Moe Asch
Preserving the Culture

Who was Moses Asch?, you ask.  Well, first and foremost Moe (as his friends called him) was a recording and sound engineer.  Born in Poland in 1905, his father was the famous Jewish author Sholem Asch¹ and he and his family moved to Paris when Moe was still a kid.   Sholem traveled to New York to lecture and Moe attended school there - he said five schools in four boroughs.  His dad returned to Europe after the war but the family remained in America.

In 1922 Sholem wrote to Moe to come to Germany where because of the post-War hyperinflation he could send Moe to college for a dollar a year.     Moe traveled to Koblenz and studied the new fangled field of electronics.

Back in New York Moe began his business in a practical manner.  He began installing sound systems for the burgeoning cinema industry but also for anyone who needed to amplify voice or music.  But by the late 1930's he was also using his expertise to make recordings for what were "Governments in Exiles.  These "governments" were the political leaders who had fled Europe when pre-WWII Germany began making its marches and invading their countries.  The deposed leaders would record stirring messages for the citizens who had to remain behind, and the broadcasts became sort of a prototype Voice of America.

Of course there's only so many Governments in Exiles and by 1939 Moe was operating out of a small studio and had begun making commercial records.  Called Asch Records, the studio's first commercial release was of the Barry Sisters.  The Barrys were a close harmony duet who specialized in Klezmer and jazz and Moe released their version of "Kol Nidre".  The girls, Minnie and Clara (their last name was really Bagelman), were not twins (although they looked it) and they sang with a gusto lacking in many other sisters act.

Under the Asch label, Moe then recorded cantorial music as well as Yiddish and Hebrew songs from Palestine.  Moe marketed his records at local stores including one owned by a friend named Sam Goody.  He soon branched into popular music, folk, and jazz which he released as 78 singles² and began featuring artists like Burl Ives, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, and Josh White.  He wanted to but was never able to record Charlie Parker.

Moe never worried much about whether people would actually buy the records.  Still he kept his business kept going for eight years before debits overtook credits.  Seeking to recoup, Moe found the banks were a bit lukewarm about refunding a spinoff.  So he managed to get his former assistant, Marian Distler, to serve as the head of the new company.  This was the Disc Company of America which in a few years fortunately switched to the more descriptive name of Folkways.

Again Moe tended to record what he thought was worth preserving rather than what would go Gold.  He also had an iron-clad policy which gives shudders to most recording executives.  Nothing - that's NOTHING! NICHTS! !גארניט - ever went out of print.  If a title only sold a few copies, well, that was fine.  But if anyone wanted to buy it, it was available.

The launching of Asch Records in 1939 came at an opportune time.  This was the dawn of the Folk Song Movement where college age kids began picking up guitars and banjos and tried to sound like they were from the sticks.

But not all of the folk singers were from the East Coast or kids from the big cities.  Five years after Moe began his record business - on April 16, 1944 to be exact - a small wiry and guitar toting man sauntered into his studio.  That was of course Woody Guthrie.

Woody by then had been building a reputation as the "dustiest of the dust bowl balladeers".  He first rambled into New York City in 1940 after having his own radio show in Los Angeles.  In New York, he had been prominently featured in the pilot of a nationally broadcast radio program called "Forecast" for a proposed series Back Where I Come From.  Woody pulled off a tour-de-force by sounding both professional and authentic.  This appearance led to his hosting "Pipe Smoking Time", a lucrative (but short lived) program on CBS³.  Woody returned to the West Coast for a time before finding his way back to New York where he would live for the rest of his life.  But for now he was serving in the Merchant Marine.

On that first visit to Asch Studios, Woody recorded two songs, "Hard Ain't It Hard" and "More Pretty Gals Than One" - which to be frank are not Woody at his best. But somehow Moe must have been impressed since three days later Woody returned with his friend and fellow merchant seaman Cisco Houston.  Over several sessions they recorded 63 more songs.  Before the month was out they had cut over 180 records.

One of the songs Woody recorded in these early sessions was a response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" with its rather syrupy and ostentatious message that everything is all right. Woody's song also sang the praise of America but tempered the praise with questioning disapprobation.

Before he recorded the song for Moe - perhaps to distance his song from Irving's - Woody switched the tagline of each chorus, "God blessed America for me", to "This land was made for you and me".  Few people who sing the song today realize it was intended not just to praise but also to criticize America, particularly since two of the more censorious verses are never sung⁴.

Whenever you read about Moe you'll read he had a reputation of being tightfisted with his money.  On the other hand he didn't charge Woody for the recording time although to do so was the normal operation of a commercial studio (the Kingsmen had to pay $50 for their session with the one-take of "Louie Louie").  In fact, sometimes Moe would even pay the musicians or at least take them to lunch.

But mentally Moe would keep tabs of the expenses as an advance on royalties.  Bluesman Brownie McGee would sometimes stop by if he was short on cash. Moe was always good for a five spot or a tenner.

Then after a while Moe suggested that Brownie stop by and cut a record to help square his debt.  Brownie then realized that what he had thought was largesse from the goodness of Moe's heart were actually loans for advances on royalties.  But he wasn't irritated and if anything smilingly admired Moe's business acumen.

For all practical purposes Folkways was a non-profit organization without it being officially designated as such.  The business was often strapped for cash and so Moe's so-called chintziness was often a matter of practicality rather than personal acquisitiveness.

 

Nor is it true that Moe always drew up contracts with no provision for royalties.  His agreements with the African American folk singer Huddie Ledbetter - Leadbelly to his fans - detailed a payment of 2 cents per record.  By contemporary standards that wasn't an unfair arrangement although Leadbelly's wife Martha or his niece Tiny Robinson would often have to stop by and remind Moe that some royalties were due.

Still a lot of Moe's artists had no specific agreement.  But Moe was by no means the only producer to avoid paying royalties.  In fact it was common that they did not.  Although an early law mandated composers and their publishers receive royalties, this wasn't a courtesy required for the performers. Of course producers could pay royalties if they wished.  Megastar operatic tenor Enrico Caruso received $4000 per song plus an astronomical 40% royalties.

Records would cost maybe 75¢ to $1 and retailers made perhaps 15¢ on the dollar.  If a producer sold 5000 copies they could usually recover their costs.  For Moe that was a very good run and for him pressings of 200 copies weren't unusual.

The most recorded of Moe's artists was Pete Seeger.  Pete started off with the Almanac Singers in the 1940's album Talking Union.  His first solo album was recorded in 1944 while he was on leave from the Army, and from 1948 to 1967 Pete cut nearly 40 albums for Folkways.   In later years and when the folk revival lost its mainstream appeal, Pete stayed with Moe and issued at least 10 other albums.

Pete rarely received royalties but he knew Moe was preserving parts of American culture that otherwise would be lost. "Heck," he said. "I wasn't going to bother about royalties."

Pete was a nice guy, of course, but other singers would get a bit miffed. Folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk would sometimes dress up in a ragged suit and wait until the Folkways office was filled with people waiting to see Moe.  Then he'd stagger in as if on his last legs and cry out, "Moe!  You're not paying me!"  Moe would play the game and say, "Dave!  I'm glad you're here.  I was just about to write you a check."  Then he'd write a check for $50 and hand it over.  

