September promises to be an exciting month for fans for folk music. September is the month when record labels and artists release CD’s in anticipation of the holiday sales as well as Grammy nominations (to be eligible for the next Grammy Awards a CD must be released before September 30, 2007).

For those of us who are fans of folk music, this September will find a number of gems being released including a two “duets” featuring Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen as well as a live concert recording featuring Woody Guthrie! The Woody Guthrie CD will be the first gem to come our way in September.

On September 6th, The Woody Guthrie Archives will release “The Live Wire“, a CD featuring a performance that Woody gave in 1949 at Fuld Hall in the Newark YMCA (correction – YW-YMHA). Woody performed with his wife Marjorie serving as an emcee – introducing songs and prodding Woody with questions. During the concert, Woody talks about the song, his childhood, the experience of making music to accompany dancers, and whatever popped into his thoughts. The concert was given before a small but enthusiastic audience at the Y.

The concert was recorded by the late Paul Braverman on a wire recorder similar to the one pictured at the right. These devices started to become popular after World War II, but the technology became obsolete once magnetic reel-to-reel tape was introduced in the early 1950’s.

The wire recorders captured sound electronically on a thin steel wire – a discovery that was made back in 1878 but not fully developed until the 1930’s. During the 1930’s wire recorders were introduced as dictation devices as well as recorders for telephone calls. During World War II the Army and the Navy utilized the devices and after the war they became commercially available to hobbyists.

Paul Braverman recorded Woody at the Newark YW-YMHA in 1949. At the time Paul was a student at Rutgers-Newark and he held onto the wire recording until April of 2001, when he donated the recording to the Woody Guthrie Archives. In the years following the donation, the Woody Guthrie Archives has been restoring these recordings with the help of state of the art technology and some of the finest engineers in the business. While the CD has some imperfections, it will become the only commercially available of Woody performing before a live concert audience. There are recordings of Woody performing on radio as well as the historic Library of Congress recordings of Alan Lomax, but this is the first opportunity that we will have to hear Woody as he gave a concert.

Looks like a good year for “live” Guthrie recordings. As mentioned in a previous article, Woody’s son Arlo recently released a live concert CD. Click here for more information about that CD as well as some remarks from Arlo himself!

Speaking of live music, earlier this year, Bruce Springsteen released a CD and DVD of a performance with his band in Dublin. The “Sessions” Band (previously known as the Seeger Sessions Band) has breathed new life into songs that Springsteen learned after being inspired by Pete Seeger. While I doubt that Pete Seeger will ever put together a “Springsteen Session” band in return, Pete did record Springsteen’s song “The Ghost of Tom Joad” in collaboration with the boss. Springsteen and Seeger also recorded the classic “Hobo’s Lullaby”, and both songs will be released on CD projects in September.

Appleseed Records, the record label responsible for introducing Springsteen to the work of Pete Seeger, is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. In commemoration of the anniversary, Appleseed will release a two CD compilation set on September 11 called “Sowing the Seeds”. The collection will feature 27 songs, including the Seeger-Springsteen version of “The Ghost of Tom Joad”. The CD set will also feature new recordings from Ani DiFranco (her take on Seeger’s “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”) and Donovan (a new recording of Buffy Ste.-Marie’s “Universal Soldier”). The collection will also include Kim and Reggie Harris with guests Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary) and the duo of Bethany & Rufus (Bethany is Peter Yarrow’s daughter) singing “If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus.” The collection will also feature selections from some of the 80 plus CD’s that Appleseed has released since they began operations.

Appleseed has two other releases planned for September. “Feels Like Home”, a multi-artist collection that will benefit the homeless will be released on September 25th. The diverse collection features, Springsteen and Seeger (“Hobos Lullaby”), Jon Bon Jovi (yes, THAT Jon Bon Jovi!), Natalie Merchant, Sonya Kitchell, Madeleine Peyroux, Jewel, Keb Mo, John Sebastian and Bonnie Raitt among others.

Also on September 25th, Appleseed will release “Experience…101″, a new CD from Sweet Honey in the Rock. This will be Sweet Honey in the Rock’s first recording on Appleseed and it will feature 18 songs that fit the record labels mission statement of “sowing the seeds of social justice through music”.

As you can see, it does promise to be an exciting month!