Fat Man & Little Boy’s new album The Atomic Duo has been in my CD stack for a while now; I enjoyed listening to it on a Thanksgiving trip, so that tells you. I wanted to share it with you in case you had not already read a review of it elsewhere. Although this is technically their first album together, I hesitate to call it a debut album because these two are not new to the music business….

Music historian Alan Lomax recorded folk musicians not only throughout the southeastern United States but also in various other countries. During the mid-1930s he made extensive recordings of musical performances in Haiti. The recordings….

The Larry Stephenson Band recently released a 20th Anniversary CD commemorating the band’s twenty years in business. Stephenson, a mandolinist and award-winning vocalist, has been a professional musician for over thirty years but his current band was formed in 1989. The numerous guest performers on the album include country artists Connie Smith, Marty Stuart and Ricky Skaggs and bluegrass musicians Del McCoury and Kristin Scott Benson.

Listening to sound clips, I immediately begin to imagine an old cabin floor with all the chairs pushed back, dancers twirling each other around and lots of laughter going on….

Smithsonian Folkways now offers the fourth blues album in their Classic series. The album includes music by Etta Baker, Lesley Riddle, Sticks McGhee, Pink Anderson and numerous other musicians. Check out the link for a free download of one of the songs.

Scheduled for release October 27, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family‘s new CD Go Waggaloo can be pre-ordered from Smithsonian Folkways. Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger are part of the extended-family-and-friends group. Three of the songs on the album consist of lyrics written by Woody Guthrie, only now put to music. The first hundred CDs will be autographed.

Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound, a documentary scheduled to air on the PBS American Masters series October 14, was shown at the Toronto Film Festival on September 18. The first U.S. showing will be October 9, at the Paley Center’s DocFest 2009 in New York. The film will be released on CD and DVD October 13 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon. Candid interviews with fellow musicians, including Bob Dylan, help round out the story of Baez’s life as a sociopolitical activist and folk musician. See her web site for a preview.

Folk music has frequently been associated with political action, whether in the interests of worker rights, world peace or environmental stewardship. Nearly four decades ago, a group of anti-nuclear activists held a concert in Vancouver to raise funds for a trip to Amchitka, Alaska in an attempt to prevent nuclear testing planned for that island. On stage were Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, whose careers were just beginning to take off, and Phil Ochs, a promising young performer who did not live out the next decade.

After all these years, Greenpeace has decided that it’s time to release the recordings of the concert. The organization announced earlier this week that a double-CD set will be available on November 10. The album will be exclusive to Greenpeace and the proceeds will support the work of the organization.

Well, I have to tell you, the latest web buzz (as far as folk music goes) is all about Bob Dylan’s Christmas album. First Rolling Stone reported late yesterday afternoon that sound clips were available on Amazon.uk. Then last night, people realized that the clips weren’t there any more. (I was looking for them myself with no luck while I was waiting for the AMA awards to be announced.) Then New York Magazine reported this afternoon that someone had uploaded all the clips to YouTube in the meantime. NYM has the clips embedded in their site also.

I’m seeing mixed reviews and I’m not going to attempt to judge this album based on these samples. So if you want an idea of what Christmas in the Heart is going to sound like I’d suggest you move quickly to one of the sources mentioned above. Feel free to comment here. I’ll be interested to see what you think! Or you may want to reserve judgment for the CD’s release on October 13. Proceeds benefit Feeding America in the U.S. and other charities internationally.