Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s (Music in American Life)

In Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s, Ronald D. Cohen and Rachel Clare Donaldson present a transatlantic history of folk's midcentury resurgence that juxtaposes the related but distinct revivals that took place in the United States and Great Britain. After setting the stage with the work of music collectors in the nineteenth century, the authors explore the so-called recovery of folk music practices and performers by Alan Lomax and others, including journeys to and within the British Isles that allowed artists and folk music advocates to absorb native forms and facilitate the music's transatlantic exchange. Cohen and Donaldson place the musical and cultural connections of the twin revivals within the decade's social and musical milieu and grapple with the performers' leftist political agendas and artistic challenges, including the fierce debates over "authenticity" in practice and repertoire that erupted when artists like Harry Belafonte and the Kingston Trio carried folk into the popular music mainstream. From work songs to skiffle, from the Weavers in Greenwich Village to Burl Ives on the BBC, Roots of the Revival offers a frank and wide-ranging consideration of a time, a movement, and a transformative period in American and British pop culture.

Arts & Photography

Cohen, Mr. Ronald D

Donaldson, Rachel Clare

Music

University of Illinois Press

In this wide-ranging and accessible survey of American labor songs, Ronald D. Cohen chronicles the history behind the work songs of cowboys, sailors, hoboes, and others, as well as the singing culture of groups ranging from the Industrial Workers of the World to Pete Seeger's "People's Songs." He discusses protest songs, the links between labor songs and the Left, the importance of labor song leaders such as Joe Glazer, labor musicals and songsters, and the folk music movement from Lead Belly and the Almanac Singers through Woody Guthrie.

Work and Sing: A History of Occupational and Labor Union Songs in the United States

Business & Money

Economics

Carquinez Press

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