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In addition to the local news, WXPR Public Radio also likes to find stories that are outside the general news cycle... Listen below to stories about history, people, culture, art, and the environment in the Northwoods that go a little deeper than a traditional news story allows us to do. Here are all of the series we include in this podcast: Curious North, We Live Up Here, A Northwoods Moment in History, Field Notes, and Wildlife Matters.These features are also available as a podcast by searching "WXPR Local Features" wherever you get your podcasts.

Folk Music Collection Features Northwoods Performers of 1930s, 40s

Courtesy of Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin.

A UW Madison professor is producing a collection of archival field recordings performed by musicians from northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan more than 70 years ago. The music ranges from polkas to waltzes and fiddle tunes.  

"Folksongs Of Another America" is the project of Jim Leary, a professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies.  He explains the recordings were made by three folklorists working for the Library of Congress in the 1930s and 40s: Sidney Robertson, Alan Lomax, and Helene Stratman-Thomas.  

Jim Leary is speaking at the informal discussion series Science on Tap Wednesday night in Minocqua.  

Music:  "Fisher's Hornpipe," and "Pigtown Fling," performed by Leizime Brusoe and recorded by Sidney Robertson in 1937.

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