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Resources |
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Books -- Oral Histories -- Publications -- Articles -- Photographers -- Recordings -- Archives |
- Alarik, Scott (2003). Deep Community: Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground. Cambridge, Mass: Black Wolf Press.
- This is a compilation of articles Alarik has written as folk critic for the Boston Globe and other publications. Interviews with hundreds of folk musicians, folk record producers, and other key players in the folk music scene.
- Baez, Joan (1987). And A Voice to Sing With: a Memoir. New York: Summit Books.
- Joan Baez' second autobiographical account (the first was Daybreak), which includes her mecca to Boston University, her performances at the Golden Vanity and Club 47, and an account of the watershed performance at Newport Folk Festival 1959 that launched her to fame.
- Cohen, Ronald D. (2002). Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival & American Society, 1940-1970. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
- A close examination of the multifarious roots of the folk revival – the left-wing politics of the 1930s and 1940s, bluegrass, country music, sea shanties and cowboy songs, blues and more.
- Gahr, David, and Robert Shelton (1968). The Face of Folk Music. New York: Citadel Press.
- A gorgeous collection of black and white photographs of folk personalities taken by David Gahr accompanied by Robert Shelton's well-written essays. Out-of-print, but several libraries carry it.
- Hajdu, David (2001). Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
- Biography of this dynamic foursome, with lots of references to the Cambridge folk scene during the revival.
- Harris, Craig (1991). The New Folk Music. Crown Point, Ind.: White Cliffs Media Company.
- A collection of essays and photographs on "the old school" folkies, luminaries in the singer-songwriter camp which emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, and prominent performers of bluegrass, blues, new age, Cajun, and Celtic music who appeal to the folk crowd.
- Rahn, Mildred L. (1993). Club 47: An Historical Ethnography of a Folk-Revival Venue in North America, 1958-1968. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1993.
- A master's degree dissertation on the folk revival in Cambridge and Boston. Rahn is a folklorist and the Club Passim Archive Project Coordinator. She is currently working on a book called Let Us Gather By the River: Club 47 and the Folk Revival, which will be published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2004.
- Von Schmidt, Eric, & Rooney, Jim (1994). Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years (2nd ed.). Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
- The definitive work on the folk revival as it occurred in Cambridge and Boston, with an emphasis on Club 47.
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 Cover of Baby Let Me Follow You Down |
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This is a small subset of people who have been interviewed about the folk revival as it happened in Boston and Cambridge. For more information, contact Marcy Maiorana.
- Bill Staines
- Staines, a folk performer who became prominent in the 1970s and still performs widely, talks about going to Club 47 as a high school student in this oral history excerpt.
- Scott Alarik
- In this oral history excerpt, Alarik, folk musician and folk music critic for the Boston Globe, talks about his musical influences growing up during the folk revival.
- Betsy Siggins Schmidt
- Siggins Schmidt discusses her role as manager of Club 47, her remembrances of the infamous booing incident at Newport Folk Festival 1965 when Dylan played electric guitar, and recounts hearing Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream" speech while driving cross-country with Joan Baez.
- Peter Stanley
- Stanley, a Harvard student during the late fifties and early sixties, tells of stringing up antenna in his dorm room so he could receive WWVA, a bluegrass station in West Virginia. He relates a good story about being so bewitched by Joan Baez upon first hearing her that he dropped the microphone he was recording her with.
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 Peter Stanley at Harvard |
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- The Boston Broadside
- Better than any other publication, the Boston Broadside intimately recorded the burgeoning folk scene in Boston and Cambridge from 1962-1968. With an underground look and feel, each issue is a treasure for its photography, artwork, down-to-earth reviews and gritty letters to the editor. Healey Library at University of Massachusetts, Boston has many issues.
- Harvard Crimson Archives
- Now online, the Crimson contains a few interesting articles on the Club 47 era, chronicling its opening in 1958 and closing in 1968. A great way to get a glimpse of what was happening on the folk music (among other types of music) front on any given date. (1873-present)
- Sing Out!
