Episode 5

In the fifth episode of the folkways collection, there was a lot of talk about how Harry Smith was a very multi-talented man with a colored background. By a colored background I mean a past with a huge variety of experiences. He was born in Oregon, he spent years living with Native American tribes, and then lived in New York. He painted, produced movies and applied himself to countless other artistic hobbies. Micheal Ash said, "I think he is one, if not the only renaissance, truly renaissance man of the latter part of the twentieth century because of the wide range of things he was able to accomplish." This made me think how all of his experiences must have influenced him, and made him a really open person. Which is why he included such a wide range of tracks on his collection. This is also sort of related to music artists, how they are influenced. It makes me think of in the Blues book, how so many of the blues artists are influenced by their peers, and take that style and combine it with experiences in their life and write a song. So I kind of see a relation to how Harry Smith made this music collection, and how the actual music is made.