Janine Schaults

12/13/2011

Atreasure trove of recordings from the Old Town School of Folk Music is available today on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.  The four-volume “digital only” box set is a culmination of a decade’s worth of sifting through cardboard boxes of cassettes and reel to reel tapes found in the school’s basement.  Some of the live concert recordings go back 50 years.  There’s “Just A Closer Walk” from Mahalia Jackson and “Midnight Special” with Big Bill Broonzy and Pete Seeger.  Joan Baez is represented with “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”  “Live from the Old Town School” also showcases some recent Chicago staples like Andrew Bird and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.