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People’s Picks: Ira Kaplan (of Yo La Tengo)

People’s Picks: Ira Kaplan (of Yo La Tengo)
People’s Picks: Ira Kaplan (of Yo La Tengo) | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

I’ve been listening to Folkways for 60 years and counting. My earliest memory of records is Woody Guthrie’s Songs to Grow On, unless there’s one before that that I’ve forgotten. On this list is a title borrowed by Yo La Tengo, original versions of songs I first heard covered by pre- and post-punk bands, and a pork chop number that’s not the one that Michael (“Mike”) Hurley did that I only just learned is a Jim Jackson cover (found on The Harry Smith B-Sides, on a label not currently under discussion).