Smithsonian

Dive into the raw energy of Zydeco with Clifton Chenier: King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco. This landmark box set, out November 2025 on Arhoolie Records (now part of Smithsonian Folkways), features 67 tracks (19 of which are previously unreleased) – listen to the powerful 1971 live recording of “Mr. Charlie;” it’s a true testament to the King of Zydeco’s enduring legacy.

Brilliantly preserved and imbued with a shared, democratic performance ethos, The Complete Friends of Old-Time Music Concert, featuring the Georgia Sea Island Singers and guests, is so vital and powerful that it feels almost like being there.

Smithsonian Folkways Announces New Historical Album – a live 1965 Concert featuring Bessie Jones, John Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell – a riveting, historic look at the intersection of Black folk traditions and civil rights activism.

The music on ‘Playing for the Man at the Door – Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971’ is totally engrossing – wild wolflike blues, red in tooth and clawhammer; rawness and reality, without the spit and polish of record label recordings.

Just Around the Bend is of monumental importance and an engrossing release not least, of course, due to the gentle force of Mike Seeger’s own personality, his over-reaching enthusiasm for old-time and its practitioners.

The Social Power of Music is an exhaustive and eclectic 83-song anthology centred on the redemptive and revolutionary power of music. An astonishingly inspirational compilation that celebrates and aims, in its own way, ‘to surround hate and force it to surrender.’

On February 22nd, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will release The Social Power of Music, a new box set that examines these roles of music in our lives from many angles and through many voices.

Our Song of the Day is from the 2004 album “Back Roads to Cold Mountain”. Listen to Dacosta Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters performing John Brown’s Dream.

This year marks the 48th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival in the US and quite possibly the last to be held at the historic National Mall in Washington, D.C. due to new restrictions.

Classic Harmonica Blues from Smithsonian Folkways brims with the creativity of soulful harmonica greats of the 20th century, including Sonny Terry, Doctor Ross, Eddie Burns, Phil Wiggins, and more.

Raised in a large, musical farm family in Rappahannock County, Virginia, John Jackson (1924–2002) was the most important black Appalachian musician to come to broad public attention during the mid-1960s. Smithsonian Folkways is proud to present Rappahannock Blues, a new collection of previously unreleased live recordings by John Jackson mostly made at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.