Kearney Barton, crafter of the "NW Sound", in front of his Seattle home studio circa 2010 (photo by Chris Gergley)

With Puget Sounds the UW Libraries aims to document the kaleidoscopic nature of music performed and produced in Seattle and the Puget Sound region. No style, genre or music culture is excluded. Everything from art rock to hip hop, folk revival to free jazz, classical to opera, freak folk to shockabilly, Latin American folk to Balkan punk is represented in the collection.

This site is designed to help you navigate through and discover Puget Sounds' published recordings (browse them here) and archival material (reel-to-reel tape, born digital field recordings). If you have questions or would like to donate recordings to Puget Sounds, contact John Vallier.

"Dean of Northwest Folk Music" and Folkways recording artist Walt Robertson performing an informal set of songs. Recorded 1983 in Lilliwaup, WA, by Molly Oberbillig (Item NC-141). This recording is part of the Bob Nelson Collection of NW Folk Music.