Depression Folk: Grassroots Music and Left-Wing Politics in 1930s America
Ronald D. Cohen
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 Comm ... More
Keywords: Great Depression, Dust Bowl, Woody Guthrie, Communist Party, Popular Music, Country Music, Blues Music, Jazz
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 | Print ISBN-13: 9781469628813 |
| Published to North Carolina Scholarship Online: January 2017 | DOI:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469628813.001.0001 |
