Music Films

Shakers
Shakers
1974 | 30mins
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Shakers
1974 | 30mins
THE SHAKERS traces the growth, decline, and continuing survival of this remarkable religious sect through the memories and songs of Shaker sisters in New Hampshire and Maine.
Afro-American Work Songs in a Texas Prison
Afro-American Work Songs in a Texas Prison
1966 | 29mins
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Afro-American Work Songs in a Texas Prison
1966 | 29mins
Pete and Toshi Seeger, their son Daniel, and folklorist Bruce Jackson visited a Texas prison in Huntsville in March of 1966 and produced this rare document of of work songs by…
Sweet Is the Day
Sweet Is the Day
2001 | 59mins
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Sweet Is the Day
2001 | 59mins
The story of the Woottens of Sand Mountain, Alabama, one of the key singing families who have helped Sacred Harp music survive and flourish for more than 150 years. The video…
Land Where the Blues Began
Land Where the Blues Began
1979 | 58mins
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Land Where the Blues Began
1979 | 58mins
In the late 1970s Alan Lomax traveled to Mississippi with filmmaker John Bishop and folklorist Worth Long and made this film about the African American music he found there.
Accordions Rising
Accordions Rising
2015 | 1h 13mins
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Accordions Rising
2015 | 1h 13mins
Accordions Rising offers entertaining, conversation-style interviews, anecdotal commentary, and both formal and informal music performances by celebrated accordionists, composers,…
Madison County Project
Madison County Project
2005 | 24mins
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Madison County Project
2005 | 24mins
This video examines the tradition of unaccompanied ballad singing in Madison County, North Carolina and how both documentary work and the power of family and community have…
Make ‘em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers Story
Make ‘em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers Story
2003 | 53mins
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Make ‘em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers Story
2003 | 53mins
The legendary Hackberry Ramblers served up a spicy blend of Cajun music mixed with western swing, classic country, blues and rockabilly, with a dash of Gulf Coast swamp pop.
Dreadful Memories
Dreadful Memories
1988 | 38mins
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Dreadful Memories
1988 | 38mins
Born in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky, Gunning suffered a life of bitter poverty which became the fuel for dozens of moving songs about working people, the mines, and the…
Musical Holdouts
Musical Holdouts
1975 | 49mins
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Musical Holdouts
1975 | 49mins
This classic, entertaining documentary on American traditional music features varied individuals and groups who have not become part of the “melting pot” of American society.
Women of Old Time Music
Women of Old Time Music
2003 | 54mins
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Women of Old Time Music
2003 | 54mins
Women of Old-time Music: Tradition and Change in the Missouri Ozarks takes on the commonly-held folk music scholarship assertion that women did not widely participate in old-time…
Blues Like Showers of Rain
Blues Like Showers of Rain
1970 | 31mins
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Blues Like Showers of Rain
1970 | 31mins
Dance to the Music and Listen to the Calls
Dance to the Music and Listen to the Calls
1987 | 29mins
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Dance to the Music and Listen to the Calls
1987 | 29mins
Larry Edelman produced this video in 1987 while studying square dance calling with Jerry Goodwin. Recorded at the Prosperity Fire Hall in western Pennsylvania the video features…
Post Industrial Fiddle
Post Industrial Fiddle
1982 | 23mins
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Post Industrial Fiddle
1982 | 23mins
This deceptively simple but profound film explores the importance of music-making in the life of Jerry Morrell, a pulp mill worker in rural Maine. His “Down East” fiddling style…
End of an Old Song
End of an Old Song
1969 | 30mins
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End of an Old Song
1969 | 30mins
Filmed in the mountains of North Carolina, this acclaimed documentary revisits the region where English folklorist Cecil Sharp collected British ballads in the early 1900s. The…
Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer
Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer
1975 | 42mins
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Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer
1975 | 42mins
Film of the singer/faith healer and folk artist Fannie Bell Chapman from Centreville, Mississippi. Footage includes Chapman and her family singing and praying during church…

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