Music History Notes PDF

Tin Pan Alley and Early Jazz For most of the nineteenth century in North America and Western Europe, popular song publishing was built around a sheet music trade. That means that music had to be performed in a home with individuals who possessed the skills to read and play instruments. In the US dur...

Tin Pan Alley and Early Jazz For most of the nineteenth century in North America and Western Europe, popular song publishing was built around a sheet music trade. That means that music had to be performed in a home with individuals who possessed the skills to read and play instruments. In the US during the 1890s, organizers of the variety entertainment known as vaudeville and theatrical producers focused their offices and businesses in NYC. NYC eventually became the centre of the music publishing industry. Tin Pan Alley was located on West 28th Street in Manhattan, the area where music publishers set up shop became known as TIn Pan Alley, a name that would later stand for the kind of songs created there. Both the vaudeville circuit and Broadway relied on Tin Pan Alley songwriters for their music. They were called Tin Pan Alley because of all the pianos in the clubs and bars and how they were not partucualry in tune and sounded like baning on pipes and stuff. The instruments were only just good enough to be able to write music on and not much more, hence the name. The decade of 1890 dawned on a POPULAR MUSIC scene dominated by Victorian style ballads and waltzes composed by European songwriters such as Charles K Harris, Paul Dresser and Harry von Tilzer. A vigorous new style created by African American musicians deemed RAGTIME was introduced before the decade was over. Tin Pan Alley music was basically a COMBINATION OF RAGTIME AND POPULAR MUSIC. Irving Berlin was an important figure during this era. He was born in Western Siberia in May of 1888 and he came to NYC with his parents in September 1983 and their family founded a temporary lodging in a basement apartment in the lower east end of Manhattan before getting a place of their own. Irving Berlin then left home at 14 and one of his most noticeable talents was singing. Berlin would go to bar rooms and dance halls of the Bowery and sing the latest hits bought off by Tin Pan Alley publishers. During his free time he taught himself to play the piano which was available to him for the first time in his life at a popular “underground” cafe. His first composition and song was called Marie from Sunny Italy and was written with a pianist resident in the cafe. He was recognized by the Harry von Tilzer Company. Berlin had multiple successes and was a featured performer at the Hammerstein’s vaudeville house in the fall of 1911, he composed and wrote Alexander’s Ragtime Band. he was also a noted composer for the film and for the stage. Irving Berlin was a product of the MULTIETHNIC AND PREDOMINANTLY IMMIGRANT/FIRST GENERATION COMMUNITY OF TURN OF THE CENTURY NYC, of which the Jewsish enclave of Manhattan’s Lower East Side was merely one component. Irving Berlin grew up in a diverse immigrant neighborhood in New York City around 1900. The Jewish area in Manhattan’s Lower East Side was just one part of it. His early songs reflect the culture and values of multiethnic NYC. TIN PAN ALLEY SONGS HAD THE TENDENCY TO BE ACCEPTED FAR BEYOND THE COMMUNITY IN AND FOR WHICH THEY HAD BEEN CREATED. Writing a Tin Pan Alley song was quite a long and laborious process. Berlin, for example, would begin with a title for either a title or a phrase or a melody and hum it out to something definite. He would jot things down. Once a general idea is formed, then one works in collaboration with another arranger or songwriter to more fully elaborate on the idea. Some of the notable works by Irving Berlin included Piano Man, What’ll I Do?, Always, Blue Skies, Putin on the Ritz, Marie, and Say it isn't So. Around the 1920s Early Jazz began to make an appearance because of the inventions of many technologies and how they were able to revolutionize the music industry. A shift from musical recreation featuring sheet music TO AN EMPHASIS TO LISTENING TO RECORDINGS OR BROADCAST PERFORMANCES. One no longer needed to be knowledgeable in sheet music and instruments (or know someone who was) to listen to music. RECORD PLAYERS, RADIO BROADCASTING INCREASED DOMESTIC ENTERTAINMENT BY PORTABILITY AND PRODUCTION ON A MASS SCALE. During this time the music industry developed a classification system that affected what types of music were recorded and how they were distributed. A POPULAR CATEGORY EMERGED IN CONTRAST TO “CLASSICAL” OR “SERIOUS” MUSIC THAT CATERED PRIMARILY TO RICH, WHITE, LITERATE, RESIDENTS OF URBAN AREAS. The decade of the 1920s is often referred to as the “Jazz Age”. The music of Paul Whiteman (the KING OF JAZZ) and Guy Lombardo who syncopated dance music, bears little resemblance to what popular critics would properly or accurately recognize as “jazz”. Paul Whiteman (KING OF JAZZ, he promoted himself as that), was a classical trained musician and promoted his music as SYMPHONIC JAZZ. he brought jazz to a symphonic level by adding orchestral winds and strings to his ensemble (like in a modern orchestra). His music is easy to dance to, shows great showmanship, and musical blending. The demands of jazz often include