Southern Folklife Collection

Terry Teachout’s biography restores Louis Armstrong to his deserved place in the pantheon of American artists.

Folklorist Archie Green with musician Dorsey Dixon and an unidentified horse, East Rockingham, North Carolina, 1962. Green was recording Dixon’s Babies in the Mill album at the time.

Going Down to Raleigh: Stringband Music in the North CarolinaPiedmont 1976-1998 is a two-disc anthology that presents field recordings of stringband music from the central Piedmont of North Carolina. The ...

This is a multi-format collection of materials from the Goldband Recording Corporation Records at the Southern Folklife Collection, Manuscripts Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ...

Congratulations to West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd, who today marks his 20,774th day in office, making him the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. To fully appreciate how long Byrd ...

If your car has trouble or you lose your way There is a repeated performance each hour of the day Should you prefer a tune that you hold number one As long as it's country they will give it a run --from "Tribute to Sunset," by Harold Webster

Hillbilly Music brings together stories, sounds and images of country folk music as it developed from oral tradition to recorded style in the 1920s. Choose your tour:

Nonesuch Records is set to release the label debut of North Carolina–based string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops on February 23. Produced by critically acclaimed recording artist and songwriter Joe ...

This Saturday Wilson Library will be remembering folklorist and union activist Archie Green with a day-long symposium and concert event. “Work’s Many Voices: A Memorial Symposium in Honor of ...

Contrary to popular belief, the roots of American country music do not lie solely on southern farms or in mountain hollows. Rather, much of this music recorded before World War II emerged from the bustling cities and towns of the Piedmont South. ...

In 1924, the North Carolina piedmont town of Union Grove held a fiddle competition to raise money for its school. Six bands competed. The organizer of this modest festival, H.P. Van Hoy, a teacher at the ...

During World War II, the U.S. military and American record companies collaborated to produce a series of records for the “V-Disc” program, a morale-boosting effort designed to provide troops overseas with access to exclusive new music. ...