En la parte final de la serie, La Peña comes to a close, and makes room for a new and broader concert series, which continues to this day: World Music Wednesday. In this episode we hear stories--en inglés y español--from Juan Díes, Mateo Mulcah

Ep 25 - La Peña, Part 3: Music and empanadas

May 6th, 2020 18m 16s

“I think some people came because they could eat the empanadas. You know, and then, the music.” En la tercera parte de la serie, we hear how the La Peña concert series finally came to be. In this episode we hear stories--en inglés y español--fr

Ep 24 - La Peña, Part 2: "The school was in dire straits"

Apr 1st, 2020 14m 48s

In the early 1980s, the Old Town School came the closest it ever has to shutting its doors. How did they manage to stay open? Escucha la historia en la segunda parte de la serie La Peña. In this episode we hear stories--en inglés y español--fro

Ep 23 - La Peña, Part 1: El principio

Mar 4th, 2020 10m 16s

Esto es la historia de La Peña, the first Latin music concert series at the Old Town School, pretty much the predecessor to today’s enormously successful World Music Wednesday concerts. But the story of La Peña is really just one part of a larg

Trailer - La Peña: Música Latina en la Old Town School

Feb 26th, 2020 3m 48s

Esto es la historia de La Peña, the first Latin music concert series at the Old Town School--the predecessor to today’s enormously successful World Music Wednesday concerts. To tell the tale, we’ll share stories and music, en inglés y en españo

Ep 22 - Second Half, Part 4: Jim DeWan & Elaine Moore

Jan 17th, 2019 13m 43s

A running theme throughout Old Town School history is people finding deep connections and community, forging lifelong collaborations, friendships, and often falling in love. In this last episode of our Second Half series, we wanted to share one

Ep 21 - Second Half, Part 3: Remembering Becca Babcock

Jan 11th, 2019 13m 1s

[Content warning: Brief profanity, conversation about death and chronic illness.] In these excerpts from a conversation between Mary Babcock and Lorena Velázquez-Hinojosa, Mary shares memories of her daughter Rebecca "Becca" Babcock, who worked

Celebrating 50 Years at 909 W Armitage (REBROADCAST)

Dec 20th, 2018 47m 8s

Before we take an end-of-year break, we want to recognize something pretty significant. The Old Town School and the music store formerly known as the “Different Strummer” have had a home at 909 W Armitage for 50 years. Fifty years! In celebrati

Ep 20 - Second Half, Part 2: Jon Langford & Sally Timms

Dec 15th, 2018 15m 32s

Jon Langford and Sally Timms--of The Mekons and countless other projects--have been part of the Old Town School community in a myriad of ways since the 1990s. Just a few months after Langford was honored as a “Music Legend” by the school, the t

Ep 19 - Second Half, Part 1: Peggy Lipschutz

Dec 7th, 2018 15m 55s

Welcome back! This season, we bring you Second Half: a new series drawn from the interviews we've collected as part of our oral history partnership with StoryCorps, featuring Old Town School folks and their stories. In part one, we introduce yo

Teaser & Rebroadcast - 60 Years of Folk, Part 1: Come for to Sing

Dec 1st, 2018 34m 4s

Welcome back! We've got a fresh new season for you, to begin this Thursday, December 6th, and we want to tell you a little about it. Plus: Today is the Old Town School's 61st anniversary! In celebration, we bring you a special rebroadcast of "6

Ep 18 - 60 Years of Folk, Part 6: Old Town School today

Feb 1st, 2018 43m 42s

The Old Town School has grown exponentially in the new millennium--both in terms of its reach and the two new buildings it’s grown into since 1998. Sixty years in, this episode introduces some of the people who have made it what it is today, an

Ep 17.5 - EXTRA: La Peña

Jan 25th, 2018 22m 22s

In this special episode, Resource Center engineer Raul Fernandez shares a selection of archival recordings from the La Peña concert series, a weekly showcase of Latin folk music and dance that ran at the Old Town School from the mid-1990s throu

