This was the deepest of dives and a real pleasure. My first thought was to dig out a few songs that I had initially heard on the Folkways 1997 reissue of the Anthology of American Folk Music. That was a revelatory release for me - I still have it, in fact - on glorious compact disc! When it came out I was an indie rock dude just starting to teach banjo at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, and those songs were like a proof-of-concept for me that you could do things folky but also weird and full of vibe... The other songs on this playlist were part of a fun wormhole I went down. I sure loved finding things like the Sounds of London and Sounds of North American Frogs recordings, plus it was a joy taking a deeper peek at Smithsonian Folkways' stellar world music selections. Hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed compiling it.