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Depression Folk: Grassroots Music and Left-Wing Politics in 1930s America

Online ISBN:
9781469628837
Print ISBN:
9781469628813
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press
Book

Depression Folk: Grassroots Music and Left-Wing Politics in 1930s America

Published:
12 September 2016
Online ISBN:
9781469628837
Print ISBN:
9781469628813
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press

Abstract

The role of folk music, broadly defined, during the trying years of the Great Depression in the United States, 1929–40, with a particular focus on the role of left-wing political groups and individuals. The government promoted a labor and cultural renaissance through the “alphabet stew” of federal programs, employing Charles Seeger, John and Alan Lomax, and numerous others in collecting folk music. Performers such as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, and many others connected vernacular music with commercial outlets such as concerts, record companies, and radio shows. Members of the Communist Party, in particular, used folk music to promote labor unions, civil rights, and a peace movement. Folk music remained a vital part of popular culture throughout the Depression years into World War II. There is a particular focus on the role that folk music played in the clash between capitalism and the emerging grassroots proletarian movements.

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