During the Great Depression, San Francisco-native Sidney Robertson carried out a remarkable ethnomusicological survey—the WPA California Folk Music Project. From 1938 to 1940, with support from the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration, the University of California, Berkeley and twenty staff handpicked from the California relief rolls, Robertson recorded and documented the diverse musical traditions in the state.

The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and the UC Berkeley Music Library maintain this remarkable archive of songs, photographs, writings, and drawings. This collection inspired “Tunes From Our Backyard: Songs of the WPA California Folk Music Project,” a musical program by composer and musician David Gerard Steinberg.

“Tunes From Our Backyard” celebrates the musical traditions of California’s Immigrant communities, featuring live performances by Bay Area musicians and vocalists, Robertson’s original field recordings, video, and artifacts from the WPA collection.

For more than 50 years, Sweetwater Music Hall has welcomed to its stage a Who’s Who of roots & rock music: Bob Weir, Aaron Neville, Big Mama Thornton, Carlos Santana, Clarence Clemons, Elvis Costello, Etta James, Gregg Allman, Huey Lewis, Jerry Garcia, John Hiatt, John Lee Hooker, Maria Muldaur, Mimi Fariña, Odetta, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Richie Havens, Robert Cray, Sammy Hagar, Townes Van Zandt, Van Morrison, Joan Baez and more. That diverse musical tradition continues today.

$30 advance. $35 at the door. TICKETS AND INFO.