Barbara Dane Retrospective Album Out Feb. 16 on Smithsonian Folkways

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On Feb. 16, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will release 'Barbara Dane: 60 Years of Hot Jazz, Cool Blues and Hard-Hitting Songs.' The 2-disc retrospective honors the electric folk, blues and jazz history of one of the unsung champions of American music. This career-spanning album, which begins with Dane's first recordings in 1957, offers unparalleled insight into the living legend Bonnie Raitt calls a role model and a hero. Dane's unwillingness to make artistic compromises led her to become an outspoken ally of the labor movement, civil rights and underdogs everywhere.

Praised as the "People's Singer, " Dane has long been "a versatile voice with a political purpose" (NPR). From her early Detroit days, where singing on labor issues was her focus, to singing about historic events like the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement and documenting the music of the 1970s resistance movements; Dane has forged her own path, continually expanding the scope of her musical life. She became the first white woman to grace the cover of Ebony Magazine and founded groundbreaking Paredon Records (now part of the Smithsonian Folkways collection) with longtime partner Irwin Silber.

She will croon in her "pure, rich voice" (TIME) across this 39-track collection featuring 14 never-before-released recordings with greats like Lightnin' Hopkins, the Chambers Brothers, Doc Watson, Pete Seeger, Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon and more. Created in collaboration with the Barbara Dane Legacy Project, this album celebrates her 90th birthday and perfectly demonstrates how her fierce independence and willingness to sing of moments of abandonment, injustice and joy are why she has remained a "symbol of resistance" even in the 21st century. This album will be released alongside a special vinyl reissue of 'Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers.'

"I've never recognized borders, " says Barbara herself in the intro letter to the project. "I hope my abiding love for the benighted country is apparent, along with my steadfast support of the people who suffer and struggle every day to keep it going. I hope you notice that it is possible to speak your mind to the world and still survive."

This celebration of Barbara Dane is just one of the many exciting albums Smithsonian Folkways is releasing in celebration of its 70th anniversary. Smithsonian Folkways is dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among people through sharing music, spoken word and sound around the world.

'Barbara Dane: 60 Years of Hot Jazz, Cool Blues and Hard-Hitting Songs' Track List:
Disc 1
1. I Am A Weary and Lonesome Traveler
2. Way Behind the Sun
3. Victim to the Blues
4. Working People's Blues
5. Come By Here
6. It Isn't Nice
7. Deportes
8. I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
9. Ballad of Richard Campos
10. Join the GI Movement
11. Song of the Coat Makers
12. Mill Worker
13. Working-Class Woman
14. Truck-Driving Woman
15. Sometimes I Believe She Loves Me
16. Let Me Be Your Rag Doll
17. Mother Earth
18. The Ones Who've Gone Before Us

Disc 2
1. Trouble in Mind
2. Basin Street Blues*
3. Why Don't Do Right?*
4. MY Melancholy Baby*
5. Mama Yancey's Advice
6. Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of my Jellyroll
7. Please Don't Lose Your Mind*
8. Walking Blues*
9. King Salmon Blues
10. Good Morning Blues*
11. Gipper Gate Blues
12. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
13. Study War No More*
14. This Little Light of Mine*
15. You Don't Know Me/You Don't Know my Mind*
16. Salty Dog Blues*
17. Only a Pawn in Their Game*
18. Solidarity Forever*
19. We Shall Not Be Moved*
20. Oh, Had I a Golden Thread*

* denotes previously unreleased track

'Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers' Track List:
Side A
1. It Isn't Nice
2. You've Got To Reap What You Sow
3. You Can't Make It By Yourself
4. Pack Up Your Sorrows
5. I Am A Weary And A Lonesome Traveller

Side B
1. We'll Never Turn Back
2. Come By Here
3. Freedom Is A Constant
4. Go Tell It The Mountain

About Smithsonian Folkways Recordings:
Going into its 70th year, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the "National Museum of Sound, " makes available close to 60, 000 tracks in physical and digital format as the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian, with a reach of 80 million people per year. A division of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the non-profit label is dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among people through the documentation, preservation, production and dissemination of sound. Its mission is the legacy of Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document "people's music" from around the world. For more information about Smithsonian Folkways

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