Celebrating 75 Years of Folkways Records
Sunday 26th November, 2023
Doors are at 3:00pm and there's a packed programme of music and events until me and Robin are on at 9:30pm. NB that's a change to how I thought the day was going to be scheduled!
The MOTH club - Click for a map
I'm thrilled to be playing at the MOTH club with the great Robin Gillan. They have all this to say about the event:
A jam-packed day of music for you here, in celebration of one of one of the greatest labels of all time. We also have Peggy Seeger (who released music via Folkways from 1955-1992) in conversation with legendary journalist Ken Hunt, plus a screening of The Old, Weird America, a documentary that tells the story of Harry Everett Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, released on Folkways in 1952. May 2023 marked 75 years since the iconic independent label Folkways Records was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in New York City. In that time, it has become one of the world’s most iconic collections of music and sound, spanning thousands of albums from foundational American folk music to the sounds of everyday life around the world. Since 1948, the music released on Folkways has defined and redefined the fabric of American music many times over: Woody Guthrie sang the nation into our collective imagination with This Land Is Your Land, the Anthology of American Folk Music played a pivotal role in defining ’60s counterculture, the ecstatic swing of Mary Lou Williams predicted spiritual jazz, the groundbreaking chance-based music of John Cage upended classical music, Ella Jenkins’s music has nurtured generations of children to adulthood, we heard the first glimpses at the genius of Lucinda Williams, and countless more. The label also steadfastly documented the sounds of the entire world, with hundreds of recordings to be found from every populated continent. Presented by LNZRT LTD. This is an 18+ event
MOTH Club
Valette Street
London E9 6NU