119-751: The Grammy Award for Best Americana Album is an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the Americana music genre at the Grammy Awards , a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in
238-630: A Gullah black spiritual dating from slavery days, was also introduced to wide audiences by Pete Seeger and the Weavers (in 1959), becoming a staple of Boy and Girl Scout campfires. In the late 1950s, the Kingston Trio was formed in direct imitation of (and homage to) the Weavers, covering much of the latter's repertoire, though with a more buttoned-down, uncontroversial, and mainstream collegiate persona. The Kingston Trio produced another phenomenal succession of Billboard chart hits and, in its turn, spawned
357-606: A March 26, 1957, indictment for contempt of Congress ; for some years, he had to keep the federal government apprised of where he was going any time he left the Southern District of New York. He was convicted in a jury trial of contempt of Congress in March 1961, and sentenced to ten one-year terms in jail (to be served simultaneously), but in May 1962, an appeals court ruled the indictment to be flawed and overturned his conviction. In 1960,
476-416: A Negro," "You can't live here 'cause you're a Jew," "You can't work here 'cause you're a union man." So, Mr. President, We got this one big job to do That's lick Mr. Hitler and when we're through, Let no one else ever take his place To trample down the human race. So what I want is you to give me a gun So we can hurry up and get the job done. Seeger's critics, however, continued to bring up
595-608: A Rendezvous with Death"), had been one of the first American soldiers to be killed in World War I . All four of Pete's half-siblings from his father's second marriage—Margaret (Peggy), Mike, Barbara, and Penelope (Penny)—became folk singers. Peggy Seeger , a well-known performer in her own right, married British folk singer and activist Ewan MacColl . Mike Seeger was a founder of the New Lost City Ramblers , one of whose members, John Cohen , married Pete's half-sister Penny, also
714-484: A Season)", which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement. "Flowers" was a hit recording for The Kingston Trio (1962); Marlene Dietrich , who recorded it in English, German and French (1962); and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963) while The Byrds had a number one hit with "Turn! Turn! Turn!" in 1965. Seeger
833-598: A career in journalism and took courses in art as well. His first musical gig was leading students in folk singing at the Dalton School , where his aunt was principal. He polished his performance skills during a summer stint of touring New York state with the Vagabond Puppeteers (Jerry Oberwager, 22; Mary Wallace, 22; and Harriet Holtzman, 23), a traveling puppet theater "inspired by rural education campaigns of post-revolutionary Mexico". One of their shows coincided with
952-709: A chorus of members of the Thälmann Battalion , made up of volunteers from Germany. The songs were "Moorsoldaten" (" Peat Bog Soldiers ", composed by political prisoners of German concentration camps); " Die Thaelmann-Kolonne ", "Hans Beimler", "Das Lied von der Einheitsfront" ("Song of the United Front" by Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht ), "Lied der Internationalen Brigaden" ("Song of the International Brigades"), and "Los cuatro generales" ("The Four Generals", known in English as "The Four Insurgent Generals"). As
1071-507: A controversial Almanac singer, the 21-year-old Seeger performed under the stage name "Pete Bowers" to avoid compromising his father's government career. In 1950, the Almanacs were reconstituted as the Weavers, named after the title of an 1892 play by Gerhart Hauptmann , about a workers' strike (which contained the lines "We'll stand it no more, come what may!"). They did benefits for strikers, at which they sang songs such as "Talking Union", about
1190-517: A covered baseball field. There the Seegers: watched square-dance teams from Bear Wallow , Happy Hollow, Cane Creek, Spooks Branch, Cheoah Valley, Bull Creek, and Soco Gap ; heard the five-string banjo player Samantha Bumgarner ; and family string bands, including a group of Indians from the Cherokee reservation who played string instruments and sang ballads. They wandered among the crowds who camped out at
1309-407: A driving rhythm that propels a song forward. The mandolin is a small, stringed instrument that is commonly used in folk and bluegrass music. Its bright, high-pitched sound adds a distinctive flavor to Americana music, and its fast, intricate playing can create a lively and upbeat feel. Mandolins are often played using a technique called tremolo , which involves rapidly picking the strings to create
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#17328590204561428-456: A favorite of Woody Guthrie, who was known to carry it around). Seeger toured Australia in 1963. His single " Little Boxes ", written by Malvina Reynolds, was number one in the nation's Top 40. That tour sparked a folk boom throughout the country at a time when popular music tastes, post– Kennedy assassination , competed between folk, the surfing craze , and the British rock boom that gave the world
1547-425: A folk "purist" who was one of the main opponents to Dylan's " going electric ", but when asked in 2001 about how he recalled his "objections" to the electric style, he said: I couldn't understand the words. I wanted to hear the words. It was a great song, " Maggie's Farm ," and the sound was distorted. I ran over to the guy at the controls and shouted, "Fix the sound so you can hear the words." He hollered back, "This
1666-624: A friend of his father's, at the Archive of American Folk Song of the Library of Congress . Seeger's job was to help Lomax sift through commercial " race " and " hillbilly " music and select recordings that best represented American folk music, a project funded by the music division of the Pan American Union (later the Organization of American States ), of whose music division his father, Charles Seeger,
1785-438: A full electric band. The award was first presented in 2010 to Levon Helm at the 52nd Grammy Awards for the album Electric Dirt . Lucinda Williams is the artist with most nominations (three) without a win (see below for a table with artists with most wins and nominations). Americana music Americana (also known as American roots music ) is an amalgam of American music formed by
1904-502: A legion of imitators, laying the groundwork for the 1960s commercial folk revival. In the documentary film Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2007), Seeger states that he resigned from the Weavers when the three other band members agreed to perform a jingle for a cigarette commercial . In 1948, Seeger wrote the first version of How to Play the Five-String Banjo , a book that many banjo players credit with starting them off on