orchestral modifications, and a question of how to record, accounting for the nuance of recording sound (the notion of arranging all of one’s instruments in a room so that the sound is evenly balanced and audible, and letting the recording be perfect. It is important for recorded records to be perfect. In addition to jazz music, there also came to be jazz dancing. According to Whiteman, a dance, almost, is no sooner in the hands of the public than the style changes. During the past half-dozen years there have been several powerfully marked variations in the ordinary or two step fox toro. Most dances are started by the public at large who have little to zero knowledge of dance itself. Swing Jazz; Race Records, Hillbilly: Old TIme Music, Blues The music most identifiable as jazz during the 1920s consisted of small instrumental combos led by Louis Armstrong, and the ragtime-influenced compositions of Jelly Roll Morton and Scott Joplin. The period from the mid-19302 through the early 40s is commonly referred to as “The Swing Era” or “The Big Band Era” is identified by large ensembles, and band leaders. A critic named Martin Freedman identified that black musicians such as Count Baise, Duke Ellington, Benny GOodman, and Artie Shaw played a “hotter” type of “swinging” jazz, while white musicians (Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye) played “sweet” bands. His rationale was that he identified that black musicians had body and natural spontaneity while the white musicians came with the mind, calculation and femininity. He also recognizes the relationship between race and musical style is important in jazz but he never distinguishes whether these differences are social or biological. Overall this demonstrates public awareness of the racial politics of popular music for the time period. Black ragtime, the Golden Age of jazz and Tin Pan Alley gave way to a more fully orchestrated style of jazz celebrated by both black and white musicians, each with their own characteristics. Duke Ellingotn COunt Baise, Ben Pollack, and Fletcher Henderson (and more obviously) not only solidified their own popularity and legacies but also those of up and coming instrumentalists such as Red Aleen, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and ROy Elridge. Some notable artists and soloist are Louis Armstrong who played the trumpets, vocal and was a bandleader, Count Baise, a piano player and bandleader, Ella Fitzgeral and Billie Holiday who were vocalists, COle Hawkins, Ben Webster, Lester Young, who were saxophonists, CHick Webb, Gene KRupa, Philly JOE Jones who were drummers, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson who were pianists, ROy ELridge, Bunny Berigan, REx Stewart who were trumpet players. The origins of race and hillbilly music was developed by the music industry in the 1920s which catered them to white and black audiences, hillbilly for whites and race music for blacks. New audiences subsequently targeted for musical appeal between WW1 and WW2. recorded music deerivepromarily from black and white folk and cultural traditions from the American South. The terms race and hillbilly were also used for marketing purposes race records towards the African American listeners and hillbilly or old time music intended for whites who live in the south. The term race record was first applied by Ralph Peer who was a talent scout, a music publisher, and recording assistant and styles that were included were jazz, blues, gospel choirs, vocal quartets, string bands, jug/washboard bands, sermons, stories, and comic routines. The blues describes a feeling (i’ve got the blues) and refers to the blues style of singing and playing, blues vocals had narrow range (different from mozart’s arias which consisted of high and low sounds, the range of vocals in blues did not span across that many notes). The blues form was a 12 bar form that started with four measures of chord one, followed by two measures of chord four back to two measures of chord one, the one measure of chord five, one measure of chord four and ends with two measures of chord one. Mamie SMith was known as the queen of blues, she pioneered blues singing, piano playing and was a black vaudeville performer. Her success as a recording artist opened up the record industry to recording by and for African Americans. Bessie Smith was known as the empress of the blues and was the most important and influential of the woman blues singers from the early twentieth century. She was born in Chattanooga, TEnnessee and began recording in 1923. She had a majestic voice and was even considered a blues singer when performing vaudevillian numbers. She became the centerpiece of Columbia's race record labels. Alberta hunter was another blues artist in the “classic” blues genre, she had a powerful voice. Another “classic” blues singer was Ethel Waters who entertained the growing African American middle class in NYC,chicago and other northern cities. Mother of blues, gertrude “ma” Rainey was a singer that performed in a rougher style of blues. WC Handy was known as the father of blues and the most influential of the classic blues composers. He was the son of a conservative pastor who did not allow him to play the guitar so he learned how to play the cornet instead. He then went to college got a damn degree