This past week (May 18-22, 2022), the International Folk Alliance held their annual conference as a hybrid event this year. For the in-person part, held in Kansas City, Missouri, it was a welcome return to some semblance of normalcy...
I remember one time a man was asking me about the music I perform and play, and I mentioned “folk” music in my reply. He asked me point blank, “What is folk music?” I was a little surprised. He...
June 24, 2014, marked the official release of the latest album from Smithsonian Folkways called Classic African American Songsters. It is a celebration of the vast variety of repertoire that these "songsters," or traveling African American musicians of the...