2023-544: A lover of Americana, played " Cindy " and " Old Joe Clark " with his students Charlie and Jackson Pollock ; friends from the " hillbilly " recording industry; and avant-garde composers Carl Ruggles and Henry Cowell . It was at one of Benton's parties that Pete heard " John Henry " for the first time. Seeger enrolled at Harvard College on a partial scholarship, but as he became increasingly involved with politics and folk music, his grades suffered and he lost his scholarship. He dropped out of college in 1938. He dreamed of
2142-475: A new style of Americana music that blended elements of rock, folk, country, and blues. Rolling Stone notes that "Americana" first came to fashion as a descriptive musical phrase in the mid-Nineties, when a group of radio promoters and industry outsiders dispersed throughout Nashville, California and Texas sought to carve out a distinct marketplace for a wave of traditionally minded songwriters like Guy Clark, Darrell Scott and Jim Lauderdale, artists whose work
2261-454: A platoon on maneuvers in Louisiana during World War II. With its lyrics about a platoon being led into danger by an ignorant captain, the song's anti-war message was obvious—the line "the big fool said to push on" is repeated several times. In the face of arguments with the management of CBS about whether the song's political weight was in keeping with the usually light-hearted entertainment of
2380-511: A popular and commercial phenomenon begins with the career of The Weavers , formed in November 1948 by Pete Seeger , Lee Hays , Fred Hellerman , and Ronnie Gilbert of People's Songs , of which Seeger had been president and Hays executive secretary. The Kingston Trio , a group originating on the West Coast, were directly inspired by the Weavers in their style and presentation and covered some of
2499-537: A resonant chord between two precise notes, a melody note and a chiming note on the fifth string", Pete Seeger "gentrified" the more percussive traditional Appalachian "frailing" style, "with its vigorous hammering of the forearm and its percussive rapping of the fingernail on the banjo head". Although what Dunaway's informant describes is the age-old droned frailing style, the implication is that Seeger made this more acceptable to mass audiences by omitting some of its percussive complexities, while presumably still preserving
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#17328590204562618-644: A result of the financial success of high-profile commercial folk artists, record companies began to produce and distribute records by a new generation of folk revival and singer-songwriters Phil Ochs , Tom Paxton , Eric von Schmidt , Buffy Sainte-Marie , Dave Van Ronk , Judy Collins , Tom Rush , Fred Neil , Gordon Lightfoot , Billy Ed Wheeler , John Denver , John Stewart , Arlo Guthrie , Harry Chapin , and John Hartford , among others. Some of this wave had emerged from family singing and playing traditions, and some had not. These singers frequently prided themselves on performing traditional material in imitations of
2737-665: A self-described "split tenor" (between a tenor and a countertenor), Pete Seeger was a founding member of two highly influential folk groups: the Almanac Singers and the Weavers . The Almanac Singers, which Seeger co-founded in 1941 with Millard Lampell and Arkansas singer and activist Lee Hays , was a topical group, designed to function as a singing newspaper promoting the industrial unionization movement, racial and religious inclusion, and other progressive causes. Its personnel included, at various times: Woody Guthrie, Bess Lomax Hawes , Sis Cunningham , Josh White , and Sam Gary . As
2856-559: A sense of nostalgia and longing. Despite the genre's most common name, it is not practiced solely by artists from the United States, as numerous artists from Canada are also prominent in the genre. Canadian bands in the genre will sometimes be referred to as Canadiana rather than Americana in Canadian media, although this is not a widely recognized synonym elsewhere. A Norwegian scene is often referred to as Nordicana . Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014)
2975-573: A strike by dairy farmers. The group reprised its act in October in New York City. An article in the October 2, 1939, Daily Worker reported on the Puppeteers' six-week tour this way: During the entire trip the group never ate once in a restaurant. They slept out at night under the stars and cooked their own meals in the open, very often they were the guests of farmers. At rural affairs and union meetings,
3094-489: A sustained, shimmering sound. The fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument that is often used in Americana music. Its versatile sound can create both slow, mournful melodies and fast, lively rhythms. Fiddles are often played using a technique called "sawing," which involves rapidly moving the bow back and forth across the strings to create a driving rhythm. Fiddles can add a haunting quality to Americana music and can create
3213-814: A talented singer, who died young. Barbara Seeger joined her siblings in recording folk songs for children. In 1935, Pete attended Camp Rising Sun , an international leadership camp held every summer in upstate New York, which influenced his life's work. His final visit occurred in 2012. At four, Seeger was sent away to boarding school, but came home two years later when his parents learned the school had failed to inform them he had contracted scarlet fever . He attended first and second grades in Nyack, New York , where his mother lived, before entering boarding school in Ridgefield, Connecticut . Despite being classical musicians, his parents did not press him to play an instrument. On his own,
3332-736: A third-party candidate on the Progressive Party ticket. Despite having attracted enormous crowds nationwide, however, Wallace did not win any electoral votes, and following the election, he was excoriated for accepting the help in his campaign of Communists and fellow travelers, such as Seeger and singer Paul Robeson . Seeger had been a fervent supporter of the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War . In 1943, with Tom Glazer and Bess and Baldwin Hawes, he recorded an album of 78s called Songs of
3451-421: A variety of non commercial radio stations. The acoustic guitar is perhaps the most essential instrument in Americana music. It is often used to provide the rhythmic foundation of a song, as well as to accompany vocals and other instruments. In Americana music, the acoustic guitar is often played fingerstyle , which produces a warm and organic sound that is perfect for the genre's earthy, rootsy feel. The banjo
