Singing Out: An Oral History of America's Folk Music Revivals(Oxford Oral History Series)

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.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Pete Seeger ; Introduction by David King Dunaway ; 1. I Never Heard A Horse Sing It!: Defining Folk Music ; 2. Early Collectors ; 3. Music for the Masses ; 4. Greenwich Village: 1940s ; 5. Am I In America?: The Red Scare ; 6. Folk Boom ; 7. Movement Music: Civil Rights ; 8. Folk-Rock ; 9. Nu Folk ; 10. The Power of Music ; Biographies of Interviewees ; Notes on the Interviews ; Interview Index ; Discography ; Bibliography

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 Seeger Discography, 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.

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.