and became a teacher. He co-founded the first African American owned publishing house. His music owed much to TIn Pan Alley as well as African American folk traditions. His biggest hit “St. Louis Blues” was written in 1914. Rhythm and Blues and Country: setting the stage for Rock and Roll Country music began in the 1920s which was a conglomeration of separate genres including: ballads from the british, string band music, fiddle tunes, hymns. and blues. Some early types of popular country music were WESTERN SWING, which arose from a conjunction of fiddle led, string band dance music and big band swing; uses drums, amplified guitars, horns and piano alongside bass and fiddle. From the barrooms of the south comes HONKY TONK music which featured amplified guitars and produced stars in the late 1930s and the early 1940s such as ernest tubb, cliff bruner and ted daffan. In the late 1940s, the profile of the country music amount the general public continues to increase. Folk nobility: folk artists were imported from country fairs to theaters and nightclubs. Entertainers in the popular and concert fields included folk music on their programs. Radio increased its folk shows. Motion pictures included folk artists and folk music in pictures other than westerns. People ultimately y become acquainted with folk music and the interest in it spread from coast to coast. With the second world war, hillbilly music quickly came out of the hills. Most of the large training camps were in the south and GI’s who might have never been exposed to this relatively unfamiliar music heard it constantly. They liked it and brought the songs home with the postwar shifts in population helped spread it’ and disk jockeys followed through and aired country music to a widening audience. It all tied in with the current rent toward simpler songs and nothing is simpler than country music. Titles range from “my daddy is only a picture” to “life gets teejus, don’t it?” country music has spilled over into the more conventional popular field and many numbers are being recorded in both straight and country styles.. In the 1940s, the most successful recordings of popular country songs were covers of country songs by pop artists or quasi-country songs written by Tin Pan Alley songwriters. In Relation to popular country music, the period of the 1949 to 1953 witnessed numerous versions of country songs as well as crossover hits by stars such as red foley and tennessee ernie ford. With tye persistent crossovers and blending of styles and term, not to mention the presentation or recording of songs that are specifically considered country songs by artist who may not have any connection to or maintain any oidentify with country or hillbilly music traditions what can be considered “authentic”? The power of theraio brought country music to national and international popularity. In particular the radio station, WSM, owned by the national life and accident insurance company. THE GRAND OLE OPRY is one of the epicenters of what might best be considered popular authentic country music. The grand ole opry has maintained an exceptionally long tradition of preserving the true spirit of country music, and country artists take a vested interest in being involved in and celebrating the opry’s legacy and history. It is also affiliated with the WSM. Blues expands to RHYTHM AND BLUES. The first r&b singer to attract attention was Clyde McPhatter, a singer on many hit recordings with Billy Ward, the Dominoes, and the Drifters. MCPHATTER ADOPTED THE DYNAMIC SOLO TYLE OF FEMALE SINGERS. He would utilize rewards gospel lyrics in his songs (from “have mercy baby” to “have mercy lord” pour example) in the 1950s, jackie wilson (mcphatter’s successor in the dominoes) similarly employed interchangeable gospel lyrics zigin, harmonic progressions, and melodic phrases. Ray charles was a pianist, singer, songwriter, arranger, saxophonist, and bandleader. He was skilled in performing and playing jazz, gospel , blues, country, pop, and classical music. Ray Charles was born in Georgia, then moved to florida and then to seattle to effectively begin his music career, his breakthrough came in 1953-55 when he formulated a unique kind of high energy blues which included secularized aspects of gospel music and bringing up his influence. Ray Chrles built upon of CLyde McPhatter’s innovations in gospel music, the most evident of which came to fruition in 1954. Charles technically made adaptations of gospel songs but they were considered blasphemous because he used lyrics like “Hallelujah, I love her so” this mixing og personal pleasure with the lord was blasphemous. In 1962 Charles introduced his modern sounds in country and western music. This shocked a large part of his fanbase but was also a representation of what he had been hearing since childhood. Overall, charles’ success and legacy can be signified as a person who had a desire to accept many different styles of music, bled them together, and then incorporated the resulting innovations into his body of work. Doowop effectively transforms the syllable utterances of charles’ early r and b (as well as the emotive essences of blues singers and instrumentalists) into pseudo lyrics, thereby making them a catchy and captivating central focus of the song. Call and response, harmonization, blues