3570-732: Is KFAT in Gilroy, California, active from mid-1975 to January 1983, as described in the book Fat Chance , authored by Gilbert Klein in 2016 and published by MainFramePress.com. KFAT was succeeded by KHIP in Hollister CA, KPIG in Freedom CA, and Fat 99 KPHT-LP in Laytonville CA. Though some say Americana as a radio format had its origins in 1984 on KCSN ("college radio") in Northridge, California, but that did not happen until after KFAT, Gilroy went off
3689-415: Is a distinctive and essential instrument in Americana music. Its bright, twangy sound is instantly recognizable and often associated with Appalachian and bluegrass music also. Banjos are often played using a technique called clawhammer , which involves striking the strings with the back of the fingernail. The banjo adds a unique texture to Americana music, and its intricate, fast-paced playing can create
Grammy Award for Best Americana Album - Misplaced Pages Continue
3808-562: Is important is what we got to do, We got to lick Mr. Hitler, and until we do, Other things can wait. Now, as I think of our great land ... I know it ain't perfect, but it will be someday, Just give us a little time. This is the reason that I want to fight, Not 'cause everything's perfect, or everything's right. No, it's just the opposite: I'm fightin' because I want a better America, and better laws, And better homes, and jobs, and schools, And no more Jim Crow, and no more rules like "You can't ride on this train 'cause you're
3927-430: Is leading an unwilling people into a J.P. Morgan war". Eleanor Roosevelt, a fan of folk music, reportedly found the album "in bad taste", though President Roosevelt, when the album was shown to him, merely observed, correctly, as it turned out, that few people would ever hear it. More alarmist was the reaction of eminent German-born Harvard Professor of Government Carl Joachim Friedrich , an adviser on domestic propaganda to
4046-510: Is the way they want it." I said "Damn it, if I had an axe, I'd cut the cable right now." But I was at fault. I was the MC, and I could have said to the part of the crowd that booed Bob, "you didn't boo Howlin' Wolf yesterday. He was electric!" Though I still prefer to hear Dylan acoustic, some of his electric songs are absolutely great. Electric music is the vernacular of the second half of the twentieth century, to use my father's old term. One version of
4165-627: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour , the final lines were "Every time I read the paper/those old feelings come on/We are waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on." The lyrics could be interpreted as an allegory of Johnson as the "big fool" and the Vietnam War as the foreseeable danger. Although the performance was cut from the September 1967 show, after wide publicity, it
4284-635: The 12-string guitar , an instrument of Mexican origin that had been associated with Lead Belly , who had styled himself "the King of the 12-String Guitar". Seeger's distinctive custom-made guitars had a triangular soundhole. He combined the long scale length (approximately 28") and capo -to-key techniques that he favored on the banjo with a variant of drop-D (DADGBE) tuning , tuned two whole steps down with very heavy strings, which he played with thumb and finger picks. In 1956, Seeger and his wife, Toshi, traveled to Port of Spain , Trinidad , to seek out information on
4403-715: The American Revolution and married into the old New England family of Parsons in the 1780s. Seeger's father, the Harvard -trained composer and musicologist Charles Louis Seeger Jr. , was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to American parents. Charles established the first musicology curriculum in the United States at the University of California, Berkeley , in 1913; helped found the American Musicological Society ; and
4522-584: The American Songbag (1927), and later created significant original settings for eight of Sandburg's poems. Pete's eldest brother, Charles Seeger III, was a radio astronomer, and his next older brother, John Seeger, taught in the 1950s at the Dalton School in Manhattan and was the principal from 1960 to 1976 at Fieldston Lower School in the Bronx . Pete's uncle, Alan Seeger , a noted American war poet ("I Have
4641-530: The Americana Music Association , called the new category's inclusion "a huge acknowledgment" of the music genre. Hilly admitted to working hard at convincing the Academy to include Americana as its own category. The music industry had been using the term "Americana music" for about 15 years before the new award was created. Following is the award's purpose, according to the category description guide from
4760-460: The Nashville -dominated industry for a more lo-fi sound, frequently infused with a strong punk and rock and roll aesthetic. Alternative country drew on traditional American country music, the music of working people, preserved and celebrated by practitioners such as Woody Guthrie , Hank Williams , and The Carter Family , often cited as major influences. Another major influence was country rock ,
4879-522: The New School for Social Research . Career and money tensions led to quarrels and reconciliations, but when Charles discovered Constance had opened a secret bank account in her own name, they separated, and Charles took custody of their three sons. Beginning in 1936, Charles held various administrative positions in the federal government's Farm Resettlement program , the WPA 's Federal Music Project (1938–1940) and
Grammy Award for Best Americana Album - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-513: The Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, where he was backed by an electric band , was also a pivotal moment in the development of the genre. In the 1990s the term alternative country, paralleling alternative rock, began to be used to describe a diverse group of musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of mainstream country music. Many eschewed the increasingly polished production values and pop sensibilities of
5117-601: The San Diego school board told him that he could not play a scheduled concert at a high school unless he signed an oath pledging that the concert would not be used to promote a communist agenda or an overthrow of the government. Seeger refused, and the American Civil Liberties Union obtained an injunction against the school district, allowing the concert to go on as scheduled. Almost 50 years later, in February 2009,
5236-563: The UK Singles Chart . The single's success initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, during which a number of Byrds-influenced acts had hits on the American and British charts. The term "folk rock" was itself coined by the American music press to describe the band's sound in June 1965, at roughly the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at number 1 in the U.S. The commercial success of
