Harry Smith

Eccentric Harry Smith occupies an almost mythical role in 20th century American music, as a curator and, in his own fashion, promoter of vital folk forms. The three-volume Anthology of American Folk Music that he compiled for Folkways in the early '50s was instrumental in exposing much roots music to a wider audience and young musicians, helping to facilitate a folk revival and, by extension, folk-rock. When Anthology of American Folk Music was reissued by Smithsonian Folkways in 1997, it was deservedly considered a major event, though critics sometimes seemed to read mystical...