Charlie Parr: Rooming House

Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40274

Format: CD, Album, & Compilation
Country: United States
Released: October 16, 2026
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk
[Tracklist]
1 Duluth 1964 (07:33)
2 Rooming House (04:25)
3 Mother Sara (03:45)
4 Universal Healthcare? (03:25)
5 Bank Robber (04:16)
6 Duluth 2026 (02:55)
7 Lilliput Park (08:44
[Credits]
Producer, & Liner Notes: Charlie Parr, Mixing Engineer: Tom Herbersr, Cover Artwork: Danny Duffy, Liner Notes Editor: Carla Borden, Designer: Josh Hartley
[Notes]
“These folks here, in this record, have no idea what's wrong. Or how to help. They are sick with the longing to make everything better. And they can't. Tiny things are important. This house could be anywhere. These things could happen to anyone.” With this reflection, Charlie Parr introduces the characters of Rooming House, a conceptual folk opera that chronicles the lives of Upper Midwesterners through his quietly raucous, deeply rooted, and empathetic blues. These are songs of lost memories and hardship, but also of the improvised acts of kindness that help neighbors make do. Joined by celebrated drummer and fellow Minnesotan Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Parr cements his role as one of the great troubadours of our time with an album that becomes its own small yet profound offering of care.

Jim Nollman: Orcas' Greatest Hits

Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 45095

Format: CD, Album, & Compilation
Country: United States
Released: August 14, 2026
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Science and Nature
[Tracklist]
01 Orca Yelps and Belches (00:58)
02 The 47 Whale Raga (06:06)
03 Rattle and Conk (03:15)
04 Boundary Line (01:31)
05 The Elk Man (02:49)
06 Queen Charlotte's Slide (01:20)
07 Little Sir Orca (01 :19)
08 The Big Blue Blues (03:41)
09 The Three Jimmies (05:12)
10 Nancy's Connection (03:16)
11 Breakthrough Greeting (03:25)
12 Deep Waters (05:10)
13 Katy on Whale Time (02:46)
14 60 Minutes (01:53)
[Credits]
Producer, Recorder, & Liner Notes: Jim Nollman, Mastering Engineer: Andrew Weathers, Liner Notes Editor: Carla Borden, Designer: Visual Dialogue
[Notes]
Jim Nollman is a sound artist and author who has dedicated his practice to playing music with non-human individuals. Following his 1982 album on Folkways, Playing Music with Animals, Nollman established an artistic residency and community space at a cove in British Columbia, dubbed Orcananda after the orca residents that have dwelled in its deep waters for centuries. Nollman and his cohort took a considered approach to developing sonic relationships with the orcas and other animals they encountered, always keeping a respectful distance as they found one another with their ears. Orcas’ Greatest Hits collects hydrophone recordings drawn from over 60 hours of interspecies collaboration recorded between 1985 and 2002, showing the playful ways in which Nollman engaged the orcas from the portable studio floating above their home. What we hear is the focused listening by the cetaceans and humans as they search out sonic space among one another, finding in that dialogue potential common ground for deeper understanding.