form, and instrumental soling all feature prominently and represent traditions of blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel music. The Emergence of Rock N’ Roll in the Postwar Era During 1955, chuck berry (an early master of rock n roll), little richard, bo diddley, and fats domino, all developed a new form of rhythm and blues which appealed to a teenage audience (THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME YOUNG PEOPLE ARE DECIDING FOR THEMSELVES WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR AND THERE IS SOMETHING THAT IS MARKETED TOWARDS THEM). Chuck Berry maintains talens in sign, songwriting and guitar playing. Berry’s songwriting and lyricism also had the ability to weave a compelling story (narrative). Berry is one of the most singular and recognizable figures in the history of popular (and rock) music. Some of his notable aspects are: clever lyrics with precise diction, distinctive guitar sounds, boogie woogie rhythms, an astounding stage show, musical devices characteristics of country western music and the blues. Chuck Berry used electronic effects to replicate the ringing sounds of bottleneck blues guitarists in his recordings. He displayed a strong interest in Caribbean music on “havana moon” and “man and the donkey” among others. Berry was influenced by a wide variety of artists including guitar players carl hogan, charlie christian, and t bone walker and vocalists nat king cole, louis jordan and charles brown. Berry fashioned his lyrics to appeal to the growing teenage market by presenting vivid and humorous descriptions of high school like and consumer culture. Many well known performers (elvis presley, the beatles, etc) have recorded berry’s songs. Little Richard came from a humble background, his early experiences in backwoods pentecostal church played an immensely strong role in the development of his performance and compositional style. Little Richard demonstrated extroverted and evergetic singing, piano playing, and songwriting made him one of the biggest stars in the rock n roll era. Little Richard's vocal style had an impact on james brown, otis redding, paul mccartney and john forgery (of Creedence clearwater revival) to name a few. SIMILAR TO MCPHATTER, Little richard would sing near the top of his range and in a searing timbre and incorerapte falsetto whoops over a fast shuffle rhythms with many dramatic breaks. His piano playing is unique as it displays an out of control boogie woogoe kind of sensibility. Little Richard would frequently leave the piano in his performances and dance on top of it, using the piano as a sort of prop as well as an instrument. His visual appearance also added a lot to his already over the top performance (like lady gaga’s outfits i would presume) he would also use make up (which was sort of a no no in the 1950s cuz everyone was like super homophobic lol) but he would use his performance style to mask the threat he posed against the heterosexual norms. Little richards' breakthrough came in September of 1955 at a recording session at J & m studio in New orleans. “Tutti frutti” became a hallmark of rock n roll, the notion of quasi lyrical (LIKE IN TIN PAN ALLEY) elements as the central focus of a song. He released songs on specialty records that sold well across an interracial audience and composed hit songs that combined amusing lyrics with sexually suggestive undertones. Little Richard demonstrates models of singing and musicianship that have inspired countless rock musicians. Elvis presley’s style, musical and personal stands as timeless not only for 1950s rock n roll but for countless other rich musicians who followed thereafter. His earliest experiences began in the deep south in the pentecostal services of the first assembly of god church. Other musical influences included popular tunes of the day, country music, blues and b. At 19, he came to the attention of sam phillips, owner of a memphis recording company, sun records. Phillips teamed presley who sang and played guitar with local country and western musicians, sctty moore (guitar) and bill black (bass). The groups’ style blended elements of country and t and b without being identifiable as either. PRESLEY’S SINGING VOICE HOWEVER ATTRACTED THE MOST ATTENTION: SWOOPING ALMOST TWO OCTAVES AT A TIME, CHANGING TIMBRE FROM A CROON TO A GROWL INSTANTANEOUSLY, ELVIS HAD A PENCHANT FOR JUXTAPOSING MUSICAL STYLES RATHER THAN SYNTHESIZING THEM (A KIND OF OPPOSITE ABILITY THAN THAT OF RAY CHRALES. Elvis successfully forges his own style within a contemporary african american idiom, presley, moore and black released singles on sun records that combined lues, or r and b with country style numbers. Elvis’ uninhibited performances and presence immensely influenced other musicians: by the end of 1955, performers such as carl perkins and johnny cash had emerged with a style TERMED ROCKABILLY that resembled presley’s. Rock N’ Roll Continued: Youth Culture and Gender WITH THE POPULARITY OF ANY MUSIC COMES INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS WHO WANT TO CAPITALIZE ON THE PROFIT OF SUCH POPULARITY. A new type of rock n roll emerged that was designed primarily to plead (mostly) teenagers and the public at large. TEEN POP WAS PROMOTED BY A NATIONALLY SYNDICATED TELEVISION SHOW, AMERICAN BANDSTAND HOSTED