Events

Photo from Fred Stein Archive

“THE MUSIC NOBODY KNOWS”: THE FOLK BOOM OF 1930s NEW YORK

In this ~90-minute webinar, we’ll explore the webs of connection among the loose collective of Depression-era critics, impresarios, and musicians in the cultural hive of New York City who were at the forefront of professionalizing and institutionalizing vernacular American music, ushering it into the popular culture mainstream at a time when the meaning of what it meant to be an American was being challenged and re-evaluated.

We’ll share and contextualize recordings that fit contemporaneous definitions of folk music, from the From Spirituals to Swing concert, as well as early records by The Almanac Singers (Pete Seeger, et al), Teddy Wilson, Josh White, and Billie Holiday – foundational recordings and moments in time that informed the midcentury folk and blues boom and continue to inspire today.

 

Presented by Brendan Hogan.

This is a WUMB Members-Only Virtual Webinar via Zoom. Send us an email at wumb.membership@umb.edu to request the registration link!