Gifts for Picky Folk Music Fans

Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison album was one of his rawest, most memorable performances. This year, Legacy Recordings released a special box set of the concert, including three CDs and the entire recording from both sets Cash performed in Folsom Prison that day. The second set includes 24 previously unissued tracks. It's uncensored, uninhibited, absolute Johnny Cash. Any music fan would drool over this collection.

Born in Texas in 1921, Bess Lomax Hawes grew up the youngest child of the great American musicologist John Lomax. She was home schooled and learned early on about traditional music when she traveled with her father and helped him transcribe the music he found in the field. Sing It Pretty follows her life story from her rural Texas upbringing to her New York City days with the Almanac Singers, to her time as a teacher in California, and beyond.

Newly un-blacklisted in the mid-1960s, Pete Seeger took to the television airwaves with a short-run show called Rainbow Quest. And now, episodes from that series are available on DVD. It's a great archival gift for any fan of American folk music, country and rock.

Generally considered one of the best weekends in contemporary folk music, North Carolina's MerleFest draws artists, bands and fans from all over the world. The line-up for 2009 is in, and includes the Sam Bush, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dailey & Vincent, the Duhks, the Grascals, Emmylou Harrison, Sierra Hull & Highway 111, Tift Merritt, the Steeldrivers, and so many more.

I got a new guitar last year, and it's my very first Martin (I've always played Alvarez). The thing I love about this guitar is that the tone is so incredibly warm. I actually had someone come up to me after a show and say it is the musical equivalent of butter. It has a solid sitka spruce top with composite body, which keeps it on the affordable end of the Martin line, but still has the same great Martin quality and lifetime warranty. They didn't have to drill a hole in the body to get the pickup in there. There's a mic in the sound hole and a pickup under the bridge, and it sounds as warm and full unplugged as it does through a PA.

Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs provides, if anyone still needs it, proof of why he still matters to modern music. Sure, the studio albums he's put out over the past decade have been timely, impressive, relevant, and stirring in their own right. But, there's something about Dylan's unreleased recordings, mess-ups, live tracks, and outtakes that's far more compelling than the more polished efforts that make it into our collections.

Probably one of the best comprehensive histories of American folk music that I've read in recent memory, Which Side Are You On? starts with the folklorists of the early 20th century and follows the craft up to the present day, stopping along the way for excellent insight into the careers of some of the greatest American folksingers. Excellent for bibliophile folk fans.

Every good folk fan needs to try their hand at banjo picking. Trust me, it's different from learning to pick guitar. If your favorite folk music fan already has a banjo and is making a go of it, the Banjo Encyclopedia would be the perfect gift. It's perfect even for armchair banjo enthusiasts who wouldn't pick up an instrument to save their life. It'll teach them everything they need to know about bluegrass banjo, which will be delightful for dinner conversation.

There are about a hundred different reasons to support the American Folk Alliance. Aside from knowing in your heart that you've supported the preservation and continuation of Americna folk music, there are myriad discounts and resources for folk music fans, artists and the people who love them—including their annual conference.

Considered to be one of the more enigmatic personalities in contemporary American folk music, Bob Dylan has rarely given interviews over the course of his 30+ year-long career. Now, Dylan expert and Rolling Stone contributor, Jonathan Cott, has compiled 31 of the most earnest and telling interviews given by this elusive folk poet.