Ep 17 - 60 Years of Folk, Part 5: Expanding the definition of folk

Jan 18th, 2018 49m 45s

From Wiggleworms to the Latin Music Festival, this two-part episode explores how the school has expanded class offerings and community programs to be more inclusive and broad-reaching over the past 36 years. This is part five of a six-part docu

Ep 16.5 - EXTRA: Robbie Fulks & Steve Dawson

Jan 11th, 2018 17m 4s

This is a special extra episode featuring excerpts from a conversation between longtime friends Robbie Fulks and Steve Dawson, fellow songwriters and performers in Chicago. In 2017 Fulks concluded 7 years of weekly shows at The Hideout, on the

Ep 16 - 60 Years Of Folk, Part 4: A bigger tent

Jan 4th, 2018 47m 17s

By the early 1980s, “folk” was a four-letter word, and the Old Town School was nearly empty. Part four of the series explores how the school endured by broadening and redefining the meaning of “folk” throughout the 80s and 90s, under the leader

Ep 15.5 - In sacred trust: Stephen Wade, Fleming Brown & Hobart Smith

Dec 21st, 2017 21m 5s

This is a special mini episode on the musical lineage between Hobart Smith, Fleming Brown, and Stephen Wade, who was featured on our last episode. You’ll hear archival recordings of Hobart and Fleming, as well as excerpts from Stephen’s convers

Ep 15 - 60 Years Of Folk, Part 3: Folk clubs and all-night parties

Dec 14th, 2017 48m 37s

Folk music changed significantly over the 1960s, and the Old Town School was no different--even as it sought to preserve the traditional music that defined it from the start. This episode features stories from Mike Dunbar, Ed Holstein, Stephen

Ep 14.5 - EXTRA: Ted & Marcia Johnson

Dec 7th, 2017 8m 28s

This is a special mini episode featuring the stories of Ted and Marcia Johnson, who you heard in both of the last two episodes. Ted and Marcia met at the Old Town School in in the early sixties, and have now been married for over 50 years. Ted

Ep 14 - 60 Years Of Folk, Part 2: Folksingers and folk families

Nov 30th, 2017 38m 52s

This episode shares the stories of the school’s fabled opening night on Dec. 1st, 1957, and the early years when it was housed at the Immigrant State Bank Building at 333 West North Avenue. You’ll hear archival music and recordings from Ella Je

Ep 13 - 60 Years Of Folk, Part 1: Come for to Sing

Nov 23rd, 2017 36m 13s

Sixty years ago, in the holiday season of 1957, Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music first opened its doors. This Thanksgiving Day, The Archives celebrates the 60th anniversary with a six-part documentary on the school’s history, through the

Ep 12 - Five from the Archives - City of New Orleans

Oct 13th, 2016 8m 23s

In this episode on “City of New Orleans,” we chat with longtime Chicago folksinger Ed Holstein about his friend Steve Goodman, and other memories from the booming 1970s Chicago folk scene. This is the final chapter of our series on key songs of

Ep 11 - Five from the Archives - Cindy

Oct 6th, 2016 8m 21s

Part five of our series on songs of the Old Town School songbook delves into the American folksong “Cindy.” Episode 11 features folklorist, Volo Bogtrotter and fiddle teacher Paul Tyler, and a performance of his arrangement of the song, as well

Ep 10 - Five from the Archives - Gypsy Davy

Sep 29th, 2016 8m 30s

In the second of two podcasts featuring descendents of the old Scottish folksong, “The Gypsy Laddie,” we follow the trail that led across the ocean to the United States, and to what would become “The Gypsy Davy.” Episode 10 features an intervie

Ep 9 - Five from the Archives - The Gypsy Rover

Sep 22nd, 2016 8m 9s

Tracing the journey of the ballad “The Gypsy Laddie” from the British Isles to the southern United States, we see one of the most fascinating examples of the way folk songs adapt to the singer, and the time and place in which they are singing.