Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-05-16
Photo: Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will reissue the foundational album Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings on vinyl for the first time as a double LP on June 12.
Since its 2003 release, this 26-track collection has been one of Folkways’ best-selling CDs, spanning songs recorded over a half-century, from 1942 to 1992. The album surveys the blues genre across styles, regions, and labels within the Smithsonian Folkways family. It also serves to highlight the formative role Moses Asch and his Folkways label played in making blues music more accessible, going back to Asch’s first recording of Lead Belly in 1941.
The success of the film Sinners has ignited a wave of interest in authentic blues music. As with the film, this compilation showcases the power of blues music as an original American art form, apart from its influence on later popular music.
Hear/share Son House’s “County Farm Blues”
Hear/share Josh White’s “Careless Love”
Key artists on the collection include Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and International Folk Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Lead Belly, of Shreveport, Louisiana; Texas guitarist and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Lightnin’ Hopkins; Mississippi Delta slide guitarist/vocalist and early Newport Folk Fest performer Son House, whose songs have been interpreted by The White Stripes, Derek Trucks Band, The Grateful Dead, and The Tallest Man on Earth; longtime Piedmont blues duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, early Newport Folk Fest favorites and subjects of a 2023 Grammy-winning album-length tribute by Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder; and Piedmont gospel-blues artist Reverend Gary Davis, a key influence on the East Coast folk revival who appeared at Newport Folk Fest.
The collection also features Grammy nominee Big Bill Broonzy, one of the first bluesmen to tour England and a strong influence on the British Invasion; piano wizard Memphis Slim, whose “Every Day I Have The Blues” is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, accompanied by Chicago blues architect, composer, and bassist Willie Dixon; Piedmont blues singer, Civil Rights activist, actor, and International Folk Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Josh White; New Orleans guitar innovator Lonnie Johnson, who accompanied Louis Armstrong; Alabama’s Vera Hall, who hit the charts when Moby sampled her voice for his 1999 hit “Natural Blues”; multi-award-winning Piedmont fingerpicking guitar great Etta Baker; and many more.
The tracks assembled on Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings are significant for their irresistible musical appeal and cultural import. Big Bill Broonzy’s “Mule Ridin’ Blues” was recorded during a 1956 session with famed author and oral historian Studs Terkel, who can be heard laughing in the background. “County Farm Blues” by Son House is one of the few overt protest songs in the blues pantheon, recorded for Alan Lomax and John Work for the Library of Congress in 1942. Each artist’s and each song’s history are chronicled in the album’s liner notes.
The album is accompanied by extensive liner notes by Grammy-nominated scholar and writer Dr. Barry Lee Pearson and surveys various subgenres and regions of blues, including East Coast, St. Louis, Chicago, Mississippi, New Orleans, and Texas. The release chronicles the longstanding work that Smithsonian Folkways has done to preserve and disseminate traditional and roots musics, with its predecessor Folkways Records playing a huge role in influencing the folk revival, the British Invasion, and rock & roll.
This is the first vinyl LP reissue from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ Classic series of key recordings. The Classic series is an enjoyable introduction to the diverse repertoire of American music available from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Each explores the breadth and depth of a genre while the notes trace its significance within American musical heritage. The series has also produced compilations of bluegrass, folk, maritime, old-time, and mountain music.
Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is not to be confused with the unrelated 1993 box set entitled The Blues: A Smithsonian Collection Of Classic Blues Singers.
For blues enthusiasts, history lovers, and curious listeners, Smithsonian Folkways also offers lesson plans on its site related to blues music and culture.
Preorder/stream here.
Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Track Listing
Side A
Old Jabo – Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
Mule-Ridin' Blues – Big Bill Broonzy
Joggie Boogie – Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon
Black Woman – Vera Hall
Mercury Blues – K.C. Douglas
Ran the Blues Out of My Window – Roosevelt Sykes
Leaving Blues – Lead Belly
Side B
One Dime Blues – Etta Baker
County Farm Blues – Son House
Clog Dance (Stomping Blues) – Champion Jack Dupree
Boll Weevil – Pink Anderson
Nickel’s Worth of Liver – Edith North Johnson and Henry Brown
Don’t Leave Me Here – Big Joe Williams
Side C
Jimmy Bell – Cat Iron
Candy Man – Reverend Gary Davis
Beer Drinking Woman – Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon
Come Go Home with Me – Lightnin' Hopkins
Careless Love – Josh White
I Asked Her If She Loved Me – Henry Townsend
Side D
Rising Sun – Brownie McGhee
Pony Blues – David “Honeyboy” Edwards
Vicksburg Blues – Little Brother Montgomery
Vastapol – Elizabeth Cotten
Drifting Along Blues – Lonnie Johnson
Oh Baby, You Don’t Have To Go – The Chambers Brothers
Don’t Lie Buddy – Lead Belly and Josh White
