When the Hudson got filthy, a man with a banjo got busy. And The Clearwater set sail.

Part folkie, part music scholar, Rhiannon Giddens is a walking American songbook.

Many songwriters write but only a handful embody the music, the life, the legend. Happy 100th, Hank!

“Gentle on My Mind” made him famous but John Hartford’s heart was always on the Mississippi.

From the trenches of Civil Rights to the concert stage, Bernice Johnson Reagon has sung the praises of black culture.

“Every audience was his,” Kris Kristofferson said, but no one knew Steve Goodman’s sad secret.

On a winter night, alone and adrift, he checked into a fleabag hotel and began a new song. This land is your land, this land is my land. . .

Mocked, belittled, stereotyped, the folks of Appalachia had never told their own story until the birth of Appalshop.

The festival was 50 years ago and 50 miles away, but Woodstock, New York keeps the spirit alive.

The songs came and went but Alan Lomax hunkered down and caught them — for all time and for all people.

Got the blues? Listen to its offspring and try not to smile. And hear six jug band tunes in “I Hear America Singing.”

A shrill song is stuck in our heads. Once it plays out, we should listen to the old tunes.

The guitar growls, moans, weeps.  A bass riff surrenders to a squeal of pain. . .

Elizabeth Cotten charmed audiences with her "Freight Train" and her unique picking.