WARNING!!!!!!!

The following has a high nerd content.  For those adverse to nerdism in all its forms and who wish to skip this section click here.

Today with libraries of digital recordings fitting in everyone's pocket, it's well to recall what a Herculean task it was even in the - quote - "modern era" - unquote - to make a record.  Although recording onto thin metal wires had been around since the turn of the century and produced a fairly high quality sound, the early industry preferred to stick with recording directly to a "master disk".

Before 1925, everything was mechanical.  In these "acoustical" recordings the sound was directed into the wide end of a hollow funnel which had the small end covered with a diaphragm.  The diaphragm had to be strong but flexible.  Metal or glass diaphragms were used, but the preferred material was mica. Mica is an aluminum silicate mineral that can be fashioned into large thin flakes.  A mica diaphragm of 1/6 of a millimeter has a good balance between rigidity and flexibility

A small needle was placed against the diaphragm.  The needle was then positioned upon a blank record which was rotated at a fairly high speed.  Edison's original records were cylinders mounted on what was effectively a horizontal lathe.  The needle moved along the cylinder cutting a spiral groove.

Since the sound waves directed into the "horn" made the diaphragm vibrate, the motion was transferred to the needle which cut grooves into the surface of the record.  Variations in the sound waves produced variations in the grooves.  So the grooves became a physical record of the intensity and the timbre of the sound.

Tom had reasoned that the phonograph would work both ways.  If the sounds made the diaphragm vibrate and cut grooves into the record, he figured a needle wiggling in the grooves would make the diaphragm vibrate and produce sounds.  Tom gave the plans to his master machinist, John Kruesi, and the story is no one in the lab thought it would work.  That included Tom.  He later said he was astonished to hear his voice on the playback since he never expected things to work the first time.

The trouble was the fidelity wasn't great. In fact, it stunk.  It sounded like you were speaking from the far end of a long tunnel.  Also it wasn't clear what the actual record should be made of.  Tom used tinfoil but the foil record only lasted for a few playbacks.

Tom wasn't sure what to do with what he always said was his favorite invention.   Perhaps it might be used by businessmen for dictation. The idea that he had created the biggest entertainment device in history didn't occur to him.

But it did occur to others.

Like Alexander Graham Bell.

Alex kicked himself when he heard of Tom's invention.  Why didn't he think of that?  But Alex had some satisfaction since it was his invention of the telephone that made the record industry take off.  Or at least it did once the technology advanced to electric recording.

In a telephone transmitter you speak into a microphone that has a metal diaphragm pressing against a bed of carbon particles.  A current is passing through the carbon - although carbon is a poor conductor it still conducts - and the vibrating diaphragm puts varying pressure on the particles.  The pressure squeezes the particles closer together and therefore increases the conductivity in the carbon bed.  With greater conductivity you get more electricity through the wires.  So as the diaphragm vibrates you get more current with a louder sound and you have less current when things are quiet.

The net result is that the variable current emerging from the transmitter is an electronic translation of the sounds.  This translation can be sent down the wire.

But of course there's someone  waiting to listen at the other end.  For that you need a receiver.

In acoustical recording the transmitter and receiver are one and the same.  You speak into the horn and it cuts the grooves.  You have the needle run through the grooves and you get your sound back through the same horn.

Not so in electric transmission of sound. The receiver and transmitter don't work the same way.   For a receiver instead of a bed of carbon next to a metal diaphragm you have an electromagnet.  The strength of the electromagnet is controlled by the current coming from the transmitter.

So the electromagnet pulls on the diaphragm with varying forces.  The more current the more the diaphragm bends.    So as the current from the transmitter varies, the diaphragm vibrates and reproduces the sound from the transmitter.

But on the telephone the sound is soft - much quieter than the original spoken words. To hear anything you have to press the receiver to your ear.  That's not much use for listening to records unless you have earphones.

Fortunately, after the telephone was invented electrical engineers began creating sound systems to boost the volume and the quality of the sound.  But there were complexities.  If there was little current from the transmitter you wanted little current coming to the receiver.  Otherwise you'd get a lot of hissing background noise.  But you also had to proportionally increase the current from the transmitter if there was current coming in.

OK.  But how do you get the sound to be louder?  We'd really like to know that.

I thought you would as Captain Mephisto said to Sidney Brand.  It's very simple really.

To boost the sound you need an amplifier.  These devices first showed up in the form of the vacuum tube triode.  A vacuum tube looks like a light bulb.  But in the vacuum tube the current goes to a heated plate called the anode. Even stranger the anode looks like a dead end since there's no connection to anything else in the tube.

But near the anode and separated by a gap is another piece of metal - we show it as a plate - called the cathode.  So in the tube you have one wire going into the anode, another coming out of the cathode.  In between there's a vacuum - that is nothing.

But when you heat the anode and have enough voltage, electrons will jump from the anode to the cathode.  So the current coming into the vacuum tube continues on its merry way.  Of course you can make your current as strong as you like.

Ha? (To quote Shakespeare.)  But what's the point?  Why not just send the current through a wire and forget the vacuum tube?

Well, hold on there, pilgrim.  What if you stick in a third wire that carries the current of the transmitter?  Then you actually make the transmitter wire into a grid.  And you have the grid pass through space between the anode and cathode.

Remember the current from the transmitter varies as does the vibration of the diaphragm.  But all currents passing through a wire create an electric field around the wires.  And electrons passing through an electric field undergo changes in energy, the changes depending on how strong the field is.

So the electrons jumping from the anode to the cathode change their energy based on the changing current in the transmitter wire.  So the current coming out of the cathode varies in strength in the same way as the original transmitter current - but it's stronger. This is the current that goes to the receiver.

But remember.  The diaphragm of the receiver vibrates.  If you hook a needle to the diaphragm, you could have it cut a record like Tom's acoustic phonograph.  But the sound created will be louder and more realistic.

Obviously something this complex took some time for development and many inventors to get it to work.  Tom's first acoustic recording - the poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" - was made in 1877.  It was 1925 - almost half a century later - before electric recording began to produce sounds that could rival what you hear today.

OK.  We have better sounding records.  But the question remains.  How do you mass produce records for the public?

Once more we return to Alexander Graham Bell.

Few patents are entirely original.  Grab any patent - including Tom's - and you see that they will claim an improvement over something else.  That was true of Alex's work as well.  Toms had patented his phonograph using the tin foil record.  But Alex's improvement - actually the idea was from his employee, Charles Tainter - was that you could coat a cardboard cylinder with hard wax. The vibrating needle - either from acoustical or electrical - could cut into the wax to record the sound.  The wax gave more playbacks than tinfoil - maybe a hundred or more.

To mass produce the early recordings, though, there were two ways.  The most straightforward method was to have the musicians and singers just keep making more of the same records.  Or they could sing and play into one transmitter hooked up to a large numbers of individual recording machines.  Obviously there were problems with either method.

What you needed was a way to make one record and make copies.  And here Tom Edison took over again but using Alex's and Charles's wax records.  Tom worked on the problem literally for years, and finally he hit on a solution.