5355-520: The guitar , banjo , fiddle , and upright bass , and their songs typically told stories about the struggles and hardships of everyday life. The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. The folk revival in New York City was rooted in the resurgent interest in square dancing and folk dancing there in the 1940s as espoused by instructors such as Margot Mayo , which gave musicians such as Pete Seeger popular exposure. The folk revival more generally as
5474-666: The instrument . He went on to invent the long-neck or Seeger banjo. This instrument is three frets longer than a typical banjo, is slightly longer than a bass guitar at 25 frets, and is tuned a minor third lower than the normal 5-string banjo. Hitherto strictly limited to the Appalachian region, the five-string banjo became known nationwide as the American folk instrument par excellence, largely thanks to Seeger's championing of and improvements to it. According to an unnamed musician quoted in David King Dunaway 's biography, "by nesting
5593-538: The steelpan , sometimes called a steel drum, or "ping-pong". The two searched out a local panyard director, Isaiah, and proceeded to film the construction, tuning and playing of the then-new national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. He was attempting to include the unique flavor of the steelpan in American folk music. In the 1950s, and indeed consistently throughout his life, Seeger continued his support of civil and labor rights, racial equality, international understanding, and anti-militarism (all of which had characterized
5712-405: The 1963 and 64 Newport Folk Festivals . For example, traditionalist Clarence Ashley introduced folk revivalists to the music of friends of his who still actively played the older music, such as Doc Watson and The Stanley Brothers . In the 1950s and 1960s, folk revival music began to evolve and incorporate elements of rock and roll and other popular music styles. Artists such as Bob Dylan and
5831-399: The 1965 Newport Folk Festival that he threatened to disconnect the equipment. There are multiple versions of what went on, some fanciful. What is certain is that tensions had been running high between Dylan's manager Albert Grossman and Festival board members (who besides Seeger also included Theodore Bikel , Bruce Jackson , Alan Lomax , festival MC Peter Yarrow , and George Wein ) over
5950-417: The 2018 Grammy Awards: Americana is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music and vocal styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues, resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses
6069-562: The 50-mile walk from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, along with 1,000 other marchers. By this time, Seeger was a senior figure in the 1960s folk revival centered in Greenwich Village , as a longtime columnist in Sing Out! , the successor to the People's Songs Bulletin , and as a founder of the topical Broadside magazine. To describe the new crop of politically committed folk singers, he coined
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#17328590204566188-638: The Almanacs cut several albums of 78s on Keynote and other labels: Songs for John Doe (recorded in late February or March and released in May 1941), Talking Union , and an album each of sea shanties and pioneer songs. Written by Millard Lampell, Songs for John Doe was performed by Lampell, Seeger, and Hays, joined by Josh White and Sam Gary. It contained lines, such as "It wouldn't be much thrill to die for Du Pont in Brazil," that were sharply critical of Roosevelt 's unprecedented peacetime draft (enacted in September 1940). This anti-war/anti-draft tone reflected
6307-408: The Almanacs had been, and its progressive message was couched in indirect language. The Weavers on occasion performed in tuxedos (unlike the Almanacs, who had dressed informally) and their managers refused to let them perform at political venues. The Weavers' string of major hits began with " On Top of Old Smoky " and an arrangement of Lead Belly 's signature waltz, " Goodnight, Irene ", which topped
6426-624: The Almanacs' repudiated Songs for John Doe . In 1942, a year after the John Doe album's brief appearance (and disappearance), the FBI decided that the now-pro-war Almanacs were still endangering the war effort by subverting recruitment. According to the New York World Telegram (February 14, 1942), Carl Friedrich's 1941 article "The Poison in Our System" was printed up as a pamphlet and distributed by
6545-464: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones , among others. Folk clubs sprang up all over the nation; folk performers were accepted in established venues; Australian performers singing Australian folk songs—many of their own composing—emerged in concerts and festivals, on television, and on recordings; and overseas performers were encouraged to tour Australia. The long television blacklist of Seeger began to end in
6664-520: The Beers Family, Roscoe Holcomb , Malvina Reynolds , Sonia Malkine, and Shawn Phillips . Thirty-nine hour-long programs were recorded at WNJU 's Newark studios in 1965 and 1966, produced by Seeger and his wife Toshi, with Sholom Rubinstein. The Smothers Brothers ended Seeger's national blacklisting by broadcasting him singing " Waist Deep in the Big Muddy " on their CBS variety show on February 25, 1968, after his similar performance in September 1967
6783-524: The Byrds began blending traditional folk and country music with electric guitars and drums, creating a new sound that came to be known as folk rock . On January 20, 1965, the Byrds entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to record Bob Dylan's acoustic tune "Mr. Tambourine Man" for release as their debut single on Columbia. The full, electric rock band treatment that the Byrds and producer Terry Melcher had given
6902-473: The Byrds' cover version of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and their debut album of the same name , along with Dylan's own recordings with rock instrumentation—on the albums Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966)—encouraged other folk acts, such as Simon & Garfunkel , to use electric backing on their records and new groups, such as Buffalo Springfield , to form. Dylan's controversial appearance at
7021-610: The Communist Party line after the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which maintained that the war was "phony" and a mere pretext for big American corporations to get Hitler to attack Soviet Russia. Seeger has said he believed this line of argument at the time, as did many fellow members of the Young Communist League (YCL). Though nominally members of the Popular Front , which was allied with Roosevelt and more moderate liberals,
