Jean Ritchie

Classic performances from five of the most influential women of folk. Featuring Odetta, Jean Ritchie, Etta Baker, Barbara Dane & Carolyn Hester.

It was distinctly ironic: at the very zenith of America's postwar space-age love affair with TV, 3-D, and rock & roll (and other disposable cultural ephemera), a grassroots movement set out to recapture the country's lost musical heritage. These curious minds not only found it in a wealth of seemingly forgotten protest songs, spiritual blues, and country laments, but also forged new songs in its image. That this crusade sprang from lower Manhattan's Washington Square and the doorstep of New York University made the paradox all the sweeter. Ted Myers, the producer of this triple-disc anthology, grew up just blocks from the epicenter of that folk-quake, and his generous sense of place and time permeates this rich collection. Generally misunderstood and historically pigeonholed, the era finally gets its due, chronicled here by 72 tracks that extend far beyond the roots-conscious work of Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Pete Seeger on one hand, and the more popular material by the Kingston Trio, Limeliters, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan on the other. Culturally, the Folk movement was the alt-rock of its day–if eminently more conscious of history and politically committed. Musically, it encompassed an ethos that enthusiastically blurred the boundaries between blues, Appalachian ballads, jug music, pure country, honky-tonk, work songs, and even unbridled novelty; this set explores them all, often with a palpable sense of discovery. Historically, the movement championed preservation at the same time it gleefully tweaked old sensibilities in pursuit of new inspiration. Listen and you'll hear music that became touchstones for artists as diverse as the Byrds, Roberta Flack, Rod Stewart, and–wittingly or not–every passionate coffeehouse minstrel who's strode on stage with a guitar ever since. –Jerry McCulley

Recorded on November 11 by Wayne Griffith at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, California, the group offers their latest release, “Live at McCabe’s.” The new album features 17 tracks from their outstanding live show, featuring new writing, new covers of songs from Steve Earle, Linda Thompson, Bob Dylan and Jean Ritchie, and many older favorites from the group’s four studio albums since its forming in 2003 as The Hilonesome Band. Mixed and Mastered by Frank Rosato at Woodcliff Studios, Los Angeles, the album features the quartet of Susie Glaze, lead and harmony vocals, guitar, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, Steve Rankin, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, lead and harmony vocals, Fred Sanders, bass, lead and harmony vocals, Mark Indictor, fiddle, lead and harmony vocals.

First single from Norwegian artist Susanna’s upcoming album ‘Go Dig My Grave’ feat. Giovanna Pessi, Ida Hidle & Tuva Syvertsen. ‘Go Dig My Grave’ is a unique project between Susanna, Swiss baroque harp player Giovanna Pessi, accordion player Ida Hidleand fiddle player & folk singer Tuva Syvertsen. The quartet have reworked ten eclectic songs from seemingly disparate worlds and brought them together on this album of sympathetic and beautiful interpretations. They lend their talents to traditional English and American folk songs, numbers by Purcell, Elizabeth Cotten, Joy Division and Lou Reed, as well a new composition by Susanna written to a poem from Charles Baudelaire’s once banned ‘Flowers of Evil’.

False Lankum follows their 2019 breakthrough album The Livelong Day, which paved the way for critical and commercial success, earning them that year’s RTE Choice Music Prize (the Irish equivalent of the Album of the Year Grammy) and the #8 spot on NPR Music’s Best Albums of the Year list. Drawing on traditional folk songs, Lankum put their own dark, distinctive mark onto each, leaning into heavy drones and sonic distortion that imparts new intensity and beauty into each track. This record sees the band cement their breakout from the folk genre, creating bold, contemporary music that may be fashioned from traditional elements but is firmly new, sitting comfortably alongside Rough Trade labelmates like black midi and Gilla Band.