"Folk music is for the people, by the people. Therefore that struggle for racial equality is certainly going to find itself inside the confines of folk music. The same can be said about political and cultural issues."

Burlap Wolf King: South Dakota…

"They are all linked, but music is superior to literature and politics. You can listen to a great song 5000 times and grow each time. You can't read a novel or a poem or hear a political speech too often...its unmoving - sometimes it's rhetoric. Toilet paper."

Tom Russell: The Rose of…

"We keep hammering away at the meanness, the racism and the power of Multi National Corporations. It’s all we can do. If society was run by folk musicians, there would be much more equality in the world!!"

Andy Irvine: The Union Of Folk…

"Music can make people become closer even if they are totally different it breaks all the barriers."

Sarah Carlier: Emotion & Elegance 

Sarah Carlier is above all a voice: warm and captivating, full…

"I feel the music is in good hands now. There are lots of fine young players. I just hope they can find a way to making a living playing music."

David Holt: Roots And Blossoms

Four-time Grammy Award…

"Music is the universal language, and like humor, it is one of the fastest delivery systems for affecting social change."

Britta Lee Shain: What The Heart Wants

Britta Lee Shain was born…

"It’s never been easy being taken seriously as a female in a man’s world...and music is no different. So much of a woman's so-called talent is based oh how she looks, dresses, etc. and that isn't fair!"

Vikki Lee: The Blues of Catharsis…

"Blues is not nostalgia, Blues is History, and Blues is Truth."

Andy Cohen: On The Roots Road Again

Andy Cohen is a virtuoso fingerstyle guitarist who has been described as "a walking,…

"My understanding of (American) Roots music is that musical influences arrived here with people from other countries and cultures, such as Africa and Europe, but then developed to such a degree that they are now considered distinctly (U.S.) American."

Bobbo Staron: Folk Songs &…

"True American roots music has no cultural boundaries. It comes from all races of people because they come from a working community, working communities where they work together and depend on one another."

Matt Kinman: The Good Ole' Days…

"In fact, what I really miss most from the music of the past is the artists’ capability to create gorgeous original music. It was deep, touching, and skilled. In my opinion, today’s music cannot be compared to that one, as too often it lacks deepness and originality."

Danilo Cartia: Blue(s)grass…

"All generations experiment with music, they just take what they learn from their root influences and take it somewhere new. The roots reach back to different times."

The Gordons: The Echo Of Experiences…

"I think the only thing one can learn from the blues is how to transform it into something good."

Johnnie Selfish & The Worried Men: Old-time Music, with Fresh Air

Johnnie Selfish & the Worried…

"I think that in the modern urban digital world that we need more than ever to remember our human qualities. We need to laugh. We need to cry. We need direct contact with each other."

Jim Rooney: A Musical Odyssey in Roots…

"Music and poetry are one and the same except one is spoken and one is sung."

Chris Gantry: Gypsy Dreamer Tales

Chris Gantry (Christopher Cedzich) was born December 29th, 1942 in Queens, New…

"The blues is about life, the human experience down into all it’s cracks and crevices, the stuff that connects us all no matter the distance of time, place, culture."

Jerry Zolten: Chimpin' the Blues …

"Human suffering is universal and timeless, luckily all good art comes from this place of sadness, even the happy stuff. One of the most cathartic things someone can do is create art."

Rollie Tussing: Roots Culture of Creation…

"The folk music is a public music, which is down to earth and loved by everyone" 

Muzammil Mullaji: From Earth To Soul

Muzammil Shabbir Mullaji was born in Khed Maharashtra Dist- Ratnagiri (Konkan),…

"There was a folk movement long before the 60s. It was often associated with “lefties”. In a way folk music was a rebellious reaction to the conformity and “white bread” culture of the 50s."

Kenny Kosek: Make Music, Not War…

"American Roots music is a strong hybrid made of elements from the variety of cultures that are represented in the people of America."

Scott Ainslie: Talking With The Blues

Scott Ainslie was…