7140-657: The Council for Democracy (an organization that Friedrich and Henry Luce 's right-hand man, C. D. Jackson , Vice President of Time magazine, had founded "to combat all the Nazi, fascist, communist, pacifist" antiwar groups in the United States). Seeger served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific . He was trained as an airplane mechanic, but was reassigned to entertain the American troops with music. Later, when people asked him what he did in
7259-693: The Lincoln Battalion on Moe Asch's Stinson label. This included such songs as " There's a Valley in Spain Called Jarama " and " Viva la Quince Brigada ". In 1960, this collection was re-issued by Moe Asch as one side of a Folkways LP called Songs of the Lincoln and International Brigades . On the other side was a reissue of the legendary Six Songs for Democracy (originally recorded in Barcelona in 1938 while bombs were falling), performed by Ernst Busch and
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#17328590204567378-749: The Newport Festival controversy, as well as a glowing depiction of Seeger's early 1960s efforts to boost an unknown Bob Dylan, is dramatized in the 2024 feature film A Complete Unknown , where Edward Norton plays Pete Seeger. A longstanding opponent of the arms race and of the Vietnam War, Seeger satirically attacked then-President Lyndon Johnson with his 1966 recording, on the album Dangerous Songs!? , of Len Chandler 's children's song " Beans in My Ears ". Beyond Chandler's lyrics, Seeger said that "Mrs. Jay's little son Alby" had "beans in his ears", which, as
7497-440: The San Diego School District officially extended an apology to Seeger for the actions of its predecessors. To earn money during the blacklist period of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Seeger worked gigs as a music teacher in schools and summer camps, and traveled the college campus circuit. He also recorded as many as five albums a year for Moe Asch 's Folkways Records label. As the nuclear disarmament movement picked up steam in
7616-482: The Scorchers , and in the 1980s Southern Californian cowpunk scene with bands like the Long Ryders and X , and the Minneapolis-based band the Jayhawks . X signed with major label Elektra in 1982 and released Under the Big Black Sun , which marked a departure from their trademark sound. While still fast and loud, with raw punk guitars, the album displayed evolving country leanings. The Scorchers released their debut, D.I.Y. EP, Reckless Country Soul , in 1982 on
7735-415: The United States military. In a review in the June 1941 Atlantic Monthly , entitled "The Poison in Our System", he pronounced Songs for John Doe "strictly subversive and illegal", "whether Communist or Nazi financed", and "a matter for the attorney general", observing further that "mere" legal "suppression" would not be sufficient to counteract this type of populist poison, the poison being folk music and
7854-425: The Wallace campaign), and he continued to believe that songs could help people achieve these goals. However, with the ever-growing revelations of Joseph Stalin 's atrocities and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 , he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet Socialism. He left the CPUSA in 1949, but remained friends with some who did not leave it, although he argued with them about it. On August 18, 1955, Seeger
7973-455: The Weavers' material, which was predominantly traditional. The Kingston Trio's popularity would be followed by that of Joan Baez , whose debut album Joan Baez reached the top ten in late 1960 and remained on the Billboard charts for over two years. It was not long before the folk-music category came to include less traditional material and more personal and poetic creations by individual performers, who called themselves "singer-songwriters". As
8092-461: The YCL's members still smarted from Roosevelt and Churchill 's arms embargo on Loyalist Spain (which Roosevelt later called a mistake), and the alliance frayed in the confusing welter of events. A June 16, 1941, review in Time magazine, which, under its owner, Henry Luce , had become very interventionist, denounced the Almanacs' John Doe , accusing it of scrupulously echoing what it called "the mendacious Moscow tune" that "Franklin Roosevelt
8211-549: The air when it was sold and the format changed. Mark Humphrey, a contributor to country/folk Frets magazine, hosted a weekly radio show called "Honky Tonk Amnesia" which played "country, folk, honky tonk, cajun, dawg, blues, and old-time music", a combination that the country music station KCSN advertised as "Americana". The format came into its own in the mid-1990s as a descriptive phrase used by radio promoters and music industry figures for traditionally-oriented songwriters and performers. Americana type radio shows can be heard on
8330-418: The beauty of this music firsthand was a "conversion experience". Pete was deeply affected and, after learning basic strokes from Lunsford, spent much of the next four years trying to master the five-string banjo. The teenage Seeger also sometimes accompanied his parents to regular Saturday evening gatherings at the Greenwich Village loft of painter and art teacher Thomas Hart Benton and his wife Rita. Benton,
8449-401: The characteristic driving rhythmic quality associated with the style. Inspired by his mentor Woody Guthrie, whose guitar was labeled " This machine kills fascists ", Seeger emblazoned his banjo head in 1952 with the slogan "This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces It to Surrender", writing those words on every subsequent banjo he owned. From the late 1950s on, Seeger also accompanied himself on
8568-530: The charts for 13 weeks in 1950 and was covered by many other pop singers. On the flip side of "Irene" was the Israeli song " Tzena, Tzena, Tzena ". Other Weavers hits included "Dusty Old Dust" ("So Long It's Been Good to Know You" by Woody Guthrie) , " Kisses Sweeter Than Wine " (by Hays, Seeger, and Lead Belly), and the Zulu song by Solomon Linda , " Wimoweh " (about Shaka ), among others. The Weavers' performing career
8687-568: The confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States of America, with particular emphasis on music historically developed in the American South . The term "Americana music" was defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as "…the rich threads of country , folk , blues , soul , bluegrass , gospel , and rock in our tapestry." A previous 2016 AMA definition of
8806-502: The cultural and social landscape of the United States, and it continues to reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people. In recent years, the genre has incorporated more influences from blues, R&B, and soul, in addition to the country and folk elements that have always been prominent. In 2017 Rolling Stone published an article claiming that Americana was having an "identity crisis," which focused on changing definitions and efforts to promote ethnic diversity in