Tom's (successful) method was to spread a thin layer of gold dust - yes, gold - onto the surface of the original wax record.  The dust sifted into and filled the grooves.  You then electroplated the gold dusted cylinder using copper.  The plating solidified the dust and built up a thicker - and less expensive - metal cylinder - remember Tom's records were cylinders - around the wax record.

You then melted the wax away and you ended up with a metal cylinder but with a negative of the grooves on the inside. You them pressed warm wax against the inside surface.  You ended up with a wax cylinder coating the inside of the mold but with a positive impression of the grooves on the wax.  As the wax cooled it contracted and could be removed.  Hey presto!, you have a wax copy of the original.  With one mold you could make hundreds of records.

But try as he might, Tom never found a wax that could be made soft enough so it could be pressed into the mold and yet was durable enough to last many playbacks.  The recordings still wore down too fast.

The solution?

One word: Plastics.

The plastic record was an invention of Thomas, yes, but a young inventor named Thomas Lambert. The process was the same for making wax cylinders, except you pressed melted celluloid into the inside of the mold. Then you had a much more durable record.

But making a cylinder by pressing plastic on the inside of a cylinder was still a pain.   It worked but it was slow and time consuming.

All his life Tom was a stubborn cuss.  Whatever he created he stuck with even if someone else made an improvement that made Tom's original invention obsolete.  So it was with the cylinder record.

In steps the German American inventor Emile Berliner.  Emile decided that it would be  better to make records as a disk rather than a cylinder.  But cylinder recorders and players were versions of the well established mechanical lathe.  Fast turning lathes could be easily built and they would spin reliably and precisely.

But spinning a disk with the same facility required considerable innovations.   The needle also had to move toward the center to cut the grooves as a spiral. It took time but eventually Emile got his phonograph - which he called a gramophone - to work.

To mass produce the records Emile then borrowed the technique of metal engravers.   First a zinc disk was coated with soft wax - what engravers call a "ground" - and the needle's vibrations scratched the grooves down to the metal.  Since the needle couldn't cut into the zinc,  the recording required a side-to-side vibration of the needle to create distinguishable grooves.

The next step was to etch the metal disk with acid - this was the trick of the engravers.  The disk - with the edges and the back protected with shellac - was dipped in an acid bath.  The acid dissolved the exposed surface and created the same grooves into the metal that were cut into the wax.  The acid and excess wax were then removed and you ended up with a metal disk that would replay the sound.  But that wasn't the purpose of the disk.

Instead the metal record was to serve as a durable master to create the negative molds by electroplating as Tom did for his records.  On a disk the mold could simply be peeled off and mounted on a support.

You now have a mold of the grooves that can be simply pressed into a blank disk made of plastic.  You now have a plastic copy of the original metal disk, grooves and all.    Because the mold was made from a flat disk it could be separated from the master far more easily than a cylinder. But the real innovation was you could also press another recording onto the other side of the disk, getting two for one.

Emile tried making his records out of celluloid but the platters were too brittle (and flammable).  Instead, he turned to hard rubber which produced a disk that was hard but not brittle and far more durable than celluloid.  Later vinyl plastic became the industry standard.

Emile formed his own business, the American Gramophone Company and it took off.  Eventually even Tom abandoned the cylinder.

By the 1950's the gramophones had morphed into the record players which became de rigueur possessions for teenage girls who would sprawl out on the floor of their rooms and blubber over J. Frank Wilson's "Last Kiss".   Eventually the records were transformed into the compact disc with its ubiquity from 1980's to the end of the Millennium.  Of course, today even the CD has become a relic of a by-gone era and music is now solid state and digital.

[To return to top of Nerd Content click here.]

Although Moe never set out to find big name stars, he was a good judge of composers, singers, and musicians.  He not only recorded more songs by Woody Guthrie than any other producer, he was also the first to record other artists who later went on to fame and fortune.  Naturally he kept specializing in the jazz, blues, folk, and country fields.  Among Moe's early artists were Duke Ellington, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Art Tatum, Bill Monroe, and of course Pete Seeger.  He also recorded lesser known and eclectic, yet, "serious" composers like John Cage and Charles Ives.  Moe's catalog also listed interviews and speeches of people who ranged from college professors to cartoonists.

Moe never favored any culture over another.  He released a recording of the music of San people of the Kalahari Desert (at one time referred to as the Bushmen) and other native Africans as well as the indigenous peoples of Alaska, Australia, Mexico, South and Central America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the North American West, Canada, and just about everywhere else.

 

But if none of this suits your tastes, you can find in Moe's catalog The Sounds of the Junkyard where you can listen to an acetylene torch, a loading pick-up truck, a steel saw in operation, and much more.  Or maybe you'd prefer Sounds of North American Frogs.

Moe's Folkways recordings are still in print.  When he died in 1986 he willed his collection to the Smithsonian Institution on the proviso that all titles must be kept available.