BY DICK CLARK A FIGURE WHO WAS NOTH YOUTHFUL AND NON THREATENING. Teen pop and American bandstand was a match made in heaven for both profitability and corruption. American bandstand programs consisted of lip synced performances, interviews, a famous rate, a record segment, dancing, and the every present appearance of Dick Clark. Overnight he became one of pop music’s most important TASTEMAKERS; exposure on american bandstand or the dick clark show almost always guaranteed hits, popularity, and wider acceptance of bands and solo artists by the public. Dick Clark also maintained a massive amount of related business interests: publishing, artis representation, management, promotion, and even record pressing. Teen pop incorporated aspects of traditional rock n roll while revisiting or reshaping the separate roles of songwriter, instrumentalist and singer that had been combined by artists like chuck berry and little richard. This is to say that every member of a particular musical group had their place which streamlined accessibility and public appeal. American bandstands largely feature the stars of teen pop known as teen idols. Payola in the music industry is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the information. So like lets say i am like an important person like dick clark and i want a certain song to be played so i will pay a radio station and tell them to play a certain song a set amount of times at set times and they would play the song so it could get exploited.when the record industry’s payola scandal (involving payment in return for airplay) broke in 1959, clark told a congressional committee that he was unaware that performers in whom he had financial interest had received disproportionate play on his programs. He was able to emerge largely unscathed. Overall, dick Clark gave the public a giant PRE SOLD MUSICAL MARKET. He did not rely on conventional cash payola but worked intricate systems for his personal business enterprises (numerous corporate holdings, financial interest in three record companies, six music publishing houses, a record pressing plant, a record distributing firm and a company which manages singers). Anyone affiliated with these entities gained a special place in Clark's programs, which the congressional committee said gave them systematic preference. In 1963 when american bandstand moved to los angeles, dick clark broadened his involvement in television production: Dick Clark Productions. Clark presented game shows, made for tv movies, and variety programs. Clark also created the American music awards and was a regular host of ABC’s new year rockin 'eve. Overall , dick Clark is primarily recognized for his personality and charm, qualities which no doubt established his influence over decades of working in media and produced hundreds of imitators. The payola hearings, one of the most publicized aspects of popular music as the 1950s end and the 1960s began, highlighted dominant mainstream trends, and instituted a feeling of unhappiness amongst the mainstream public. The early wave of rock n roll becomes effectively airbrushed from the public’s knowledge while teen idols co opt the essences of previously popular styles and are then repackaged as new. Some histories of popular music describe this era of popular music as one of declining quality, authentic, impactful rock n roll was supplanted by mass produced mediocrities and/or predictable content. Around 1960, the Brill Building acted as a kind of solution to the conveyor belt mentality of the music industry. A breed of young songwriters, ot songwriting teams combined the visceral nature of rock with soulful and sophisticated harmonic and melodic vocalizing presented predominantly by young african american female singers GIRL GROUPS.furthermore and thanks in large part to dick clark;s efforts, the promotion of new dance crazes began to emerge: songs based in r&b and rock n roll that named and described a particular dance. One of the most successful of these was “the twist” heralded by chubby checker which became a twice over hit “let’s twist again”. While one can trace girl singing groups back to ray charles and the raelettes, the shirelles’ late 1960 hit “will you love me tomorrow” initiated one of the dominant trends of the era in terms of female group fronted ensembles. More hits followed the shirelles and other artists along with the marvelettes and the crystals which focused on specified vocal arrangements and emphasis on particular subject matter (romance and love particularly) expressed through harmonization and catchy melodies. Vocal arrangements relied on a modified call and response approach, adapted primarily from African American gospel practice with the lyrics frequently arranged to simulate a dialogue between lead and backing vocalists. Lest the forgoing description of the participants in the genre appear monolithic, it is important to note that many girl group recordings occurred outside the orbit of the brill building, that some of the singers were white and some of the singers were black and that some recordings that are now understood as part of the girl group phenomenon because of their musical arrangements were credited to individuals. The brill building provided a freelance environment where anyone could set up a loose series of relationships