Richard K. Spottswood

Richard K. "Dick" Spottswood (born April 17, 1937) is an American musicologist and author from Maryland, United States who has catalogued and been responsible for the reissue of many thousands of recordings of vernacular music in the United States.

Spottswood was born in 1937 in Washington, D. C., where his father worked for The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company. From an early age, he was interested in music with a particular interest in early jazz, country, blues, and gospel. When he was a teenager, around 1953 or 1954, he first heard a recording of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and immediately was attracted to bluegrass music. Spottswood earned his B. A. from the University of Maryland in 1960, and his Master's degree in Library Science from Catholic University in 1962. The title of his Master's thesis was A catalog of American folk music on commercial recordings at the Library of Congress, 1923 1940. His masterwork, Ethnic Music on Records: A Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893 1942 (University of Illinois Press, 1990), is a seven volume listing of sound recordings by foreign language and minority groups issued in the U. S. until 1942. He also edited and annotated the 15 volume LP series Folk Music in America for the Library of Congress, and contributed to books including Country Music Sources: A Biblio Discography of Commercially Recorded Traditional Music (2002) and contributed the essay "Caribbean and South American Recordings" to Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890 1919. Spottswood has contributed to hundreds of reissue recordings issued by companies like Arhoolie, Rounder, Herwin, Yazoo, Document, Biograph, Revenant and Dust to Digital, and his own Melodeon and Piedmont labels. John Fahey, in his book How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life, credited a record canvassing trip with Spottswood, and the Bill Monroe record "Blue Yodel Number Seven" which Spottswood played him subsequently, with altering the course of his life. Spottswood hosts a two hour program called "The Dick Spottswood Show" on Bluegrass Country radio WAMU 88.5 HD 2 in Washington, D. C., and streaming online. He is an expert on bluegrass music (having co founded Bluegrass Unlimited magazine in 1966) and on the history of recorded ethnic music of the early 20th century generally. Spottswood is a founding member of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, and was awarded their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. On October 1, 2009, the International Bluegrass Music Association presented Spottswood with their Distinguished Service Award in Nashville, Tennessee. He appears briefly in the PBS documentary American Epic (2017). On May 14, 2019, Spottswood appeared in a symposium at the Library of Congress celebrating his career. A resident of Naples, Florida, Spottswood has emceed bluegrass concerts for the Acoustic Music Society of Southwest Florida at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers, as well as the Bluegrass Jamboree in Cape Coral.

Banjo On the Mountain: Wade Mainer's First Hundred Years (University Press of Mississippi, 2010). The Blue Sky Boys (University Press of Mississippi, 2018). Country Music Sources (with Meade & Meade) (John Edwards Memorial Forum and University of North Carolina Press, 2002). Recipient, ARSC Award for Excellence
Ethnic Music on Records (7 vols.) (University of Illinois, 1990). Recipient, ARSC Award for Excellence, 1991. Revised edition in progress. Folk Music in America, Vols. 1 15 (Library of Congress, 1976–78). Annotated, illustrated fifteen record anthology, prepared for the American Bicentennial. West Indian Rhythm (with Cowley, Hill et al.) (Bear Family, 2006). Book with ten compact discs.

Masters of Turkish Music, Rounder 1051, 1990. Masters of Turkish Music, Volume 2, Rounder 1111, 1996. Haydar Haydar—Masters of Turkish Music, Rounder 821611 1140 2, 2003.

Calypso Breakaway, 1927 1941, Rounder 1054, 1990. Calypso Carnival, 1936 1941, Rounder 1077, 1993. Calypso Ladies, Heritage 06, 1991. Calypso Pioneers, 1912 1937, Rounder 1039, 1989. Calypsos from Trinidad: Politics, Intrigue & Violence in the 1930s, Arhoolie Folklyric 7004, 1991. The Cuban Danzón: Before There Was Jazz, 1906 1929, Arhoolie Folklyric 7032, 1999. Fall of Man: Calypsos on the Human Condition, 1935 1941, Rounder 1141, 1999. History of Carnival, Matchbox 301 2, 1993. Hot Music from Cuba 1907 1937, Harlequin 23, 1993. Lovey's Original Trinidad String Band, Calypso Dawn, 1912. Bear Family BCD 16057, 2012
Martinique: “Au Bal Antillais” Franco Créole Biguines, Arhoolie Folklyric 7013, 1992. The Music of Cuba 1909 1951, Columbia Legacy CK 62234, 2000. The Music of Puerto Rico, Harlequin 22, 1992. Roosevelt in Trinidad: Calypsos 1933 39, Rounder 1142, 1999. Shango, Shouter and Obeah, Rounder 1107, 2001. Trinidad Loves to Play Carnival 1914 1939, Matchbox 302 2, 1993. Trinidad 1912 1941, Harlequin 16, 1992. West Indian Rhythm, Bear Family BCD 16623, 2006. ARSC Award, 2007

Charlie Monroe: I'm Old Kentucky Bound (Bear Family, 2007). Book with four compact discs. Winner, Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research, Association for Recorded Sound Collections, 2008. Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume Four (with Marcus, Fahey et al.). Revenant 211 (book with two compact discs), 2000. How Low Can You Go? (Dust to Digital, 2006). Book with three compact discs. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, 1971 1973. Rebel, 1995. Booklet with four compact discs. Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton (with Evans, Fahey, Komara et al.). Revenant 212 (book with seven compact discs), 2001. Winner, ARSC Award for Excellence 2002. West Indian Rhythm (with Cowley, Hill et al.) (Bear Family, 2006). Book with ten compact discs.