As for some of the artists that Moe recorded - and to skip this rather lengthy list, click here - you can find Guy Davis, Kobzari, David Lambing and Eric Schoenberg, Lucie De Vienne Blanc, Lesley Frost, Students of McGill University, Harry Jackson, Claude Williams, Karl Zaruba, Chuck Guillory, Gloria Levy, Rolf Cahn, Ann Mayo Muir, Michael Doucet and Beausoleil, Mike Glick, Norman Blake and Nancy Blake and Tut Taylor, Will Geer, Fannie Lou Hamer, Jean Marilyn Brannon, Art Tatum Trio, Ted Puffer, D. Cowan and A. Cargill and S. Brown, John A. MacLellan,  Montgomery Express, Puli Toro, Alya, Katzenjammers, Louis Zorich, Vera Buxhoeveden, Alfonso Cruz Jimenez, Howell Devine, Dan Zanes and Friends,  The Magnolia Sisters, Roy Bargy, Elliott Schwartz, John Masefield, Red Camp, Sam Larner, Hatun Kotama, Sven-Bertil Taube, Michael Doucet with Beausoleil, Robert Schmertz, Paddy Tunney, Kajar the Magician, John P. Sykes, Rolf Cahn and Eric Von Schmidt, Haussein Shiekh and Radio Mogadisco Swahili, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Padraic Colum, Pete Seeger and Mike Seeger andand Rev. Larry Davis, Chinese Cultural Theater Group, Harry and Jeanie West, Mark Van Doren, Sheila Clark, Ewan MacColl and Dominic Behan, Howard Finster, Sterling Brown and Langston Hughes, Eleanor Roosevelt, Johnny Richardson, Oscar "Papa" Celestin, Tina Meltzer, Archibald L. Camp, Anne Grimes, Juan López, Robert Francis, Kaulaheaonamiku Kiona, Bob and Ron Copper, The California Cajun Orchestra, Any Old Time String Band, Richard Lerman, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Snooks Eaglin, Longa ve Sirtolar, Kevin Roth, C.J. Chenier and the New Red Hot Louisiana Band, Jesse Lemisch, The Beaton Family of Mabou, The Broadside Singers, The Isaiah Thomas Singers, Larissa Gatova, Joan O'Bryant, Bamboushay Steel Band, Eddie Starr,, George and Madeleine Brown, Frantz Casséus and Barbara Perlow, Mestre Acordeon, James Sykes, The Carrière Brothers, Csókolom, Roger Matura, Timothy Leary, Flaco Jiménez and Max Baca, Robin Christenson, Richard Kostelanetz, Hodges Brothers, Jean Redpath, Segundo Castro, N. Roy Clifton, Johnny Otis and His Orchestra, The Charles Ford Band, Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, Cimarrón, Isidro López, The Tex-i-an Boys, Cliff Haslam, Norman Blake and Rich O'Brien, Tommy Scott and Curley Seckler, Tony De La Rosa, Jean Eichelberger Ivey, Howard Bursen, Nathan "Prince" Nazaroff, José "El Patrullero" Moreno, Weldon "Juke Boy" Bonner, Edmundite Novices, Conjunto Alma de Apatzingan, Ossie Davis, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Amiram Rigai, Hillel Raveh, Ophie and Da Websites and Bo Hog and Da Rooters, Sleepy John Estes, Lil' Son Jackson, The Hopkins Brothers, Los Pingüinos del Norte, Preston Frank, Smokey Joe Miller and the Georgia Pals, Periwinkle, Dewey Balfa and Tracy Schwarz, Luz Morales, Conjunto Bernal, Tony Schwartz, Fernando Ribeiro, Gianni Safred, Rahim Alhaj, Stewart Robb, David Nzomo, Claire Luce, Milton Feher, J.D. Robb, Doc Tate Nevaquaya, Joe Falcon, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Dan Milner and Guest Artists, Raasche and Alan Mills, Michael Doucet and Danny Poullard and Alan Senauke, Marcus, Bill Bonyun, John Semien, Foday Musa Suso, Reginald Foort, The Colonial Band of Boston, Los Donneños, Trudie Richman, Craig Kupka, Juan Reynoso, Toni Brown, Billie and DeDe Pierce, Helen Gene Purdy, Karl Kubat, Joe Sullivan, Tom Parrott, Big Joe Williams and Short Stuff Macon, Henry Townsend, Audrey Coppard, Arbee Stidham, Ed Miller, Entourage Music and Theatre Ensemble, Chinin De Triana, Rory and Alex McEwen, Gene Bluestein, Aleksander Tytus Kulisiewicz, Madhumalati and Sneha Dhopeshwarkar, Rolando Alarcón, Valentina Félix, Theodore Roethke, Katie Webster, Los Gauchos de Roldán, Pedro Pietri, Elliot Family, Thomas McFarland, Malcolm Goldstein, Henry Lacroix, Aubrey Ghent and Friends, Dick Cameron, Our Native Daughters (Rhiannon Giddens, MacArthur Genuis,  Allison Russell, Leyla McCalla and Amythyst Kiah), Barton A. Smith, Kim Loy Wong, Jared Reed, Black Ace, Rick and Lorraine Lee, The Badakhshan Ensemble, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger with Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon, Robert Shaw, Henry Cowell, Santiago Jiménez Jr., Grupo Mono Blanco, John Sommers, La Sardina de Naiguatá, Big Mama Thornton, Leonid Hambro, Don Santiago Jimenez Sr., Nadi Qamar, The Folksmiths, Sagegrass, Ben Tavera King, Chris Kalogerson Ensemble, Sara Cleveland, Elizabeth Knight, Smoky Babe and Herman E. Johnson, Bernard Barshay, Jeff Ampolsk, Boua Xou Mua, Gérard Dôle and Marie-Paule Vadunthun, Karen James and Isabelita Alonso, Guela Gill, Amália Rodrigues, Pedro J. González and Los Madrugadores, Jazz Gillum, Tommy Scott, Trio Aguilillas, Harry T. Moore, Mance Lipscomb, Frank Proffitt, The Lee Boys, George Coleman, Ruth Welcome and Dick Marta and Wiener Konzerschram, Half and Half, Iron Mountain String Band, Michael Cooney, Aziz Herawi, Horace Sprott, Bob Everhart, David Hausdorff, Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry, David Johnson, Sandra Roldan, Cousin Emmy with The New Lost City Ramblers, Peter La Farge, Virginia Mountain Boys, Aimé Gagné, Pedro Ayala, Orquesta Aragón, Banda Salvatierra, Horton Barker, Moving Star Hall Singers, Jaap Kunst, Barbara Dane, Koishimaru Izutsuya, Lemon Nash, Abe Shũfũ I and Abe Shũfu II and Hal Gold, Armand and Louise Bégué and Pierre Capritz, Pepe y Flora, Woody Guthrie and Will Geer, C.J. Chenier, Margaret MacArthur, Stephen Addiss and Bill Crofut, Jean Ritchie, Michael Hurley, Mark Lane, Henry Hamilton, Samuel Charters, Addison M. Metcalf, The Young Composers Forum, Members of Columbia University, Guillermo Velázquez y Los Leones de la Sierra, Rocco Allegrezza-Ruggiero, Academy of Maqam, Hyman Bress, Wallace House, Rupert Clemendore and John Buddy Williams, Arcangelo Calobrisi, Gilbert Mack, Mike Russo, The Poplin Family, George Abdo, Spokane Falls Brass Band, Mark B. McKinley, Houston Peterson, Toshi Reagon, The Allen Brothers, Reverend Gary Davis, Old Grey Goose, Red Star Singers, Alhaji Bai Konte and Dembo Konte and Ma Lamini Jobate, Shimon Ash, Liz Getz, Vivienne Stenson, Gil Slote and the Children of New York P.S. 63, Bill Staines, Sonny Terry, Dick Lourie and Howie Tarnower, Maria Sabína, Arthur F. Schrader, Uncle Dave Macon, Northern Illinois University Chinese Orchestra, Sonam Dorji, Billy Mayerl, Josh Bogin, Henry Miller, Wallace Sife, Grand Curucaye String Orchestra of Trinidad, Pawlo Humeniuk, The Singing Kettle, Chick Webb and His Orchestra with Ella Fitzgerald, Will Geer and Dick Wingfield, Pete Steele, Jacques Labrecque, Yasuda Shinpu, Jim Nollman, Barton McLean and Priscilla McLean, Suni Paz, Seamus and Manus McGuire, Ellen Stekert, Lawrence "Black" Ardoin, Robert Pritchard, Los Reyes de Albuquerque con Los Violines de Loren, The X-Seamen's Institute, Marguerite Oswald, Piano Red, Esso Steel Band of Bermuda, Bunny Berigan and Jack Teagarden, Kevin Burke, Alfred Fuller, Ilhan Mimaroglu, John Beecher, Kovriga Balalaika Orchestra, Tony Trischka, Royal Marines and the Black Watch, Sarah Barchas, Bob Kirkpatrick, Paul Gwynne Phillips, Chris Kando Iijima and Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto and "Charlie" Chin, Edith Hillman Boxill, The Candy Band, Big Bill Broonzy, Philip Sidney Gross, John