and effectively build their own enterprise from scratch. Many set up their own labels and sold their songs to different publishers and producers. There was an extraordinary degree of creative flexibility where it concerned business interests mostly and individuals' coils responded immediately to a fast and constantly changing market. The speed of the brill building’s business would mean that trends could be quickly spotted and easily exploited, the brill building produced an immense volume of recordings guaranteeing at least some would chart. However, this conveyor belt mentality produces clear disadvantages for the artists. Singers were at the very bottom of the hierarchy and producers picked and chose from the many talented young black singers who were desperate to succeed. For many of these singers, the world of entertainment was the only way out of a life of hardship, inequality, and poverty. Hence, they sold their skills cheap in order to stay economically relevant for many producers, publishers and songwriters of the brill building. The most popular and well-known figure connected with the girl group genre was producer/songwriter phil spector. Spector developed a trademark quality on his recordings developed in the recording studio called the wall of sound, this recording technique featured a dense, reverberant texture filled with instruments that were often difficult to separate from one another undergirded by an r&b rhythm section. One could hear the wall of sound on recordings featuring the crystals, bob b soxx and the blue jeans, darlene love, and the ronettes. What Spector shared with Richard Wagner (whom he was compared to in the past) was self aggrandizing personal vision of uncompromising and overwhelming sonic pressure and vision. The 1960s: Surf, Urban Folk, Motown, and Soul Music Along with the 1960s girl groups and dance crazes, the American sentiment migrated westward to California, which eventually became the most populated and economically powerful of the 50 states. Southern california produced SURF MUSIC. Initially an instrumental genre led by guitarist dick Dale and bands such as the ventures. Surf music was most prominently associated with the beach boys, an aptly named surf rock group. A family unit consisted of the beach boys: brian carl, dennis wilson, mike love, al jardine. Brian Wilson was the musical mastermind of the group. The beach boys’ music can be identified with multipart harmony singing, CHUCK BERRY STYLE RIFFS, trebly guitar times, lyrics extolling the sentiment of beach loving middle class white teens. In addition to selling 70 million albums, the beach boys’ most significant characteristic was their ability to express and represent the middle class aspirations and peoist of a fragile California dream of those that participated in America's great westward movement. The idea of urban folk music first gathered momentum in the 1930s. Many of the early performers were either black or white southerners who came to NYC to work with folklorist-musicologists associated with the leftist popular front political campaign. The dominant musical style of urban folk is derived (in large part) from hillbilly music. Many of the differences between hillbilly and folk are more sociological than musiological. Urban folk evokes a sense of timeless purity or the notion that the music is a deeply ingrained cultural phenomenon that speaks directly to the traditions of a people (folk). Woody Guthrioe was one of the major figures of urban folk. He wrote original songs that chronicled the lives and experiences of dust bowl refugees, the working class and citizens of middle america. WOODY GUTHIRE LYRICS CAN BE CONSIDERED PRO LABOUR AND PRO WORKING CLASS AS WELL AS SUFFICIENTLY POPULIST (“THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND” IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF A SONG THAT HAS A SORT OF DOUBLE APPEAL). IN 1941, GUTHRIE JOINED THE ALMANAC SINGERS, A GROUP WHICH INCLUDED WELL KNOWN SINGER SONGWRITER AND ACTIVIST PETE SEEGER. THE ALMANAC SINGERS PREDOMINANTLY STRESSED POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN THEIR MUSIC LIKE CIVIL RIGHTS, THE WORKING CLASS, THE IMPORTANCE OF LABOUR UNIONS. Seeger subsequently formed the weavers, a group whose themes were closely associated with that of the almanac singers. Some of their reworked versions of songs such as leadbelly’s “goodnight irene” and guthrie’s “so long it's been good to know you” found success in the popular music mainstream where it concerns folk music. Guthier ultimately developed a persona adopted and developed later by beat writers. Urban folk music was ultimately the antithesis (in both commercial and social contexts) to that highly mainstream teen pop and rock n roll. There are many links between many of the artists associated with folk and country music of the 1930s and 40s and tiger successors in the late 1950s and 60s, which recontextualizes the notion of fold as an all encompassing musical and socio political phenomenon. From the late 1950s onward, urban folk political sensibilities became subsumed in the 1960s counterculture and more somewhat mainstream folk groups. The political messaging ultimately became a definite part of not only the music but also the time period and to a lesser extent mainstream culture itself.