This remarkable collection from the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress brings together an amazing set of traditional fiddle tunes performed by Henry Reed of Glen Lyn, Virginia. The folklorist Alan Jabbour recorded Lyn in 1966 and 1967, and the tunes here "represent the music and evoke the history and spirit of Virginia's Appalachian frontier." The collection contains 184 original...

Since 1968 Fiddler's Grove has been the site of an annual fiddle competition. The competition originally begun as a fundraiser by a schoolteacher in 1924 at Union Grove School in North Carolina, but was relocated to Fiddler's Grove due to increasingly large and "unwieldy" crowds. This exhibit tells the story of Fiddler's Grove through magazine articles, festival posters, and, of course, audio and...

BBC News: John Barry talks about his memories working in cinema http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12323565 David Arnold pays tribute to 'governor' John Barry http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12324183 Cutting Edge Tries New Model for Film Music [Free registration may be required] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/media/31score.html?ref=todayspaper Film...

Whether you're a fan of the Fred McMurray vehicle "Double Indemnity" or Ricardo Montalban's turn as a detective in "Mystery Street", lovers of film noir will find much to admire on the Film Noir Foundation website. The Film Noir Foundation was created to serve as an "educational resource regarding the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of film noir as an original American cinematic...

During the 1930s and 1940s, teams of writers and scholars scoured the United States on behalf of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) collecting materials about the places they saw and the people they met. This particular digital ethnographic field collection brings together materials which document the Arabic, Bahamian, Cuban, Green, Seminole and Slavic cultures across Florida. Here visitors...

Frank Loesser was able to use his remarkable songwriting talents to create such classic Tin Pin Alley songs as “Once in Love with Amy”, “Standing on the Corner”, and of course, “Luck Be a Lady Tonight”. His career spanned four decades, and he was responsible for crafting a number of fine musicals (including “Guys and Dolls) and songs for film and television. This website, which features some of...

The Free Music Archive (FMA) is a precious gem for readers who thrill to the sound of non-commercial, freely available, multi-genre music. Featured blog posts greet readers on the landing page and often include live and studio recordings that can not only be scouted online, but downloaded for free. For instance, the February 12, 2016 post, "Highlights from the 2016 Zlatne Uste Golden Festival,"...

From the Musical Technology Group of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain comes Freesound, a collection of "audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps" that have all been released under Creative Commons licenses to allow their reuse. Intended for sound artists to use as they create songs and other works, this collection may also appeal to anyone looking to integrate sounds into a...

Located in Nashville, Tennessee, the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) uplifts and preserves "the central role African Americans play in creating the American soundtrack," through exhibitions and educational materials. From Nothing to Something fulfills part of NMAAM's educational mission. While the complete curriculum covers several instruments, the online version (courtesy of the...

From the Top is "America's largest national platform dedicated to celebrating the stories, talents, and character of classically-trained young musicians." While the organization features a number of in-person programs, the website also boasts fascinating and inspiring stories about these talented youth musicians. Readers may like to begin with the Top Stories on the landing page, where they may...