Full Description
Many American folk singers have tried to leave their world a better place by writing songs of social protest. Musicians like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez sang with fierce moral voices to transform what they saw as an uncaring society. But the personal tales of these guitar-toting idealists were often more tangled than the comparatively pure vision their art would suggest. Many singers produced work in the midst of personal failure and deeply troubled relationships, and under the influence of radical ideas and organizations. This provocative work examines both the long tradition of folk music in its American political context and the lives of those troubadours who wrote its most enduring songs.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
ONE — Music from the Mountains: The Birth of Popular Folk Music
TWO — Music from the Gutter: Joe Hill and the Roots of Twentieth-Century Political Music
THREE — Hard Luck Days: Woody Guthrie's America
FOUR — Which Side Are You On? The Left Discovers Folk Music
FIVE — The Endless Hootenanny: The Birth of the Folk Song Movement
SIX — Are You Now or Have You Ever Been...? The Folk Singers Under Attack
SEVEN — The Great Folk Scare: The Revival of Folk Music
EIGHT — The Runaway Prophet: Bob Dylan's Romance with Folk Music
NINE — The Very Sound of Hope: The Legacy of the Sad-Eyed Prophets
Chapter Notes
References
Index
