There is a long history of political protest within music, and this is particularly true of folk music, whose traditions are in a sense owned by and express the life and times of the common man. This tendency has gradually gained strength in modern times as freedom of speech has become enshrined within western democracies.

The first distinctive writer within this genre in 20th century America was Aunt Molly Jackson, whose Hungry Ragged Blues and Poor Miner's Farewell are hard-hitting union songs. Several years after those recordings were made the musicologists John and Alan Lomax uncovered a major talent in Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) serving time in a Louisiana penitentiary. While not politically motivated, Leadbelly's experiences in the southern States made him passionate about human rights, and this element within his music influenced Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger in particular, whose powerful output in turn sparked a folk revival of the 1950's.
Leading players here were The Kingston Trio, whose versions of Guthrie's Hard Ain't It Hard and the Appalachian murder ballad Tom Dooley achieved unprecedented success, bursting the dam on a huge pent-up demand, and opening the door for a legion of new performers and writers as record companies scoured the country in search of new acts to record. Prominent amongst these legions were Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, and a young boy from Duluth, the poetic genius Bob Dylan.

In the wake of Dylan and rock & roll the musical landscape changed almost beyond recognition, the flame of traditional folk flickering and dimming with the emergence of folk rock, the more introspective approach of contemporary singer/songwriters, and the increasing use of pop production techniques in folk styles. But innovative artists with something to say such as Buffy Ste.Marie, or a different perspective like French-Canadian sisters Kate & Anna McGarrigle, humour and insight like Loudon Wainwright III or John Prine, an alternative modern view such as Michelle Shocked and Shawn Colvin, or just sheer guts and attitude like Ani DiFranco, continue to take the tradition forward.

{back}      {next}