Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

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Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

• Asch, Moses.
• Cotton, Elizabeth.
• Folk music--United States.
• Folk musicians--United States.
• Folkways Records.
• Kenton, Gary.
• Music critics--North Carolina.
• Music publishers--United States.
• Music trade--United States.
• Music--Publishing--United States.
• Ritchie, Jean.
• Seeger, Pete, 1919- .
• Smith, Harry Everett, 1923-1991.

Gary Kenton was born 23 July 1950 in Roslyn, N.Y. He attended Boston University from 1968 to 1970. In the summer of 1969, Kenton started work as music review editor at Fusion Magazine. He stayed at Fusion until 1973, when he was recruited by Barry Kramer, publisher of Creem, a Detroit-based music magazine. As editor of Creem, Kenton worked with noted rock and roll critics Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, and others. In 1974, he moved to New York City where he began working for various record companies as a writer and publicist before starting his own public relations company.

It was as a journalist that Kenton came into contact with Moses Asch, co-founder of Folkways Records. For several years in the early 1980s, he conducted interviews with Moe, his family members, and his business associates for a biography while arranging for other journalists to do stories on Folkways and Folkways releases.

In the mid-1980s, Kenton moved to North Carolina to raise a family and began work as editor of a start-up weekly newspaper in Greensboro. Motivated by his son's autism, he earned his B.A. in special education from Greensboro College in 1994. Kenton lives in Greensboro, where he works as a special education teacher at a large urban high school.

Moses Asch (1905-1986) was a Polish-born record industry executive and the son of noted Yiddish author Sholem Asch. Asch got started in the music business by installing sound equipment in Yiddish theaters in New York City. In 1939, he began to issue records under the Asch label. His great interest was folk music, and he made recordings of Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Josh White, Burl Ives, and others. With partner Marian Distler, he started the Folkways label in 1947. Eventually he published more than 2,000 albums, documenting traditional music from around the world.

Interviews conducted or collected, 1971-1989, by Gary Kenton with music industry executive and founder of Folkways Records Moses Asch, his family members, and his business associates, many of whom were important figures in folk music and in the folk revival movement. Included in this group are folksingers Elizabeth Cotton, Jean Ritchie, and Pete Seeger, and Harry Smith, compiler of the Anthology of American Folk Music. Interviews are largely focused on Asch's life and work.

Audio cassettes (FS-5096-5099, FS-5101-5103, FS-5105-5114) have been separated.