Singing Out: An Oral History of America's Folk Music Revivals
Author(s): David King Dunaway (Author), Molly Beer (Author)
Publisher: OUP USA
Publication Date: 26 Jan. 2012
Edition: Illustrated
Language: English
Print length: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 0199896569
ISBN-13: 9780199896561
Book Description
Intimate, anecdotal, and spell-binding, Singing Out offers a fascinating oral history of the North American folk music revivals and folk music. Culled from more than 150 interviews recorded from 1976 to 2006, this captivating story spans seven decades and cuts across a wide swath of generations and perspectives, shedding light on the musical, political, and social aspects of this movement. The narrators highlight many of the major folk revival figures, including Pete Seeger, Bernice Reagon, Phil Ochs, Mary Travers, Don McLean, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Ry Cooder, and Holly Near. Together they tell the stories of such musical groups as the Composers’ Collective, the Almanac Singers, People’s Songs, the Weavers, the New Lost City Ramblers, and the Freedom Singers. Folklorists, musicians, musicologists, writers, activists, and aficionados reveal not only what happened during the folk revivals, but what it meant to those personally and passionately involved. For everyone who ever picked up a guitar, fiddle, or banjo, this will be a book to give and cherish. Extensive notes, bibliography, and discography, plus a photo section.
Editorial Reviews
Review
The authors have spent quite a bit of time addressing the critical, interesting, and important question: ‘What is folk music?’ Defining folk music is not only difficult and complex, it’s slipperier than a greased eel! Through the use of extensive quotes and interviews Beer and Dunaway revisit the folk revival head-on, causing me to rethink the role individuals as diverse as Tristam Coffin, Pete Seeger, Mississippi John Hurt played during this important period in American music history. ― Kip Lornell, The George Washington University, author of The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to American Folk Music, Introducing American Folk Music, and The Life and Legend of Leadbelly (with Charles K. Wolfe)
Book Description
A fascinating oral history of the North American folk music revivals culled from more than 150 oral history interviews from 1976 to 2006, among them Charles Seeger, Pete Seeger, Bernice Reagon, and Arlo Guthrie.
About the Author
David King Dunaway is the author and editor of eight volumes of history including How Can I Keep From Singing: The Ballad of Pete Seeger, The Pete SeegerDiscography, and Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. His numerous honors include the 2010 Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi award from the Oral History Association. He serves as professor of English at the University of New Mexico and distinguished professor of broadcasting at San Francisco State University.
Molly Beer is the author of numerous essays and articles on culture and culture clash. She has taught writing at the University of New Mexico and at Colgate University as an Olive B. O’Connor creative writing fellow.
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