- Since the start of its publication in 1950, Sing Out! has been a comprehensive guide to the world of folk music. Each issue contains articles, reviews, festival and venue listings, songsheets, instrument tutorials, and more. (1950-present)
- Dirty Linen
- According to its splash screen, Dirty Linen is an "American bimontly magazine that celebrates roots/traditional/folk/ world music." (1988-present)
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 Ramblin’ Jack Elliott on the cover of Boston Broadside |
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- Alarik, Scott (1999, January 15). A Legacy of Folk Past and Present Luminaries Celebrate 40 Years of Club Passim. Boston Globe.
- In honor of the 40th anniversary of Club Passim, Alarik wrote this retrospective piece on the club's metamorphosis from Club 47 to its current incarnation.
- The Cambridge Folkies
- Discusses the social and political environment in Boston/Cambridge in the early 1960s as the backdrop for the emergence of the folk scene.
- The History of Club Passim
- Focuses on Club Passim's history, with a few fun Q&A about famous names like Bonnie Raitt, who hung out in Harvard Square in the sixties.
- Smith, Ed (2002). Club 47 and the Early Cambridge Folk Scene
- Yet another set of reminiscences about Club 47 and a warm tribute to Dick and Mimi Fariña.
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 Scott Alarik publicity photo |
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- John Byrne Cooke
- As a member of the Charles River Valley Boys, a frequent act at Club 47, Cooke was a musician as well as a photographer. His subjects include folk and rock musicians of the 1960s, many of which were taken at the Newport Folk and Monterey Pop Festivals.
- Dick Waterman
- Waterman focuses on blues musicians, including many who played in Boston and Cambridge during the 1960s revival, such as Mississippi John Hurt and Muddy Waters.
- David Gahr
- Gahr has done the photography for various books on folk music. John Byrne Cooke has a photograph of Gahr in action at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival.
- Robert Corwin
- Corwin photographs artists across musical genres – folk, rock, blues, jazz, gospel, Cajun, and more. His photographs are archived at the American Folklife Center.
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 Self-portrait of John Cooke, 1965 |
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- Vanguard Records
- In 1959, Joan Baez turned down Columbia Records and signed with Vanguard Records, a much smaller label. Vanguard has a recording called Joan Baez Rare, Live & Classic, which has some tracks of Baez singing at Club 47. Another live album is by Jackie Washington, called Jackie Washington at Club 47, released in 1965.
- Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
- In 1987, the Smithsonian Institution acquired Folkways Records from the estate of Folkways founder Moe Asch. Folkways had established itself as a pioneer in the recording industry for its prolific recordings of roots music throughout the world. The collection includes recordings of live performances by Hobart Smith, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, and Mark Spoelstra in Boston/Cambridge during the folk revival era.
- Talkeetna Records
- Talkeetna is a tiny label in Richmond, Virginia, founded by Alfred Scott, the brother-in-law of Peter Stanley, who frequented the Cambridge coffeehouses as a performer and patron while a student at Harvard in the early 1960s. The centerpiece of the anthology is the first CD, Fire at Club 47, a collection of very raw, but very exciting recordings of Eric von Schmidt, Joan Baez, and others in the early sixties at Club 47.
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 Baez, "Live at Newport (1963-65)," Vanguard Records |
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- Club Passim Archive Project
- Documenting the last 50 years of folk music in New England, the archive contains oral histories with key personalities, photographs, letters, even an unfinished poem by Bob Dylan.
- Boston Rock & Roll Museum Online
- A unique, comprehensive chronicle of the Boston rock and roll scene, containing an online encyclopedia, online exhibits, MP3 files, and the fabulous History of Boston Rock & Roll, with a chapter on the Cambridge folkies.
- Archive of Folk Culture, Library of Congress American Folklife Center
- Established in 1928, an enormous repository for American folk music, consisting of photographs, recordings, manuscripts, and film. The archive has a few calendars from Club 47.
- Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
- Another formidable collection that documents the folk revival as well as folk music on a global scale. The archives contain lyrics, recordings, photographs, letters, videotape and film.
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 Ralph Rinzler |
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