Allison, Jerry Silverman, Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman, Cliff Halsam and John Millar, Gandrung Ensemble from Banyuwangi, Jorge Juan Rodríguez, Grupo Moncada, Pierre Berton, Jill Gallina, Jay Robinson with Martin Donegan, Strange Creek Singers, Art Thieme, Tony "Little Sun" Glover, Archie Fisher, Moiseyev Dance Company and Beryozka Folk Dancers, Andrew Rowan Summers, Grant Rogers and Robert Gregory, The American Brass Quintet, Cullen Galyean and Bobby Harrison, Clark Jones, Alec Guinness, Margalit Ankory and the Feenjon Group, Alice Stuart, Erika and Elsa Vopel, Yulya, The Invaders, Lizzie Miles, Ed and Dana McCurdy, Eric W. Bauer, Andrew Gunsberg, Mahalia Jackson, Isshi Yamada, Roscoe Holcomb, Tony and Irene Saletan, Gale Huntington, Jerry Rasmussen, Smiley Winters, Hillel Ilka Raveh, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Family, Afif Alvarez Bulos, Abraham and Betty Lass, David Cort, William Loughborough, Louis Armstrong and Tyree Glenn and Tommy Gwaltney, Los Campesinos de Michoacan, Dick Lourie and Jed, Grupo Naidy, Sarah Webster Fabio, Benitez-Valencia Trio, Doug and Deb, Sonia Malkine, Virginia Maynard, Pat Webb, José-Luis Orozco, Yugoslav National Folk Ballet, Shegundo Galarza, Brian Mackness, Big Joe Duskin, Baby Dodds, Angela Davis, Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick and Pete Seeger and Jeanne Humphries, Trebor Jay Tichenor, Tom Glazer, Olle Skold, Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, Helen Bonchek Schneyer, Marjorie Mazia (Guthrie), Frank Quinn, Andy Cahan and Laura Fishleder and Lisa Ornstein, Maya y Cantú, Donald Thibodeaux and Cajun Fever, Gayathri Rajapur Kassebaum, Tom Goux and Jacek Sulanowski, Lori Holland, Ivory Coast National Company, Jelly Roll Morton, Ivan Annan, Moiseyev Dance Ensemble, Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, Fred McDowell, Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Tony Ku, Domenico Zullo and Emilio Prados, Trinidad Panharmonic Orchestra, Fred Gee, Buell Kazee, Rakhel Hadass, Sonny Boy Williamson, Per Nørgård, Max Dunbar, Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company, Ray Fisher, Herta Marshall, University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio, Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson, Red Allen and Frank Wakefield, Tony Wales, Harold S. Ludlow, Periklis Halkias, Ivan Cuesta y sus Baltimore Vallenatos, Zina and Georgi, The Song Swappers, The DeBusk-Weaver Family, Howard Frye, Sandy and Caroline Paton, Loman Cansler, Compagnie Nationale de Danses Françaises with Jacques Douai, Steve Jordan, Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights, Kinski, Abraham Harold Lass, Los Pleneros de la 21, Peggy Seeger, Los Hermanos Abalos, Ben E. King, Alim and Fargana Qasimov, Jantina Noorman, Milton Rettenberg, The Pennywhistlers, Stanley G. Triggs, George Mgrdichian, Moses Hadas, Tom Byrne and Tom McCaffrey, René Marino Rivero, Betty Garland, Pine Leaf Boys, Roy L. Hill, Liz Sarian, Mariachi Los Camperos, Coco Kallis, Charles W. Dunn, Dewey And Tony Balfa, And Tracy And Peter Schwarz, David Cope, Lead Belly, Johnny Young, John S. Martin, John Jackson, Nancy Dupree, The Chambers Brothers, Dave Van Ronk, Ruth Rubin and Pete Seeger, The Creole Belles, George Hicks, Loafers' Glory, Bee Houston and His High Steppers, East New York Ensemble de Music, Ben Lucien Burman and Eddy Manson, Fernanda Maria, Robert Martinez, Lawrence Ardoin, Elder Charles D. Beck, Adolf Stark and Aino Karelia, Richard Carlin, Raimon, James P. Johnson, L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson, Lucinda Williams, Larry O'Williams, Tiroro, Fritz Liechti, Allie Windwick and Hugh Inkster, Richard Fontenot, Pham Duy, Richard Brandon Morris and David Kurlan, Big Bill Broonzy and  Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Dorothy Sara, Mighty Sparrow, Indian Bottom Association, Grupo Cimarrón, Walter Ferguson Gavitt, Richard Waring, Magnolia Sisters (Ann Savoy and Jane Vidrine), Helen Schneyer, Kenneth Peacock, Orlando "Puntilla" Rios Y El Conjunto Todo Rumbero, El Ciego Melquiades, Cantor Joseph Kanefsky, Carlos Montoya, Chip Taylor and The Grandkids, Max Parker, Charity Bailey, St. John's Russian Orthodox Choir, The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover, New Orchestral Society of Boston, Rose Maddox, Kathy Fire, Ginni Clemmens, Chris Thomas, Norman Riley, Stephen C. Cheng, Frantz Casséus and Lolita Cuevas, Don Edwards, Hobart Smith, Ruby Dee, Roger Sprung, Old Harp Singers of Eastern Tennessee, Branko Krsmanovich Chorus of Yugoslavia, The Choir of the Bella Vista Children's Home, Moshe Sephula, Clarence Ashley and Tex Isley, Hermes Nye, Hackberry Ramblers, Armand Bégué and Arthur Simon, Princess Nowedonah, Dikmen Gürün, Dorothy Mesney, Warner Williams with Jay Summerour, Mariachi Coculense de Cirilo Marmolejo, Bill Shute and Lisa Null, Jamake Highwater, Barton Smith, Bert Williams, Chatuye, Shirley Collins, Jim Smoak and The Louisiana Honeydrippers, Al Capp, Shaakeh S. Agajanian, Stuart M. Frank, George Abbe, Tony DeMarco, Steve Benbow, Dom Cortese and Company, Lucy Stewart, Ella Jenkins, Gil Slote, Roger Welsch, Abraham Sutzkever, Conan Family, Alan Maralung with Peter Manaberu, Myles Jackson, Bryce Bond, Dr. and Mrs. Mario Pei, Irene Dailey and the Actors Company, Dave Alexander, Campbell Brothers Featuring Katie Jackson, Mary Lou Williams, Sam McGee, The Missionary Quintet, Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin with Canray Fontenot, Mieczyslaw Kolinski and Lois Wann, Beausoleil with Michael Doucet, Luiz Bonfá, Zina Pavlova and Sasha Polinoff, Nani Wolfgramm and the Islanders, Dorothy Washington, Esma Redzepova and Usnija Jasarova, Laurie Anderson and Tenzin Choegyal and Jesse Paris Smith, Mark Cohen, Emile de Antonio and Mary Lampson and and Haskell Wexler, Memphis Slim, Aaron Kurtz, Hillel and Aviva, Perry Bradford, Bill Neely, Sorrel Hays, Ustad Mohammad Omar, Mike Seeger, Sam Eskin, Old Reliable String Band, Lito Peña, Vera Hall and Dock Reed, Isaiah Sheffer, Eric and Suzy Thompson, Nathan Abshire and The Pine Grove Boys, Juke Boy Bonner, Homayun Sakhi, Alasdair Clayre, Royal Highland Regiment, Norman Rosten, Frank Hamilton, Cisco Houston, Elizabeth Mitchell and Suni Paz, Emile Barnes, The University Players, Marie Hare, Fred Gerlach, Piute Pete, Coimbra University Chorus, Kauriga Balalaika Ensemble, Wylie and the Wild West, Lester G. Crocker, Jim Douglas, Eugene Jemison, South Jersey Band, Bok and Muir and Trickett, Gérard Dôle and his Backdoor Cajuns, J.C. Burris, Rufus Crisp, Hariprasad-Zakir Hussain, Franzpeter Goebels, Betsy Hoffman, Wolfgang Roth, David Kusevitsky, Guitar Slim and Jelly Belly, Larry Kaplan, Blind Willie Johnson, Stephen Wade, Dewey Balfa, Yehezkel Hai El-Beg, Fabre Duroseau, Jonathan Eberhart, Groupe Mi-O, Facundo Gonzáles, Fleming Brown, Rich O'Brien, Norman Kennedy, Julie Haydon Nathan, Fisk Jubilee Singers, Roger Matura and the Niss Puk Band, Augusta Baker, Lord Melody, Margalit Oved, Deirdre Ní Fhlionn, Chelo Silva, Tom Kines, Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, Soraya Melik, Anna and Elizabeth, Uncle John Patterson, Raymond Swing, Campbell Brothers, Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn, Michael Gorman and Willy Clancy, Ola Belle Reed, Flaco Jiménez, The New Lost City Bang Boys / The