8925-786: The ease with which it could be spread. While the U.S. had not officially declared war on the Axis powers in the summer of 1941, the country was energetically producing arms and ammunition for its allies overseas. Despite the boom in manufacturing this concerted rearming effort brought, African Americans were barred from working in defense plants. Racial tensions rose as Black labor leaders (such as A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin ) and their white allies began organizing protests and marches. To combat this social unrest, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 (the Fair Employment Act) on 25 June 1941. The order came three days after Hitler broke
9044-451: The edge of the field, hearing music being made there as well. As Lunsford's daughter would later recall, those country people "held the riches that Dad had discovered. They could sing, fiddle, pick the banjos, and guitars with traditional grace and style found nowhere else but deep in the mountains. I can still hear those haunting melodies drift over the ball park." For the Seegers, experiencing
9163-447: The farm women would bring "suppers" and would vie with each other to see who could feed the troupe most, and after the affair the farmers would have earnest discussions about who would have the honor of taking them home for the night. "They fed us too well", the girls reported. "And we could live the entire winter just by taking advantage of all the offers to spend a week on the farm". In the farmers' homes they talked about politics and
9282-455: The farmers' problems, about antisemitism and Unionism, about war and peace and social security—"and always", the puppeteers report, "the farmers wanted to know what can be done to create a stronger unity between themselves and city workers". They felt the need of this more strongly than ever before, and the support of the CIO in their milk strike has given them a new understanding and a new respect for
9401-645: The genre (which was somewhat of a niche, in the shadow of country and rock) and made it mainstream. In 2011, the genre was officially inducted into the Merriam-Webster dictionary. In modern times, Americana music continues to evolve and expand, as new generations of artists continue to draw inspiration from the rich history and cultural traditions of the United States. The instrumentation of Americana music continues to be characterized by acoustic guitars, fiddles, banjos, mandolins, and harmonicas, as well as electric guitars and drums. The genre remains deeply rooted in
9520-576: The genre included rhythm and blues , with additional comments that Americana music results "in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band." The origins of Americana music can be traced back to the early 20th century, when rural American musicians began incorporating elements of folk, blues, and country music into their songs. Americana musicians often played acoustic instruments such as
9639-491: The genre. In 2014, traditional country musician Dale Watson formed the Ameripolitan Music Awards, focused on the genres of honky tonk , outlaw , Western swing , and rockabilly , on the premise that these genres can no longer be properly categorized as country or Americana, thus necessitating the creation of a new term, "Ameripolitan". The radio station laying the best claim to the Americana radio format origins
9758-480: The grounds that this would violate his First Amendment rights: "I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this." Seeger's refusal to answer questions that he believed violated his fundamental constitutional rights led to
9877-423: The high harmony. Additionally, Richie Unterberger has stated that the song's abstract lyrics took rock and pop songwriting to new heights; never before had such intellectual and literary wordplay been combined with rock instrumentation by a popular music group. Within three months " Mr. Tambourine Man " had become the first folk rock smash hit , reaching number one on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and
9996-601: The independent Praxis label. But these styles merged fully in Uncle Tupelo 's 1990 LP No Depression , which is widely credited as being the first "alt-country" album, and gave its name to the online notice board and eventually magazine that underpinned the movement. In the 1990s and 2000s, Americana music underwent a resurgence in popularity, as a new generation of artists began incorporating elements of traditional American music into their songs. Artists such as Wilco , Lucinda Williams , and Gillian Welch helped to popularise
10115-620: The late 1950s and early 1960s, Seeger's anti-war songs, such as " Where Have All the Flowers Gone? " (co-written with Joe Hickerson ), " Turn! Turn! Turn! " adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes , and " The Bells of Rhymney " by the Welsh poet Idris Davies (1957), gained wide currency. Seeger was the first person to make a studio recording of " Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream " in 1956. Seeger also
10234-446: The lyrics imply, ensures that a person does not hear what is said to them. To those opposed to continuing the Vietnam War , the phrase implied that "Alby Jay", a loose pronunciation of Johnson's nickname "LBJ", did not listen to anti-war protests as he too had "beans in his ears". During 1966, Seeger and Malvina Reynolds took part in environmental activism. The album God Bless the Grass
10353-557: The mid-1960s when he hosted a regionally broadcast educational folk-music television show, Rainbow Quest . Among his guests were Johnny Cash , June Carter , Reverend Gary Davis , Mississippi John Hurt , Doc Watson , the Stanley Brothers , Elizabeth Cotten , Patrick Sky , Buffy Sainte-Marie , Tom Paxton , Judy Collins , Hedy West , Donovan , The Clancy Brothers , Richard Fariña and Mimi Fariña , Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee , Mamou Cajun Band, Bernice Johnson Reagon ,
10472-492: The non-aggression pact and invaded the Soviet Union, at which time the Communist Party quickly directed its members to get behind the draft and forbade participation in strikes for the duration of the war—angering some leftists. Copies of Songs for John Doe were removed from sale, and the remaining inventory destroyed, though a few copies may exist in the hands of private collectors. The Almanac Singers' Talking Union album, on
10591-436: The other hand, was reissued as an LP by Folkways (FH 5285A) in 1955 and is still available. The following year, the Almanacs issued Dear Mr. President , an album in support of Roosevelt and the war effort. The title song, "Dear Mr. President", was a solo by Pete Seeger, and its lines expressed his lifelong credo: Now, Mr. President, We haven't always agreed in the past, I know, But that ain't at all important now. What
