September, 2008 Newsletter Dear Supporter, The blues is a centerpiece genre of Smithsonian Folkways, from Moe Asch’s Lead Belly recordings in the 1940s to this July’s Richmond Blues by Cephas & Wiggins and more than 200 recordings in between. We’d like to say thanks to everyone who purchased Richmond Blues, as it placed 14th in the Billboard Blues Chart last month and was featured in the Wall Street Journal. This month, the From the Archives series focuses on the country blues genre, and you can save with special discounts on blues titles. In addition, listen to the new Sound Sessions program with special guest Joe Hickerson, check out a new Sounds of America playlist, "White House Blues: Music of the Political Process," and make sure to enter the second installment of Smithsonian Folkways trivia to win a free CD! Please read on for more details. Smithsonian Folkways is a nonprofit endeavor, and your purchases of CDs and DRM-free digital downloads sustain both the mission and the music. Liner notes of all recordings are available as a free download. Thank you for your support. From the Archives Feature: The Country Blues As Big Bill Broonzy told Studs Terkel on his radio program, "Well, a real blues, you don’t mix that with nothing. You just play the blues. Now a real blues, a Mississippi blues, you just change [chords] when you feel like it and you play what you feel." To Broonzy and other blues musicians, the country blues is a style born in the Mississippi Delta that laid the foundation for other, later, regional blues styles found across the USA. Click here to read and hear more. Smithsonian Folkways Essential Ten: Save on Select Blues Titles As a reward for subscribing to the newsletter, save 20% off the retail price on these ten essential blues albums during September. Enter code SeptBlues during checkout to save on these titles (discount applies to CD format only). Trouble in Mind (Big Bill Broonzy) Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing Furry Lewis Free and Equal Blues (Josh White) Honeyboy Edwards: Mississippi Delta Bluesman J.D. Short and Son House: Blues from the Mississippi Delta New Orleans Street Singer (Snooks Eaglin) Pete Seeger at the Village Gate with Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon Pure Religion and Bad Company (Reverend Gary Davis) Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1 On Sale: Blues Routes: Heroes and Tricksters This compilation of live blues performances in a variety of styles is just $9.99 on CD format and $5.99 as a digital download through September, 2008. Blues Routes features 17 tracks from a wide range of artists, including Cephas & Wiggins, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, Etta Baker, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and more. New Sound Sessions Episode: Joe Hickerson Joe Hickerson, folk singer, folklorist, archivist, and librarian, joins fellow archivist Jeff Place and host Sam Litzinger for an animated discussion of folk music collecting, the Library of Congress archives, and the story behind the song he co-wrote with Pete Seeger, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Download episodes of Sound Sessions in MP3 format or listen monthly Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. on WAMU 88.5 in Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Folkways Trivia! Each month we’ll ask a trivia question; email your answer with the subject "September Trivia" to smithsonianfolkways@si.edu by Monday, September 22nd, 2008, and a randomly selected entrant with the correct answer will win a free CD of his or her choice! September Question: What influential blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter once gave guitar lessons to Dave Van Ronk, Bob Weir, Jorma Kaukonen, and David Bromberg? Congratulations to last month’s winner Albert from Brooklyn, NY, who correctly answered "Lute" to this question: Featured on more than 25 Smithsonian Folkways recordings, the oud is a fretless, stringed instrument of Middle-Eastern origins most closely associated with what other stringed instrument? New And Notable Richmond Blues Cephas & Wiggins Nobel Voices for Disarmament: 1901–2001 Various Artists Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Various Artists Curator Picks Happy Woman Blues Lucinda Williams You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song Ella Jenkins The Steel Drums of Kim Loy Wong Kim Loy Wong News and Notes The new album in the Folkways Tradiciones/Traditions series, ¡Que Viva el Canto! Songs of Chile, by Rafael Manríquez and Friends, will be released September 23rd. Grammy-nominated oud master Rahim Alhaj, from When the Soul Is Settled: Music of Iraq, was featured on CNN last month. We remember Orlando "Puntilla" Rios (1947–2008), the Cuban percussionist and singer who led Conjunto Todo Rumbero on the Smithsonian Folkways album A Tribute to Gonzalo Asencio, Tío Tom released earlier this year. Subscribe to our News & Notes RSS feed to get updates as they happen. This October, Harper Collins will publish Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways, a new book written by Richard Carlin. Stay tuned for more information, including a special offer from Smithsonian Folkways. On MySpace? Visit the Smithsonian Folkways MySpace profile. The first ten comments on every blog become a "top friend"! If you would like to unsubscribe from future newsletters from Smithsonian Folkways and Smithsonian Global Sound, please click here to send us an unsubscribe email request, or send an email to listserv@si-listserv.si.edu with SIGNOFF FOLKWAYS or SIGNOFF GLOBALSOUND as the subject and body. If you are having trouble viewing this email, please click here to open this in your web browser. This email was sent by Smithsonian Folkways Email us at smithsonianfolkways@si.edu Web site: http://www.folkways.si.edu 600 Maryland Ave, SW, Suite 2001 Washington, DC 20024