Mourning the Loss of Pioneering Folk DJ Gene Shay
Our dear friend, mentor, and inspiration Gene Shay succumbed to the COVID-19 Virus at 85 on April 18th, following several weeks in intensive care in a Philadelphia hospital. Gene loved folk music, the artists who make it, and the fans who loved it with him as much as anyone. What set him apart from most is how much our community loved him back. For more than six decades he taught southeast Pennsylvania audiences all kinds of folk music via his long-running Sunday folk radio program. He was also the face and voice of the Philadelphia Folk Festival (as well as being a co-founder), and served on the boards of several folk music institutions, including Sing Out! We will miss him dearly! (For more details on Gene’s incredible career and life, check out the Philadelphia Inquirer article online.)
Featured Video
Songs of Our Native Daughters is a stunning thirteen-track album based on historical notions and observations of slavery by Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago), and Amythyst Kiah. This mini-doc details the recording of the song “Mama’s Crying Long,” an original by Giddens, recounting the story of a slave who rebelled against repeated rapes by her master, as seen through the eyes of her children. The full recording is available February 22, on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Co-produced by Giddens and Dirk Powell (Balfa Toujours, Joan Baez), the collection portrays the often overlooked suffering, resilience, and agency of black women in the face of intersectional oppression throughout American history. Check it out!