Maybe you knew about this, but I didn’t:

The record­ings, which range from the late 1930s to recent times, are espe­cially strong in the areas of fiddle, banjo, har­mon­ica, and dul­cimer tunes; sec­u­lar bal­lads and songs; gospel songs, and the unac­com­pa­nied lined-​out and shape note singing styles. Included as well are such rel­a­tive unknowns as the mouth bow with ori­gins in Africa, Chero­kee singing and dance music, Swiss-​American singing and yodel­ing, Hungarian-​American cym­balum play­ing, and the jug band sound from the early 1900s com­prised of a loose rural-​urban mix of blues, hill­billy, and jazz.

In many instances the reper­toire and play­ing styles doc­u­mented in these record­ings date well back into the 1800s. Among the music’s read­ily detectable influ­ences are musi­cal expres­sions aris­ing from slav­ery, min­strel stage music, Civil War mil­i­tary music, and the dance music of Britain, Ire­land and, in some instances, France and Germany.

(via Silas House)