studebaker Hawk of tunes found on Peace & Rhythm releases to date, from the very first 7" to the freshest! Give it a listen, check out the links, buy some records, support independent music!! A huge thank you to all the artists we've had the pleasure of working with, Studebaker Hawk for the mix, Margot Glass for the art, and YOU for listening!! Track list: 0:00 Peliroja - Situaciones (comp: J. Batista, M. Eckroth, J. Plasse) - from Situaciones / Ciudad de Nadie 7" P&R-45-002  (OUT OF PRINT) band website, official...

Happy birthday to "Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba, civil rights and anti-apartheid activist, singer, actress, UN delegate, Black Panther and warrior. From her birth in jail (where she spent the first six months of her life with her incarcerated mother) to her death immediately following a concert to raise awareness of mafia control, Miriam was a freedom fighter and compassionate voice throughout. One of the first stars of the African continent to be recognized internationally (after her big 1957 hit "Pata Pata"), she survived breast cancer in the '50s and founded an all-woman group The Skylarks (a rarity for the time)....

The first "folk" guitarist I got really into was John Fahey and his curious Takoma albums. Fahey's music combined blues, country, classical, avant-garde and finger-pickin' roots styles and other international folk musics all together. From dissonant to haunting, country blues to modal epics, it covered a lot worth hearing. Takoma was his label, started with money saved from his gas-pumping gig and it went on to be a very influential independent label, releasing many classics not only by Fahey, but also records by Bukka White, Robbie Basho, Leo Kottke, Canned Heat, Charlie Nothing, Bola Sete, George Winston and others. He...