New Lost City Rmablers, Harry Fleetwood, Peter Hurd, Victoria Spivey, Alan Mills, Charles Olson, Roberta Goldstein, Frank Corrales and Ben Tavera King and The Los Folkeros Group, Milt Commons, Expresión Joven, Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon, Tom Wisner and Teresa Whitaker, Abraham Brun, Fox Watson and Laurie Diehl, Chris Thomas King, Joseph Lamb, Tzabar Group, Nikki Giovanni, Barry Hall, Edgar Kendricks, Wade Hemsworth, Larry Long, The Brothers Nazaroff, José Gutiérrez and Los Hermanos Ochoa, Serenata Guayanesa, Getta Petry, Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho, George E. Caraker, Emile De Antonio, Cuarteto Coculense, Gary Green, Adelaide Van Wey, Sammy Rimington, Narciso Martínez, Clifton Chenier, Ruth Golden, Bob Ross, Ruth Rubin, Swami Vidy¯ananda, Los Texmaniacs, Alfred Montmarquette, Antonio Tormo, Sonny Simmons, Gordon Tanner and John Patterson and Smokey Joe Tanner, Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers, Mariachi Los Gavilanes de Oakland, Gustav Berger, Los Reyes de Albuquerque, Tracy Schwarz, Isaiah Sheffer and Eric Bentley, Bruce Hutton, Johnny Moses, Los Pingüinos del Norte and Fred Zimmerle's Trio San Antonio, Marius C. Barbeau, Los Camperos de Valles, Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley, Faustino González Rivera and Silverio Pastelín Navarro, Harley Allen, Lola Kiepja, Mario A. Pei, Michael Doucet, Ed McCurdy, Los Polkeros de Ben Tavera King, Theatre A La Carte Co., Canray Fontenot, Joseph Allard, Shashmaqam, Clark Kessinger, Harry Choates, Celeste Rodrigues and Manuel Fernandes, Wilmoth Houdini, Rumel Fuentes, Armstrong Twins, John Littlejohn, The Eureka Brass Band, Bob Arbuckle and Verner Mikkelson and N. Roy Clifton, Viento De Agua, Ray Hicks, Rosalie Sorrels, Claire Luce and Julie Haydon Nathan, Maria Marques and Manuel Fernandes, Jean-Marie and Lise Verret, Mieczyslaw Kolinski, Men of No Property, Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock, Gérard Dôle, Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers, The Boston Chorale, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Big Joe Williams, The Old Sturbridge Singers, Elizabeth Mitchell, Alben W. Barkley, Theodor Herzl Gaster, Ludwig Olshansky, Dave Fredrickson, Joseph Spence and John Roberts and Frederick McQueen, Linda Goss, Harry Wass, Peyton Hopkins, Juanita Johnson and the Gospel Tones, Bill McAdoo and Pete Seeger, The Maddox Brothers and Rose, Roosevelt Sykes, Michael Cheshire (Reginald Foort), Elie Siegmeister, Los Tres Reyes, Aunt Molly Jackson and John Greenway, Ellie Mao, Bob Zentz, Merritt Herring, Kamalesh Maitra, Isabel Abrams and Roxana Alsberg, Big Maceo Merriweather, Robert Paul Sonkowsky, Margaret Mead, Paul A. Mankin, The Caribbean Chorus Of McGill University And Sir George William's College, Zhenya Schevchenko, Michael Cohen, George Sawaya Trio, Dariush Dolat-Shahi, A.L. Phipps and the Phipps Family, John Roberts and Tony Barrand, The Gyuto Monks, Ediigwu, Juan Oñatibia, Olga Pavlova, Sunny Jain, Louis F. Simon, The Freeborne, Bernard Barshay and Henry Hamilton, Fedor I. Nikanov, Norman Studer, Jim Ringer, Louise Bennett, Mark Evarts, Sonny Terry and J.C. Burris and Sticks McGhee, Ho Chi Minh, Tommy Brown, Seona McDowell, Meredydd Evans, Anestos Athounasiou, Dom Flemons, The Wayland Consort Orchestra, Octavio Corvalan, Joaquín Díaz, Waddie Mitchell with Norman Blake and Don Edwards and Rich O'Brien, Michael Holmes, The Carter Family, K.C. Douglas, Alonzo Cruz, Edythe Baker and Other Women, Wallace "Cheese" Read, The Klezmorim, The Seldom Scene, Las Hermanas Mendoza, Ian Robb, Kenneth Anquoe, Child Development Group of Mississippi, Dock Boggs, Charity Bailey and Robert Emmett, Barbara Dane and Lightning Hopkins, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, George Bohachevsky, Melike Demirag, Beausoleil, Joseph McCarthy, The Voices Four, Curley Seckler and the Nashville Grass, Jack Moyles, Eddie Pennington, B.R. Deodhar, Whistling Alex Moore, Champion Jack Dupree, Feenjon Group and the El Avram Group, Vern and Ray with Herb Pedersen, John Jacob Niles, Leslie M. LeCron, Second Canaan Baptist Church Porter Singers, Ron Kane and Skip Gorman, W.E.B. DuBois, Dock Reed and Vera Hall Ward, Les Amis Creole, Ora Dreyer, The Entourage Music and Theater Ensemble, Logan English, Ousmane M'Baye, Kathleen Danson Read, Barbara Moncure, The Ritchie Family, Henriette and Elie Zmirou, Bill Hayes, Slim Critchlow, Sam Hinton, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dan Haugaard, John F.C. Richards, Howie Mitchell, Adolph Hofner, The Song Swappers and Pete Seeger, William Marshall, Derek Lamb, Glasgow Song Guild, Jost Ribary and Heiri Meier, Sonny Treadway, Israel Kaplan, Marcia Berman, Daddy Hotcakes, Kojo Fosu and Edwina Hunter, Malvina Reynolds, Riley Kelly Lee, P. Bruce, Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton, Lucy Simpson and Rock Creek and Mary Alice Alice Amidon and Peter Amidon, and Caroline Paton, Red Allen, The Gamelan Son of Lion, Khamis El Fino Ali, William Geib, Arnold Keith Storm, Tihang Gultom Group and Guru Tihang and leader, Hélène Baillargeon and Alan Mills, George and Gerry Armstrong, Amédé Ardoin, The Harvesters, Inle Myint Maung and Yi Yi Thant, Jerry Hahn and His Quintet, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, Tuly Sand, Golden Ring, Bertram Turetzky, Marc Savoy, Larry Penn, Nani Wolfgramm, John "Paul" Blackman, Bob Mielke's Bearcats, Tod Dockstader, The Grail Singers, Dewey Balfa and Marc Savoy and D.L. Menard, Beto Villa, Suzy Thompson, Jacques Henry Lévesque, Ludovic Baron and the Manhattanville Glee Club, David Sackson and Dwight Peltzer, Elder Roma Wilson, Paul Clayton, Omar Shariff, Piatnitsky Chorus and Orchestra, Hugh Moore, James MacColl, La India Canela, Jorje Daher, Gwen Ennis, Anthony G. Pilla, The Vern Williams Band, Roberto Martinez and Los Reyes de Albuquerque, UPA Fighters, Ecos de Borinquen, Elizabeth Cotten, Joe Glazer, Charlie Musselwhite, Vivien Richman, The Trio Attiko, Debbie Martinez, Wade Ward, Valerio Longoria, Arna Bontemps, Ed Badeaux, The Seeger Family, John Erlichman and H.R. Haldeman, Snuffy Jenkins, Mario Pei, Rev. Audrey Bronson and Becky Carlton, Flaco Jiménez and Tomás Ortiz, Tom and Mark Wisner, Sarah Ogan Gunning, Barton and Para and Paton, Edward "Sandy" Ives, Lutys de Luz Ensemble, Khevrisa, Joan Sprung, Cephas and Wiggins, J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers, Josh White, Phil Ochs, Bruce Buckley, The Paschall Brothers, Jesse Legé and Edward Poullard, Paul Konoplenko-Zaporozetz, Smoky Babe, Katie Lee, Ernestine Knippschild, Greta Keller, Jay Pelsia and Nathan Menard and the Musical Cajuns, The Brute Force Steel Band, Svetoslav Obretenov Bulgarian Choir, Melvin Stewart, Moiseyev Dance Company, Sterling Brown, Geula Gill, José Rodrigues Miguéis, Lydia Mendoza, Ivan Koukouzel Angeloglassny Ensemble, Sri Chinmoy, Lee Rabinowitz Steiner, Oscar Brand, L. M. Hilton, Joe Turner, Norman Thomas, Willie Sordill, Don Santiago Jiménez Sr., Bertolt Brecht, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, Chet Parker, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Ray Reed, Harley Allen and Mike Lilly, Pete Seeger and Ed Renehan, Cassiano Nunes, Peg Clancy Power, Paramount Singers, The Red Clay Ramblers with Fiddlin' Al McClanless, Walt Robertson, Rev. Pearly Brown, John