Performances
odd: label: Introduction
content: The 1968 Festival saw a large program of music and dance performances, in three venues: a Ballads Stage, a City-Country Stage, and a Main Stage. As with the 1967 Festival, the majority of the performers represented Anglo American and African American traditions, but there were also Lummi, Basque, and Serbian dance groups, as well as a Louisiana French ballad singer and a Native American singer and storyteller. Anglo American performers presented old-time string band music as well as bluegrass, ballads and various instrumental traditions. African American traditions ranged from a country songster and a fife-and-drum group to Muddy Waters' Chicago blues band and the Preservation Hall Band of New Orleans. Concerts were complemented by more informal workshops in which participants spoke about their cultural traditions and the importance of maintaining them. Evening concerts on the Main Stage presented a diversity of traditions and - to close the Festival - a tribute to the John A. Lomax Family that featured the diverse Texas performers.
label: Participants
content: Anthony Alderman, 1900-1978, fiddler, Virginia

Alma Barthélémy, ballad singer, Louisiana

Loman Cansler, 1924-1992, ballad singer, Missouri

Gaither Carlton, 1901-1972, fiddler, North Carolina

Sara Cleveland, 1905-1987, ballad singer, New York

Fred Cockerham, 1905-1980, fiddler and banjo player, North Carolina

Libba Cotten, 1895-1987, singer and guitarist, Washington, D.C. (originally from North Carolina)

Henry Crow Dog, 1899-1985, Indian singer and storyteller, South Dakota

Jimmie Driftwood, 1907-1998, Ozark ballad singer, Arkansas

Russell Fluharty, 1906-1989, hammer dulcimer player, West Virginia

Dolly Greer, ballad singer, North Carolina

Joe Heaney, 1919-1984, Irish Gaelic ballad singer, Conemara, Ireland; New York

Clarence Howard, singer, guitarist, Tennessee

Clint Howard, 1930-2011, singer, guitarist, Tennessee

John Jackson, 1924-2002, Piedmont blues singer, guitarist, Virginia

Skip James, 1902-1969, country blues singer, guitarist

Tommy Jarrell, 1901-1985, fiddler, banjo player, North Carolina

Oscar Jenkins, fiddler, banjo player, North Carolina

Bessie Jones (1902-1984) and Georgia Sea Island Singers, shouts, spirituals & ring games, Georgia

Grandpa Jones, 1913-1998, country singer and banjo player, Tennessee

Norman Kennedy, 1934-, Scots ballad singer, Aberdeen Scotland, Williamsburg, Virginia 

Louis Killen, 1934-2013, English ballad singer, Newcastle, England, New York City, New York

Lummi Dancers, traditional Indian dancers, Washington

Margot Mayo, 1910-1974, square dance caller, Texas, Kentucky, New York

Bill McElreath, 1904-1974, mountain clog dancer, North Carolina

Seth Mize, 1901-1977, fiddler, Arkansas

Oinkari dancers, Basque dancers, Idaho

Red Parham, harmonica player, North Carolina

Preservation Hall Band, New Orleans jazz band, Louisiana

Fred Price, 1915-1987, fiddler, Tennessee

Kenneth Price, banjo player, Tennessee

Jean Ritchie, 1922-2015, ballad singer and dulcimer player, Kentucky, New York

Fred Roe, fiddler, Tennessee

Bookmiller Shannon, 1908-1985, banjo player, Arkansas

St. Nikola dancers, traditional Serbian dancers, Wisconsin

Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey Smith, fiddler and guitar player, West Virginia, Arlington, Virginia

George Smith, square dance caller, Maryland

Dewey Shepherd, 1906-1996, fiddler and ballad singer, Kentucky

John Kilby Snow, 1905-1980, autoharp player, Pennsylvania

Ralph Stanley (1927-2016) and the Clinch Mountain Boys, bluegrass band Virginia, Florida

Swan Silvertones, gospel, New York

Odell Tolliver, 1918-, fiddler, Virginia

Leslie Walls, guitar player, Arkansas

Muddy Waters (1915-1983) and group, blues band, Illinois

Arnold Watson, singer, banjo player, North Carolina

Doc Watson, 1923-2012, singer, guitar player, banjo player, North Carolina

Merle Watson, 1949-1985, guitar player, North Carolina

Rosa Lee Watson, 1931-2012, singer and guitar player, North Carolina

Ed Young (1910-1972), G.D. Young, and Lonnie Young (1903-1976), fife and drum, Tennessee
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.1968, Series 3
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials