The Folk Recordings collections at the Library of Congress appear to be an amazing resource.. generations of blues pioneers, like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Son House and Charlie Patton, recorded in the 20s - 40s by John & Alan Lomax. And that's just the blues roots collections.. there's hundreds of others covering a wide range of folk traditions.
But unfortunately you can't listen to them online, or buy the whole collection cheaply; the whole collection would probably fit on a single USB drive.
They have become "out of print" or in selected commercial distributions by Rounder Records which is now owned by Universal Music. Huh?
Check out this list:
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/folkcat.html
Why is this not all freely available online? I'm sure Wikimedia would host them, and a zillion copies would be made within a few years for no shortage again ever.
Well, they do have their phone # listed.. guess I'll call and ask :)
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