This episode features singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Martha’s Vineyard, in discussion with staff members of the American Folklife Center. Hopkins adapted songs from the American Folklife Center archive several times. On the first occasion she sang a lullaby recorded by ethnomusicologist Willard Rhodes from a young girl named Margaret at the Haskell Residential School in 1943; the song is known as “Margaret’s Song” or “Creek Lullaby,” and according to Creek elders it was created during the Trail of Tears. For her second challenge, Hopkins wrote new lyrics for the song “Red Wing,” which originally contained damaging stereotypes of Native Americans. The new lyrics paid homage to pioneering Native film actress Lilian St. Cyr, who was known as “Red Wing.” Hopkins discussed her process and the meanings of the songs with AFC staff members Stephen Winick, Jennifer Cutting, and Meg Nicholas; Nicholas is one of the American Folklife Center’s specialists in Native song, and affiliated with the Munsee-Delaware Nation in southwest Ontario. The episode features the field recordings of both songs, as well as Thea’s new versions, and a fiddle tune by Chippewa fiddler Mary Trotchie.

More information on the songs as well as photos of some of the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife

This episode looks at scary stories in the American Folklife Center archives, including ghost stories, witch tales, and other terrifying tales. Hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn talk with AFC intern Hanna Salmon about scary stories in the new guide “Folktales and Oral Storytelling: Resources in the American Folklife Center Collections.” We then listen to and discuss a “Vanishing Hitchhiker” tale from Marty Weathers and Bill Henry of Georgia; the witch story “Skin, Don’t You Know Me?” from J. D. Suggs; a ghostly experience related by humanitarian Eartha M. M. White; and “The Two White Horses,” a classic spooky tale from Connie Regan-Blake.

More information on the stories as well as photos of some the tellers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks at storytelling and folktale traditions in the American Folklife Center archives, including “Jack Tales,” tall tales, animal tales, and other stories. Hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn talk with AFC intern Hanna Salmon about the new guide “Folktales and Oral Storytelling: Resources in the American Folklife Center Collections.” We then listen to and discuss excerpts of tales from North Carolina storyteller Ray Hicks, professional tellers Connie Regan-Blake and Barbara Freeman (aka The Folktellers), Evelio and Evelia Andux (a father and daughter from Florida), Cuban-American storyteller and frequent AFC guest Carmen Agra Deedy, and Choctaw author and storyteller Tim Tingle.

More information on the songs as well as photos of some the tellers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks at the work of Cormac Ó Haodha, who held the 2024 John B. Lovelace Fellowship for the study of the Alan Lomax collection, a position situated within the library’s Kluge Center. Cormac comes from Cúil Aodha in the Múscraí gaeltacht of County Cork, Ireland. He came the Library specifically to study recordings Alan Lomax made in January 1951, of singers local to the Múscraí Gaeltacht. The episode includes one song sung in Irish and one in English by Cormac Ó Haodha, along with three of Lomax’s field recordings from January 1951.

More information on the songs as well as photos of some the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks back at the recent work of Joseph Z. Johnson and Deena Owens, interns who created research guides on African American Banjo Playing and on Sacred Harp singing for the American Folklife Center. The interns talked about their work and shared a few of their favorite field recordings from our collections.

More information on the songs as well as photos of some the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks back and ahead at the 2023 Homegrown Concert series, which is currently in progress. Hosts Stephen Winick and Michelle Stefano interview the series producer Theadocia Austen and folklife specialist Doug Peach. The participants talk about the series as a whole, and each picks one or two songs for us to hear. The episode contains songs from Jake Blount, (African American folk music), Spaelimenninir (Scandinavian folk music), Christylez Bacon (Hip Hop and human beatbox), Ali Doğan Gönültaş (Kurdish music from Turkey), and Hudaki Village Band (Ukrainian music from the Carpathian mountains). It also features interview segments with Blount and Bacon.

More information on the songs as well as photos of some the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

In this episode for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, John Fenn and Steve Winick invite guests to talk about Asian collections in the American Folklife Center. Allina Migoni talks about the earliest known recordings of Korean music, playing segments of a lecture by Robert Provine and a song sung by Ahn Jeong-Sik. Sara Ludewig discusses the Linda LaMacchia collection, including recordings made of Tibetan singers in India. Steve discusses Asian and Pacific Island collections in the Homegrown concert series, and plays a song, a story, and a flute composition by Grammy-nominated Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal. More information on the performers and the selections can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

For full audio of items excerpted in the podcast, and more great folklife content, visit the Folklife Today blog.

In this episode for Women’s History Month, Allina Migoni and Michelle Stefano take a look through the collections of the American Folklife Center to find insights into how women have shaped those around them and passed down their cultural traditions, and to listen to reflections about their identities and lives. The episode honors women in the American Folklife Center archive, including homemaker and cook Yoshiko Nagashima, craftsperson Iyo Nagashima, farmer Sarah Sohn, quilters Donna Choate and Zenna Todd, hooked rug artist Mary Sheppard Burton, and ethnographers Theadocia Austen, Geraldine Niva Johnson, Kay Turner, Miiko Toelken, and Christine Cartwright. More information on the performers and the selections can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

For full audio of items excerpted in the podcast, and more great folklife content, visit the Folklife Today blog.