Smithsonian Folkways recently received two nominations for the American Association of Independent Music’s 4th annual Libera Awards (“Libbys”). Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” was nominated in the category of “Best Sync Usage.” Guthrie’s iconic American anthem was used on the final episode of the first season of HBO’s Sonic Highways, a documentary miniseries directed by Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl. The second nomination was in the category of “Creative Packaging” for Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection. Folkways’ box set dedicated to the career of Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter couples 5 CDs with a 140-page, large-format book. This is the second Smithsonian Folkways release to be nominated in this category, the other being Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection in 2013.

The American Association for Independent Music’s Libera Awards “celebrate the continually expanding successes of Independent labels and artists – and the services that support them – and are voted on solely by members of the Independent community.”