In Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s,
Ronald D. Cohen and Rachel Clare Donaldson present a transatlantic
history of folk's midcentury resurgence that juxtaposes the related but
distinct revivals that took place in the United States and Great
Britain.
After setting the stage with the work of music collectors in the
nineteenth century, the authors explore the so-called recovery of folk
music practices and performers by Alan Lomax and others, including
journeys to and within the British Isles that allowed artists and folk
music advocates to absorb native forms and facilitate the music's
transatlantic exchange. Cohen and Donaldson place the musical and
cultural connections of the twin revivals within the decade's social and
musical milieu and grapple with the performers' leftist political
agendas and artistic challenges, including the fierce debates over
"authenticity" in practice and repertoire that erupted when artists like
Harry Belafonte and the Kingston Trio carried folk into the popular
music mainstream.
From work songs to skiffle, from the Weavers in Greenwich Village to
Burl Ives on the BBC, Roots of the Revival offers a frank and
wide-ranging consideration of a time, a movement, and a transformative
period in American and British pop culture.