Merchants &Marketing Obviously, our employees are experienced in the field of duplication. Folkways Marks 50 Years Of Documenting U.S. Music; Dirty Three Clean Up Sound C ELEBRATING A TREASURE: hele and Nalani Kanaka'ole. And the Some record labels are more than just SNCC Freedom Singers will amplify music -business entities -they are re- DECLARATIONS Folkways' commitment to social jus- positories and facilitators of cultural tice. history. Certainly one such label is **OF** Beyond its celebratory aspect, the Folkways Records, which will cele- Carnegie Hall concert will inaugurate brate its 50th anniversary with a May DDEPEMEN15H a campaign for a fund to preserve the 1 concert (about which we'll say more Folkways collection, for some of the label's archival materials is already in a moment) at Carnegie Hall in New by York. The label, which has been oper- Chris Morris beginning to deteriorate with age. ated by the Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Folkways wants to digi- since 1986, has had an impact on Amer- Van Ronk and the New Lost City tize the collection, both for mainte- ican life and music that few other im- Ramblers (whose members John nance purposes and for wider distrib- prints have had. Cohen and Mike Seeger made their ution in the digital age. The label is also Folkways was founded on May Day own important contributions as folk- seeking partners in its 50th- anniver- of 1948 -an appropriate date, consid- lorists /recordists). In all, Asch pro- sary celebration. For further informa- ering the label's ultimate role in the duced close to 2,200 albums for the tion, contact Amy Horowitz, assistant social consciousness of the nation -by label. Folkways also operated a reissue director of Smithsonian Folkways, at Moses Asch, the son of an immigrant imprint, RBF, which was among the 955 L'Enfant Plaza, Suite 7300, MRC John Holden .4SVC employee and former standout student. Yiddish writer. Asch approached re- first companies to bring vintage blues 953, Smithsonian Institution, Wash- cording with the sensibility of a docu- and country recordings back into print. ington, D.C. 20560. At American Sound & Video, we know our stuff. And mentarian: According to cultural his- Under the aegis of its new owner- because we've been in the media duplication business for over torian Robert Cantwell, Asch told ship, Smithsonian Folkways has re- FLAG WAVING: The Dirty Three's 30 years, we know the most important ways to win your trust: family friend Albert Einstein that he leased almost 200 CD titles, compris- "Ocean Songs," due March 31 from Personalized service, state -of-the -art technology, quick turnaround wanted to forge a company that would ing both classic reissues and newly Touch and Go Records in Chicago, pre- and reasonable prices. So call today for a quotation. "describe the human race, the sound it recorded music; the most celebrated of sents an unexpected new direction Of course, we'll even put it in writing. makes, what it creates." He had al- these was last year's justly acclaimed from the Australian -bred instrumen- ready cut an eclectic variety of musics six-CD reissue of Harry Smith's 1953 tal trio. AivERicAN for his Asch and Disc labels when he "Anthology Of American Folk Music," In the five years since violinist War- originated Folkways, which explored which belongs in every home in the ren Ellis, guitarist Mick Turner, and American and world music traditions country. In January, the label (which is drummer Jim White began playing to- SOW) &VIDEO within a broad sociopolitical context. distributed by Koch International) gether as the house entertainment in Repeat After Us. Asch's records were the most magi- issued "The High Lonesome Sound," a a Melbourne bar, the Dirty Three have cal of objects; we remember being priceless compilation of '50s and '60s developed a rhapsodic sound, which in Call 1- 800 -471 -0456 ext. 1006. struck, as a boy growing up in the '50s, recordings by Kentucky banjoist/vocal- the past has built to abrasive crescen- www.asvc.com by Folkways' unusual look and presen- ist Roscoe Holcomb, who was discov- (Continued on page 54) tation, so different from the standard ered by Cohen in 1959. pop sets of the day. The 12 -inch albums The Carnegie Hall anniversary show came in sturdy, heavy black -matte will bring together an assemblage of jackets with a wraparound illustration veteran and youthful talents reflecting that didn't completely cover the ebony the label's glittering legacy and diverse sleeve; inside was a weighty LI? a 12- repertoire. Such towering artists as PACIFIC COAST by-12 piece of protective cardboard, Seeger, the New Lost City Ramblers, and a sheaf of "descriptive notes" that and bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley exhaustively exposed the music's will represent the old guard, while secret life. Lucinda Williams (who began her And what music! Folkways was career with two Folkways albums), home for the music of Leadbelly (who Dar Williams, and Folkways' Toshi was recorded extensively by Asch dur- Reagon will demonstrate how the tra- ing the '40s), Woody Guthrie, and ditions heard in the label's early re- America's Low Price Leader Pete Seeger, to name just three of the cordings remain vital today. World mu- biggest talents in its stable. As the folk sic will be on view in the work of such COMPACT I:)IS(,S (D MAXI- LF' SETTES (;ASSE'.I'°I áSINGI.,E§ music revival burgeoned during the acts as Los Pleneros De La 21, a New & '50s -due in no small measure to York -based group specializing in Puer- SINGLES AIM )S MOVIE Asch's efforts-the label's roster was to Rican plena (the "sung newspaper "), ACCESSO ' TIES joined by such young talents as Dave and Hawaii's Pua Kanaka'ole Kana- (.ASSI`'` ñE
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BILLBOARD MARCH 7, 1998 51 www.americanradiohistory.com