Guardian Music — From James Brown to Martin Carthy, the best festive tunes don't always have to spread Christmas cheerFor the past five years, rather than cards, I've given family, friends and colleagues an annual CD of Christmas music. I sometimes wish I'd never sta... more info

Guardian Music — (Old Town School)The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago is one of the great American institutions. Set up in the 1950s to "teach and celebrate music rooted in the tradition of diverse American and global communities", it has become a centre for... more info

Guardian Music — The best of your comments on the latest films and musicAfter the great guitarist Bert Jansch died last week, Pete Paphides penned a lengthy tribute for Film&Music – a tribute a great many of you appreciated (and which brought tears to the eyes of ... more info

Guardian Music — He was the poster boy of the 60s folk-guitar scene whose virtuosity influenced everybody from Jimmy Page to Johnny Marr. Pete Paphides pays tribute to Bert Jansch'I remember asking Bert, 'When you were doing it, did you know that you were like … he... more info

Guardian Music — One of Britain's great interpreters of traditional songRay Fisher, who has died of cancer aged 70, was one of Britain's great singers of traditional songs. Martin Carthy, another widely known folk musician, once referred to her and Norma Waterson as ... more info

Guardian Music — (Fellside) Hedy West was one of the great American stars of the 60s folk revival. Born in Georgia, the daughter of a union organiser who worked with mining communities, she sang mining songs, epic narrative ballads, children's songs and country tunes... more info

Guardian Music — September 1939: Number 8 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of world and folk musicBritain's declaration of war on Germany rather overshadowed the release of a 78rpm disc called The Man That Waters Down the Workers' Beer by Paddy Ryan.... more info

Guardian Music — Kicking off his festival, the former Kinks frontman was in giddy formGiven his authorship of Waterloo Sunset, chances were always high that Ray Davies playing the Southbank Centre in his capacity as curator of this year's Meltdown was going to be spe... more info

Guardian Music — Would Bob Dylan stop his punishing schedule for Martin Carthy's samurai sword or a slice of Alela Diane's apple pie? We asked some famous fans to come up with the perfect gift for him…Geoff Dyer: writerWhat I propose is this: that on 24 May, at 7pm... more info

BBC 6 Music — Iconic folk singer discusses his life and career. more info