10710-595: The otherwise bookish and withdrawn boy gravitated to the ukulele , becoming adept at entertaining his classmates with it while laying the basis for his subsequent remarkable audience rapport. At thirteen, Seeger enrolled in the Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Connecticut , from which he graduated in 1936. He was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun , the George E. Jonas Foundation 's international summer leadership program. During
10829-716: The phrase "Woody's children", alluding to his associate and traveling companion, Woody Guthrie, who by this time had become a legendary figure. This urban folk-revival movement, a continuation of the activist tradition of the 1930s and 1940s and of People's Songs , used adaptations of traditional tunes and lyrics to effect social change, a practice that goes back to the Industrial Workers of the World or Wobblies' Little Red Song Book , compiled by Swedish-born union organizer Joe Hill (1879–1915) (the Little Red Song Book had been
10948-535: The power that lies in solidarity. One summer has convinced us that a minimum of organized effort on the part of city organizations—unions, consumers' bodies, the American Labor Party and similar groups—can not only reach the farmers but weld them into a pretty solid front with city folks that will be one of the best guarantees for progress. That fall, Seeger took a job in Washington, D.C., assisting Alan Lomax ,
11067-643: The progressive City and Country School in Greenwich Village , New York. In 1936, at the age of 17, Pete Seeger joined the Young Communist League (YCL), then at the height of its influence. In 1942, he became a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) itself, but he left in 1949. In the spring of 1941, the twenty-one-year-old Seeger performed as a member of the Almanac Singers along with Millard Lampell, Cisco Houston , Woody Guthrie , Butch Hawes and Bess Lomax Hawes , and Lee Hays. Seeger and
11186-537: The public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament , civil rights , counterculture , workers' rights , and environmental causes . A prolific songwriter, his best-known songs include " Where Have All the Flowers Gone? " (with additional lyrics by Joe Hickerson ), " If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (with Lee Hays of the Weavers), " Kisses Sweeter Than Wine " (also with Hays), and " Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is
11305-527: The recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position". In 2009, the Academy announced that the award for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album would be split into two separate categories: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album. The distinction between the two award categories is based on the use of acoustic versus electric instruments ; acoustic instruments predominate in "contemporary folk" and electric instruments are characteristic of Americana. Jed Hilly, executive director of
11424-481: The result of fusing country music with a rock & roll sound. The artist most commonly thought to have originated country rock is Gram Parsons (who referred to his sound as "Cosmic American Music"), although Michael Nesmith , Steve Earle and Gene Clark are frequently identified as important innovators. The third factor was punk rock , which supplied an energy and DIY attitude . Attempts to combine punk and country had been pioneered by Nashville 's Jason and
11543-400: The scheduling of performers and other matters. Two days earlier, there had been a scuffle and a brief exchange of blows between Grossman and Alan Lomax, and the board, in an emergency session, had voted to ban Grossman from the grounds, but had backed off when George Wein pointed out that Grossman also managed highly popular draws Odetta and Peter, Paul and Mary . Seeger has been portrayed as
11662-483: The song effectively created the template for the musical subgenre of folk rock . McGuinn's melodic, jangling 12-string Rickenbacker guitar playing—which was heavily compressed to produce an extremely bright and sustained tone—was immediately influential and has remained so to the present day. The single also featured another major characteristic of the band's sound: their clear harmony singing , which usually featured McGuinn and Clark in unison , with Crosby providing
11781-450: The struggles for unionisation of industrial workers such as miners and automobile workers. Besides Pete Seeger (performing under his own name), members of the Weavers included charter Almanac member Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert , and Fred Hellerman ; later Frank Hamilton , Erik Darling , and Bernie Krause serially took Seeger's place. In the atmosphere of the 1950s red scare, the Weavers' repertoire had to be less overtly topical than that of
11900-468: The style of the source singers whom they had discovered, frequently by listening to Harry Smith 's celebrated LP compilation of forgotten or obscure commercial 78rpm "race" and "hillbilly" recordings of the 1920s and 30s, the Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music (1951). A number of the artists who had made these old recordings were still very much alive and had been "rediscovered" and brought to
12019-463: The summer of 1936, while traveling with his father and stepmother, Pete heard the five-string banjo for the first time at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in western North Carolina near Asheville , organized by local folklorist , lecturer, and traditional music performer Bascom Lamar Lunsford , whom Charles Seeger had hired for Farm Resettlement music projects. The festival took place in
12138-535: The war, he always answered: "I strummed my banjo." After returning from service, Seeger and others established People's Songs , conceived as a nationwide organization with branches on both coasts and designed to "create, promote and distribute songs of labor and the American People". With Pete Seeger as its director, People's Songs worked for the 1948 presidential campaign of Roosevelt's former Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President, Henry A. Wallace , who ran as
12257-579: The wartime Pan American Union . After World War II , he taught ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University . Charles and Constance divorced when Pete was seven and in 1932 Charles married his composition student and assistant, Ruth Crawford , now considered by many to be one of the most important modernist composers of the 20th century. Deeply interested in folk music, Ruth had contributed musical arrangements to Carl Sandburg 's extremely influential folk song anthology,
12376-564: The world, was formed in 1999. It is a network for Americana artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others with the goal of developing an infrastructure that will boost visibility and economic viability. The 2010s saw several musical groups connected with Americana music finding their way on to the Billboard charts. Bands like Mumford and Sons , The Lumineers and The Avett Brothers helped bring contemporary Americana to more people than ever before. Their popularity as artists took
