Between 1938 and 1940, with funding from the Works Progress Administration, musicologist Sidney Robertson, with a small team hired from the state’s relief rolls, recorded the traditional folk songs of immigrant communities around Northern California. 

Archived at the Library of Congress, the WPA California Folk Music Project preserves 35 hours of field recordings in 12 languages, along with photographs of musicians and the musical instruments they carried from their home countries to California. Robertson was the first to collect the folk music of ethic communities and call it “American."

This collection inspired "Tunes From Our Backyard," a live musical performance on October 19, 2025 at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California.

A celebration of the 90th anniversary of the WPA, “Tunes From Our Backyard” celebrates the many and diverse voices that continue to enrich American culture— and America, itself.

Help us preserve the New Deal’s legacy as we teach a new generation about the New Deal and the spirit of public service that guided it.

The Living New Deal