Sound Sessions with Jeff Place

Sound Sessions is a sonic exploration of the roots and branches of American music, from one of the country’s leading authorities.  Jeff Place was the founding director of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at the Smithsonian Institution in 1988. He and Anthony Seeger started Smithsonian Folkways Recordings the same year, taking over Folkways Records after its 40 year run in New York City under Moses Asch. Place was also involved with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival for almost 30 years, in charge of recording it.

He has produced and written the notes for almost 70 CDs and box sets of American roots music. Among his projects are box sets on Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly and Pete Seeger. He was the main producer for the box set for the 50th anniversary of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. His crowning achievement was as co-producer of the 1997 reissue of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, which won two Grammy Awards and two Indie Awards in 1998. He also won a Grammy in 2020 for Pete Seeger – The Smithsonian Centennial Collection.  In all, he’s been nominated for ten Grammy Awards, has won numerous Indie and Independent Music Awards, and in 2019 shared the IBMA Best Liner Notes Award for Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey.

Sound Sessions will explore the work Jeff has done over the decades, acquiring a record label and other music collections. It will delve into oral histories and live recordings of numerous festival artists, some famous, some less known. The show will certainly include bluegrass but also old-time, blues, early country, Cajun, Irish and much more from his 27,000 LP record collection. It is a chance to share almost 40 years of adventures and stories.

You can contact Jeff at jeff@bluegrasscountry.org.