12495-877: Was a key founder of the academic discipline of ethnomusicology . Pete's mother, Constance de Clyver Seeger (née Edson), raised in Tunisia and trained at the Paris Conservatory of Music , was a concert violinist and later a teacher at the Juilliard School . In 1912, his father, Charles Seeger, was hired to establish the music department at the University of California, Berkeley, but was forced to resign in 1918 because of his outspoken pacifism during World War I . Charles and Constance moved back east, making Charles's parents' estate in Patterson, New York , about 50 miles north of New York City, their base of operations. When baby Pete
12614-429: Was abruptly derailed in 1953, at the peak of their popularity, when blacklisting prompted radio stations to refuse to play their records and all their bookings were canceled. They briefly returned to the stage, however, at a sold-out reunion at Carnegie Hall in 1955 and in a subsequent reunion tour , which produced a hit version of Merle Travis 's " Sixteen Tons ", as well as LPs of their concert performances. " Kumbaya ",
12733-475: Was an American folk singer-songwriter, musician and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, and had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers , notably their recording of Lead Belly 's " Goodnight, Irene ," which topped the charts for 14 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era . In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on
12852-508: Was broadcast when Seeger appeared again on the Smothers' Brothers show on February 25, 1968. At the November 15, 1969, Vietnam Moratorium March on Washington, DC, Seeger led 500,000 protesters in singing John Lennon 's song " Give Peace a Chance " as they rallied across from the White House. Seeger's voice carried over the crowd, interspersing phrases like "Are you listening, Nixon ?" between
12971-576: Was censored by CBS. In November 1976, Seeger wrote and recorded the anti-death penalty song "Delbert Tibbs", about the death-row inmate Delbert Tibbs , who was later exonerated . Seeger wrote the music and selected the words from poems written by Tibbs. Seeger also supported the Jewish Camping Movement. He came to Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring, New York , over the summer many times. He sang and inspired countless campers. Pete Seeger
13090-709: Was closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement and in 1963 helped organize a landmark Carnegie Hall concert, featuring the youthful Freedom Singers , as a benefit for the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. This event, and Martin Luther King Jr. 's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August of that same year, brought the civil rights anthem " We Shall Overcome " to wide audiences. He sang it on
13209-537: Was eighteen months old, they set out with him and his two older brothers in a homemade trailer to bring musical uplift to the working people in the American South. Upon their return, Constance taught violin and Charles taught composition at the New York Institute of Musical Art (later Juilliard ), whose president, family friend Frank Damrosch , was Constance's adoptive "uncle". Charles also taught part-time at
13328-561: Was he who changed the lyric from the traditional "We will overcome" to the more singable "We shall overcome". Seeger was born on May 3, 1919, at the French Hospital , in New York City. His family, which Seeger called "enormously Christian, in the Puritan , Calvinist New England tradition", traced its genealogy back over 200 years. A paternal ancestor, Karl Ludwig Seeger, a physician from Württemberg , Germany, had emigrated to America during
13447-443: Was head (1938–1953). Lomax also encouraged Seeger's folk-singing vocation, and Seeger was soon appearing as a regular performer on Alan Lomax and Nicholas Ray 's weekly Columbia Broadcasting show Back Where I Come From (1940–41) alongside Josh White , Burl Ives , Lead Belly , and Woody Guthrie (whom he had first met at Will Geer 's Grapes of Wrath benefit concert for migrant workers on March 3, 1940). Back Where I Come From
13566-403: Was no longer being served by a country music industry riding high on Garth Brooks and Shania Twain. This new style of music reflected a renewed interest in traditional American music forms, and it helped to establish Americana music as a distinct and important genre in its own right. The Americana Music Association, a not-for-profit trade organization advocating for American Roots Music around
13685-487: Was one of the earliest backers of Bob Dylan ; he was responsible for urging A&R man John Hammond to produce Dylan's first LP on Columbia , and for inviting him to perform at the Newport Folk Festival , of which Seeger was a board member. There was a widely repeated story that Seeger was so upset over the extremely loud amplified sound that Dylan, backed by members of the Butterfield Blues Band , brought into
13804-620: Was one of the folk singers responsible for popularizing the spiritual " We Shall Overcome " (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists), which became the acknowledged anthem of the civil rights movement , soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In the PBS American Masters episode " Pete Seeger: The Power of Song ", Seeger said it
13923-475: Was released in January of that year and became the first album in history wholly dedicated to songs about environmental issues. Their politics were informed by the same ideologies of nationalism, populism, and criticism of big business. Seeger attracted wider attention starting in 1967 with his song " Waist Deep in the Big Muddy ", about a captain —referred to in the lyrics as "the big fool"—who drowned while leading
14042-676: Was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Alone among the many witnesses after the 1950 conviction and imprisonment of the Hollywood Ten for contempt of Congress, Seeger refused to plead the Fifth Amendment (which would have asserted that his testimony might be self-incriminating) and instead, as the Hollywood Ten had done, refused to name personal and political associations on
14161-453: Was unique in having a racially integrated cast. The show was a success, but was not picked up by commercial sponsors for nationwide broadcasting because of its integrated cast. During the war , Seeger also performed on nationwide radio broadcasts by Norman Corwin . From 1942 to 1945, Seeger served in the Army , as an Entertainment Specialist. In 1949, Seeger worked as the vocal instructor for
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