Note: If you are a current AMTA member, and can’t log in successfully the first time, please do not create a new account as your membership is tied to the email address we currently have on file. The texts of the songs are highly emotional and deal with a broad range of themes, from political protest to calls for a loud and lively dance party; accompaniments are provided by guitars , keyboards, and percussion instruments and are electronically amplified Music educators were attracted by the intrinsic structural values of this music, especially its distinctive rhythmic and modal characteristics, its texts, and the qualitative levels that may be distinguished.
Drawing on both the music of earlier protest movements and newly composed repertory, performers such as Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Cisco Huston, Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee, and Lee Hays performed at union rallies, hootenannies, and for a variety of …