On this Special Event Broadcast of WoodSongs, we’re honoring one of the most important legacy’s in all of recorded music… Smithsonian Folkways in celebration of their 70th anniversary.
As Michael Johnathon notes, “Smithsonian Folkways is the musical treasure box of America's roots music. It is Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly and Big Bill Broonzy. It's what WoodSongs aspires to be. Our show was even based on Pete's old TV series Rainbow Quest. It's like WoodSongs is coming full circle as we present the great work of Smithsonian Folkways to a worldwide audience.”
Appearing on the broadcast will be three incredible Folkways artists that continue the tradition that Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document the "people's music”, carry forward. Artists appearing on the broadcast include: Dom Flemons co-founding member of the GRAMMY-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, Grenadian-Canadian songwriter and tradition bearer Kaia Kater and Iraqi-American oud player Rahim AlHaj. Folkways’ Huib Schippers, (Curator and Director) and Jeff Place (Curator and Senior Archivist) will join Michael to share the label’s mission, story and cultural heritage with WoodSongs’ global audience.
WoodSongs Kid: Mya Hunt is a thirteen-year-old vocalist from the Appalachian community in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky.