Cage and David Tudor, Blind James Campbell, ReBirth Jazz Band, Gerry Axelrod, Cat-Iron, Del McCoury, Speckled Red, George Britton, Emilie George, Tom Morgan, Jon Appleton, Guy Carawan, Arthur Greenhall and Nicholas Collias, Pelle Joner, Furry Lewis, Earl Hooker, Earl Robinson, Bill Price and Blue Grass Hill, Kilby Snow, Stevie Barr with Friends, The Feenjon Group, Miriam Ben-Ezra, Karp Korolenko, Lula Wiles, The Foc'sle Singers, Bill McAdoo, Ernst Wolff, Conjunto Alma Jarocha, Paul Robeson, John Newmark, Skip Gorman, Charles Magnante and Laverne Smith, Austin Pitre, Ann McMillan, Armand Bégué, Kalama's Quartet, Latvian Folk Ensemble of New York, The Whitetop Mountain Band, Liane, Maksim Shtraukh, Yuen Ren Chao, Jean Shepherd, Sir Edmund Hillary, Harold Courlander, The Doc Watson Family, Jean Ritchie and Oscar Brand and David Sear, Lord Invader, Rafael Manríquez and Friends, Lorenzo Martínez, Joaquin Lopez, John Lomax Jr., Bob and Evelyne Beers, The Golden Eagle String Band, Michel LaRue, Brian Marshall and His Tex-Slavik Playboys, Brian Conway, Karen James, Armand Bégué and Louise Bégué, Pete Seeger, Norman and Nancy Blake and Boys of the Lough and James and Rachel Bryan , Walden String Quartet (Urbana, Illinois), Sam Brothers 5, Kendall Morse, Barbu Lautaru Orchestra, Ewan MacColl, Linda Arnold, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and and Coyal McMahan, Sawaya Quartet and Chorus, Las Hermanas Segovia, Nathaniel A. Entin, Kid Thomas, Frank Bode with Tommy Jarrell and Paul Brown, Kid Clayton, Gerry Axelrod and Robert Macklin, Jesse Fuller, Jean Carignan, Howard Armstrong, Los Cenzontles, The Country Gentlemen, Smokey Joe Miller, Khigh Dhiegh, Paul Geremia, Gordon Bok, Ustad K. T. Kahn, Rube Bloom and Arthur Schutt, Vaclav Nelhybel, Rubén López, Mario Quiroz and Oscar Chávez Carlos Jaso, David and Bill and Billie Ray Johnson, Margaret Walker, The Scot Guards, Pandit Lalmani Misra, Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor, Max Ferguson, Dillard Chandler, Sasha Polinoff, Sonia Sanchez, Doc Paulin's Marching Band, Mario Escudero, Nicolás Guillén, Bill Monroe and Doc Watson, Richard Dyer-Bennet, The Dust Busters with John Cohen, Wade Frugé, Michael Doucet dit BeauSoleil, The McGee Brothers and Arthur Smith, Pete and Mike Seeger, Paul Van Arsdale, Antonio Salemme, John Delafose, Robert Pete Williams, Gordon Bok et. al., Little Brother Montgomery, Langston Hughes, Victor L. Kaplan, Sophie Tucker and Ted Lewis, Mickey Hart and Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Ron Turner, Lo Kung Yuan, Magpie, David and Billie Ray Johnson, James A. Farley, Alash, Quetzal, Frank Schildt, Entourage Music and Theater Ensemble, Shumar Khan Langa and  Alladin Langa and Noor Mohmad Langa, The Wagoners, Suzy Sann, New Golden Ring, Marian Seldes, The McIntosh County Shouters, Roger Sprung and Hal Wylie and the Progressive Bluegrassers, Lonnie Johnson, Joe Hickerson, Los Pavos Reales, Bach Aria Group, Norman and Nancy Blake, Shanna Beth McGee, The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Frank Glazer, Bolek Zawadzki, J.D. Short and Son House, Art Samuels and the Montréal Youth Singers, Tom Sullivan, Jim Albertson, Eric House, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Hank Ferguson, Ramayan Sewak Sang Of Trinidad: B.O. Girwar, Soviet Army Chorus and Band, Guru Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Ensemble Hilka, The Seeger Sisters, The New Lost City Ramblers, Marian Anderson, Huey P. Newton, Jacques Henry Levesque, Lowell Fulson, Neil A. Duddy, Armand and Louise Bégué, Pete Seeger and Frank Hamilton, Abdullah Kershi and Ahmed Sherif, Shirley Jackson, Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise, The Savoy Family Band, Bhungar Khan, Tyrone Guthrie, Los Montañeses del Alamo, Sis Cunningham, David A. Jasen, Charles Compo, Sammy Walker, Doris Jones, Fred Zimmerle's Trio San Antonio, Ken Perlman, David Laing, Niño de Alicante, Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route, Johnie Lewis, The Six and Seven-Eights String Band of New Orleans, Lorenzo Martínez con Los Reyes de Albuquerque, Zez Confrey, Mercy Dee, Sonny Simmons Trio, Lawrence Older, Mieczyslaw Kolinski and the Pro Arte Trio, Richard Hagopian, George Davis, Frantz Casséus, Doc Evans, Dan Milner and David Coffin and Jeff Davis, Charley Straight, The La Drivers Union Por Por Group, Lorenzo Martínez y Los Reyes de Albuquerque, Pink Anderson, Miriam Dvorin, Richard Chase, The Hodges Brothers, Andreyev Balalaika Ensemble, Bilal Abdurahman, Louis Killen, Stan Hugill and the X Seamen's Institute, John Ciardi, Henry Brown and Edith Johnson, Chago Rodrigo, Duke Ellington, Charlie Brown, Son de Madera, Margaret Christl and Ian Robb, David Kurlan, Labor Theater (New York City), Choir of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Paris, Barry O'Brien, Armenian National Choral Society of Boston, Rev. Louis Overstreet, Mark Spoelstra, William O. Douglas, Cathy Barton and Dave Para, Mark Olf, Mickey Miller, Doug and Jack Wallin, Ed Trickett, McCamy's Melody Sheiks, Ann Charters, John Kimmel, Rich Amerson, Bud Reed, James Carr, Jimmy Collier and Frederick Douglass, Rose Maddox with the Vern Williams Band, Chaim Ostrowsky, Vladimir Markov, Blue Sky Boys, Bernard Sanders, The New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, Artus Moser, Martina and Maria Eugenia Diaz, Tom McFarland, Martha Bixler and Eric Leber, Sholem Asch (Moe's dad), André Charles, Sons of the San Joaquin, Catalina Levinton, Tracy and Eloise Schwarz, Hugh Porter, Original Memphis Five, Dorothy Mesney and Myron McPherson, Armenian Song and Dance Ensemble, Kaia Kater, Martha Schlamme, Shakespeare for Students Company, Serious Bizness, Junkanoo Band, Morris Schreiber, Dr. Ross, Mario A. Pei and I. Nikanov and Countess Buxhoeveden, Agustín Lira and Alma, Aaron Kramer, The Russian Orthodox Cathedral Choir of Paris, A. (Aleksandr) Demidov, Lightnin' Hopkins, O.J. Abbott, The Treme Brass Band, Yvonne Cheek Johnson and Betty Mosley and Joella Mosley, Lionel Hampton, Lucie de Vienne Blanc and Henri Barras, Marimba Chapinlandia, Edwin Randall, Los Caimanes and Los Caporales de Panuco, Swift Eagle, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Joseph Spence, Los Alegres de Terán, Henri Vasson, Paul Zukofsky and Gilbert Kalish, Kenneth Patchen, Freddy Fender, Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward, Hélène Baillargeon, Will Geer and Ellen Geer, S. R. (Shiyali Ramamrita) Ranganathan, Studs Terkel and Big Bill Broonzy and Pete Seeger, Hazel P. Brown, Morrigan, No Speed Limit, Boarding Party, Los Hermanos Lovo, Robert M. Hutchins, Hank Davis, John Vartan, Buck Ramsey, Brownie McGhee, Samuel Sorin, Horace Johnson, Inger Nielsen, Margalit Ankory, June Lazare, Cindy Kallet, Kronos Quartet with Alim and Fargana Qasimov and Homayun Sakhi, Lucien Stryk, Eddy Manson, Balakrishna of Travancore, Ritchie Calder, John Greenway, Bukka White, Rahim Alhaj with Souhail KasparRahim Alhaj, Raasche, The Bergerfolk, Ensemble Aux Calebasses, Cha Cha Shaw,Pete Seeger and Group and Ernst Busch and Chorus, Margaret Chase Smith, Gabriel Labbé and Philippe Bruneau, Airto Moreira, Allen Ginsberg, Max Kortlander, Eric Bentley, Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy, Hermanos Herrera, Alhaji Garba Leao, Arpex, Grant Rogers, Bob Connelly, and Mikis Theodorakis.

