Thrill Jockey
The Anthology Of UnAmerican Folk Music Marisa Anderson
Marisa Anderson has long explored the tangled roots of American folk music, shaping tradition into something personal and alive. Rather than revive or replicate, she treats folk forms as collaborators, drawing on decades of study while folding in techniques and vernacular styles from across the globe.
The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music, Volume 1 takes its cue from nearly a thousand recordings in the private archive of the late Harry Smith. Anderson focuses on songs from regions the United States has been in conflict with since 1970 – Southeast Asia, the USSR, and Arabic and Islamic cultures – offering deeply personal versions of nine selections.
Working through transcription, close listening and careful experimentation, Anderson reframes each piece as a dialogue between herself and the source material. Her guitar becomes a meeting point between histories, places and perspectives, reshaping inherited forms without smoothing over their complexities.
The result is both intimate and expansive: a record that questions the boundaries of tradition and asks who has been excluded from the idea of “American” music – and what might be recovered by listening again.
Pickup currently unavailable at Glasgow
Please note that we are a physical record shop so some items may be unsealed but they are unplayed and brand new. If you would really like a sealed copy, please get in touch with us in advance of your purchase.
