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Frank Newsome’s Gone Away with a Friend released by Free Dirt Records

Free Dirt Records is releasing National Heritage Fellow Reverend Frank Newsome’s album Gone Away with a Friend on June 29, 2018. Virginia State Folklorist Jon Lohman and renowned country artist …

Sights & Sounds

HoustonFest 2018: Sherman Holmes Project, Harris Brothers, Del McCoury Band, and so much more

Born out of a community’s grief over the tragic passing of Houston Caldwell, a gifted banjoist and dedicated contributor to the civic life of Galax, HoustonFest is one of the …

Sights & Sounds

Cora Harvey Armstrong and Samantha Willis

Faith is at the heart of Cora Harvey Armstrong’s 50-year career in gospel music. Born and raised in the tiny Newtown community of King and Queen County, Virginia, her family …

Sights & Sounds

Nam Phuong Nguyen and Anh Dien Ky Nguyen

The đàn bầu is a monochord (one-stringed) instrument with a central role in Vietnamese folk music. Popular legend claims the đàn bầu was first played by a blind woman in a …

Sights & Sounds

Phyllis Gaskins and Anna Stockdale

The regular mountain dulcimer is a fretted string instrument from the zither family which first appeared in the 19th century among Scots-Irish communities. Phyllis Gaskins, of Elkton, Virginia, plays a variant called the Galax dulcimer. …

Sights & Sounds

Bert Carlson and Danny Knicely

While Virginia is seldom thought of a fertile ground for jazz, the state has produced a disproportionate number of artists who have put their indelible stamp on this uniquely American …

News

Catch the NPR World Cafe Rebroadcast of Sherman Holmes

Last summer Sherman Holmes was interviewed by Talia Schlanger on WXPN’s World Cafe about his first-ever solo album, The Richmond Sessions.  And if you missed the original broadcast you’ll have another chance to hear a one-of-a-kind interview.

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Virginia Folklife Program’s Cape Verdean Musical Exchange to showcase at the Drum and Strum in Warrenton, Virginia.

This November, the Virginia Folklife Program will be returning to Cape Verde, a musically and culturally rich island nature off the coast of West Africa, for another musical exchange.

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Feed Your Soul at the 13th annual Richmond Folk Festival

The Virginia Folklife Program has produced the Virginia Folklife Area at the Richmond Folk Festival since its inception as the National Folk Festival in 2005, and we are once again …

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Sherman Holmes on NPR’s Mountain Stage

Sherman Holmes kicks off this weekend’s Mountain Stage with selections from his first solo album in his fifty-year music career, The Richmond Sessions. Steve Earle and the Dukes and others share the stage with Sherman.

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Southwest Virginia the place to be this weekend for great music

Join the Virginia Folklife Program in Southwest Virginia this weekend for three great events: Friday, September 1: Second Annual Show for Joe ** Concert now at Rex Theater at 4pm, …

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Sherman Holmes’ solo debut album, The Richmond Sessions, drops July 21

Special guests include Sammy Shelor, Rob Ickes, the Legendary Ingramettes, Joan Osborne, and more Now available from these retailers: On July 21, musician Sherman Holmes will release his first solo …

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