Great Depression Protest Songs

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Produced by: 
KBOO
Air date: 
Mon, 01/18/2010 - 12:00am

 In times like these -- times like the 1930s and 40s -- a tradition of protest music emerges that sings from the viewpoint of working people and people who can't find work.  Last week's show was about contemporary rap music.  This week, we feature music from the Great Depression by the likes of Pete Seeger and Josh White. These musicians consciously made music that touched on many aspects of the growing working class movement: unemployment, Jim Crow and lynching, union organizing, anti-fascism, etc. They wanted to bring a generalized pro-working class perspective to the popular arts.  Radical musicologist Brad Duncan is back to talk with with Bill Resnick about all this.  

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