[To return to the top of the list, click here.]

As for the list of titles ...

Well, perhaps we've already gone a bit overboard.  So for now we'll just end up by recounting Moe's first conversation with Woody Guthrie when Woody walked into the studio.

"I'm Woody Guthrie," he announced.

"So?" asked Moe.

Sometimes Moe could be a bit grumpy.

References and Further Reading

Folkways Records: Moses Asch and His Encyclopedia of Sound, Tony Olmsted, Routledge, 2013.

Making People's Music: Moses Asch and Folkways Records, Peter Goldsmith, Smithsonian, 1998.

"Jews and Jazz: Improvising Ethnicity", Charles B Hersch, Taylor and Francis, 2017.

"Asch, Moe", Colin Larkin, The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Omnibus Press, 2007, 2011.

"Smithsonian Folkways: 70 Years of Peerless Sounds", Harley Brown, Billboard, August 27, 2018.

"Moses Asch Interview - 1981", Chris Strachwitz, Arhoolie Foundation.

Moe Asch, Tight of Fist but Savior of Folk Music", Ha-Aretz, David Green, October 18, 2015.

Woody Guthrie: A Life, Joe Klein, Knopf, 1980.

"Woody Guthrie's Modern World Blues", Will Kaufman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2017.

The Life And Legend Of Leadbelly, Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, Da Capo, 1999.

Sound Recording for Films - The History and Development of Sound Recording, Arthur Pereira, Read Books Ltd., 2011.

"Mass Producing Records", Engineering Technology History.

"History of the Record Industry, 1920 - 1950's", Medium, 2014.

"Sound from Substance; Acoustic Design Reconsidered", R.J. Wakeman, The Antique Phonograph Society, March 16, 2016.

"Vacuum Tubes: The World Before Transistors", Michael Alba, engineering.com, January 19, 2018.

Asch Records, discogs.

Folkways Records, discogs.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

"Grammy Nod to Folkways' Pete Seeger Collection Is a Fitting Tribute", Alicia Ault, Smithsonian Magazine, February 13, 2020.