I learned by transcribing songs out of the Library of Congress collection in Washington where I was working. I got a job when I just turned twenty in 1939 and Alan [Lomax] needed some help. I listened to hundreds of records every week.

This banjo surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.

I never intended to make a living from music. That's the funny thing. I wanted to be a journalist.

I tell kids, don't trust the media. The media with their emphasis on fame is helping to destroy this country, helping destroy the human race. It's the plug-in drug.

The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be.

Some may find them merely diverting melodies. Others may find them incitements to Red revolution. And who will say if either or both is wrong? Not I.

My dad, the old professor, used to say, 'Never get into an argument about what's folk music and what isn't.'