Popular Music Since 195

Popular and Protest Folk Music

I 1940s Folk Revival

A. New popularity for folk artists such as Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Josh White, Big Bill Broonzy etc.

Woody Guthrie (1912-67)
- born in Oklahoma, moves to California in the Depression
- Makes a living singing in saloons, occas. country music radio programs, union meetings, political rallies (assoc. with leftist causes)
- some non-lucrative recordings (for Library of Congress, Folkways)
- Songs: "This Land Is Your Land," "Pastures of Plenty," "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Ya"
- Albums: Bound for Glory, Chain Gang Songs, Cowboy Songs, Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti (1960), Woody Guthrie Sings with Leadbelly (1962), Dust Bowl Ballads (1964)
- Known as spokesperson for the working man, the downtrodden, oppressed etc.

B. Guthrie and Pete Seeger form the Almanac Singers

Pete Seeger
- active in the folk song movement (owns publishing company "People's Songs")
- Helps to reorganize Newport Folk Festival
- Gets blacklisted after held in contempt by House Committee on Un-American Activities
- Associated with leftist causes, antiwar, civil rights movement; later campaigns against industrial pollution
- Songs: "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", "If I Had a Hammer." "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"

C. Seeger forms the Weavers, a mostly apolitical folk group that is the first of its type to reach high into the pop charts with songs like "Good night Irene" (1950) and "On Top of Old Smoky" (1951); but success is short-lived

II Folk Music Re-enters the Pop Scene in 1957-58

A. Harry Belafonte

Out of work black actor is inspired by a Leadbelly concert to try folk-singing
Directed toward the West Indian (esp. Jamaican) repertoire by a composer friend, Belafonte popularizes the "Calypso" sound
Recording of "Day-O" is first big hit; spawns imitators such as the Tarrier's "Banana Boat Song"
Belafonte is the first artist to be a top selling album artist without notable success in selling singles
Trade papers announce: "Rock & Roll is dead--Calypso takes over"

B. Other "folk artists" achieve great popularity after Belafonte

The Kingston Trio (Bob Shane, Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds; named after a Belafonte hit) sing together in college with modest success
- Manager institutes a more "disciplined" sound and the trio finds success with traditional folk song "Tom Dooley" (#1, 1958) and additional hits with "MTA," "All My Trials," and Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
- Five out of first six albums reach #1; each of the first 17 LPs make the top twenty
- Image was that of "Clean-cut college kids" with matching button-down striped shirts
  - act featured carefully rehearsed "hip" and irreverent dialogue, but generally "safe" in their politics
- Popularity fades by 1966-1967 and personnel changes

C. Folk music in the late 1950s and early 1960s a "more mature" alternative to R&R for college students

Appealing to students who considered themselves more "informed" and socially conscious
Also popular for its "do-it-yourself" qualities; spawns a generation of guitar players
Folk music as a "search for roots"; young people returning to the stability and simplicity of folk values
Also allowed college students to differentiate themselves in their musical tastes from high school students and younger teens while still embracing a musical style distinctive to their generation
Host of imitators compete for popularity at the height of the folk craze: Chad Mitchell Trio The Limelighters, The New Lost City Ramblers, the New Christy Minstels, Serendipity Singers, Peter, Paul & Mary

III Peter, Paul & Mary (Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, Mary Travers)

A. Appeared first at the Bitter End, N.Y.; managed by Albert Grossman

B. First album reaches #6 (1962); other albums and some singles sell well: "If I Had a Hammer" (#10, 1962), "Puff the Magic Dragon," (#2, 1963), "Blowin' in the Wind," (#2, 1963), "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," (#9, 1963), "I Dig

C. More political and social commentary than many folk groups: repertoire includes not only Dylan songs but civil rights and antiwar songs

turn toward pop in late 1960s to some extent, but remain politically active

D. Group disbands in 1971, each member attempts solo career; reunited in 1978

IV Joan Baez (b. 1941)

A. Emerging in 1959 Newport Folk Festival, adopts an austere "purist" image in contrast to more "popular" folk groups

B. Starts singing in coffee houses in Cambridge, Boston & New York with a very "traditional" repertoire

C. Few singles attempted, but albums sell well (3 on the album charts by Nov., 1962)

D. By 1963-64, traditional folksongs are mixed with Dylan songs and civil rights songs (e.g., "We Shall Overcome") and protest songs, e.g., "What Have They Done to the Rain?"

E. Greatest commercial success in 1971 with a #3 single of the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and in 1975 with the autobiographical Diamonds and Rust, her first gold album (with title song rising to #35)

Last Update 8/11/05