Folk music

For his first album of non-original work, Bruce Springsteen recorded a loving, joyous homage to Pete Seeger, including a wild take on one of the country’s most familiar songs.

A little song that started an earthquake, this 1960 gem carried the seeds of reggae and ska music, and gave wider audience to a fledgling religious movement called Rastafarianism.

He’s been the ultimate collaborator in New Orleans’s emerging country music scene. Now, with a brand new solo album, Sam Doores steps out on his own.

Singers, songwriters, activists, and prosthelytizers of the concept of slowing down, the extraordinary group Rising Appalachia has created a new concept of what a touring band can mean to the communities they travel through.

Headed up by multi-talented singer-songwriter Cindy Emch, The Secret Emchy Society has quickly become a cornerstone band of a burgeoning music scene that’s putting marginalized voices at the forefront of an often marginalizing music scene.

Leyla McCalla is building her music by fusing everything from Haitian folk music to New Orleans jazz to the poetry of Langston Hughes. Read more from my interview with her here.

Dom Flemons is charting a daring path through America’s musical landscape. I interviewed him for Waxwing Literary Journal. Read all about it here.