American Song

American Song brochure cover

"A unique and affordable online music-listening service by a highly regarded vendor. Incredible content. Simply amazing."— Library Journal

American Song is the largest and most comprehensive streaming audio collection of American roots music and pre-1960 American popular music.  It currently provides streaming access to over 120,000 tracks and is growing regularly as new recordings are added.

The most comprehensive audio collection available
American Song provides coverage in breadth and depth for American music, and is essential for the study of music history and the social, cultural and political history of North America:

  • Definitive collection of genres including country, folk, bluegrass, Western, old time, American Indian, blues, jazz, gospel, spirituals, and shape note singing
  • Over 400 distinct genres and sub-genres enable users to explore a wide variety of musical styles and interpretations of songs
  • Brings an entirely new dimension to studies in history, music, literature, diversity, sociology, and related disciplines
  • Data on 10,000s of artists and ensembles

American Song Breakdown

Iconic American artists

Here are some examples of iconic American labels and artists featured in American Song:

  • 300+ Labels including Motown, Geffen, Universal, Appleseed, Rebel, Tompkins Square, Archeophone, Rounder Records, Folkways Records, Document Records, County, King Records and McNeil Music
  • 10,000+ Artists including Pete Seeger, Isaac Hayes, Al Jackson, Booker T. Jones, Roberty Byrd,  Memphis Slim, Otis Redding, BB King, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and many others.

 

Unique, previously unpublished songs
American Song includes 100s of specially commissioned folksongs recorded by acclaimed folklorist/folksinger, Jerry Silverman.  It also includes previously unpublished recordings from                      the following archival collections of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress:

  • Alan Lomax Haiti collection - the rhythms, melodies, and culture of Afro-Caribbean culture
  • John Henry Faulk Collection - Negro Religious Recordings
  • Herbert Halpert Collection - NYC street cries/stories
  • Richard Dorson Collection - story-telling and songster traditions from Michigan

 

Alternative context for US History
American Song contains unique indexing for historical event that allows users to find songs related to over 100 key events in American history.

Songs like the following examples provide a rich source for understanding the American experience:

  • New Massachusetts Liberty Song (1775)
  • Hurrah for Grant! (1868 election)
  • Influenza Blues (1919)
  • The Titanic Disaster (1912)
  • The Battle of Saratoga (1777)
  • The Ludlow Massacre (1914)
  • Prohibition is a Failure
  • If You Miss Me From the Back of the Bus (Civil Rights song)
  • The Wreck of the Old 97 (1903 railroad song)
  • Chisolm Trail (cowboy song)
  • The Harrison Song (War of 1812)
  • Poor Paddy Works on the Railway (railroad song)
  • I Rode Southern
  • I Rode L&N (railroad song)
  • Zion’s Walls (shape note song)

 

Powerful teaching resources

Our collections include a playlist functionality to enable educators to create, annotate and share thematic playlists of recordings to support their teaching needs.

Example playlists based around relevant themes

Our customers actively use playlists to support teaching

Key Features of American Song

  • Advanced Search: additional options include genre, instrument, historical event, cultural group, place and date of recording
  • CD Quality: audio streaming up to CD quality (320kbps) at no extra cost
  • Mobile Access: stream to your mobile device / smartphone
  • Liner Notes: available where possible
  • Custom Audio Clips: New feature from Summer 2012!   Users can create, and share clips from all audio tracks.
  • Embeddable Audio: New feature from Summer 2012!  All audio can be embedded into 3rd party websites.
  • Custom Playlists: create, annotate and share playlists. Access a library of playlists created by other users, including themed playlists created by our editor.
  • Permanent URLs: all albums, tracks, clips and playlists can be cited on permanent URLs.
  • Cross-search: audio can be cross-searched alongside our related video, scores and reference material to provide a powerful tool for music research.