Topic: Blues And The Old Left

[Mr.OMuck]

This belongs in this thread. VINDICATION BABY!

[lindy]

re: Pete Seeger and company . . .

That's the first time in decades that I've heard anyone sing my favorite verse to This Land is Your Land:

As I was walking down the highway
I saw a sign that said "Private Property,"
But on the other side it didn't say nothin'.
This land is made for you and me.

I hear tell that Woody wrote over 75 verses for that song, a lot of them have the same sentiment.

Lindy

[Mr.OMuck]

After all Woody was a columnist for The Daily Worker!

[NevadaPic]

This belongs in this thread. VINDICATION BABY!

Amen. 

[JTBlue]

I am curious about how people came to be involved with the Blues, what they think disposed them towards responding to the Blues, and if anybody else but me, got their introduction through their parent's or their own left wing activities?

I always loved R&B, and responded to Blues when I heard it, although I didn't know too much of the music.  A friend told me about "blues camp," and one year it worked out to go.  It is now the highlight of my year (partly the music, partly the setting, partly the great crowd).  But I am not left leaning (despite my Upper West Side abode, Mr. O'Muck), so it has nothing to do with that.  It is interesting to read the responses you've prompted.

JTBlue

[Bunker Hill]

I am curious about how people came to be involved with the Blues, what they think disposed them towards responding to the Blues, and if anybody else but me, got their introduction through their parent's or their own left wing activities?

For some it would seem that Paul Oliver was the motivating force. 
See this rather ancient link which seems to have lost its graphics http://www.bluesworld.com/PAULOLIVER.HTML

[dj]

re: Pete Seeger and company...

I grew up about 10 miles down the road from Pete.  In the 1960s, it seemed like you couldn't take a drive in the Mid-Hudson Valley without bumping into Pete singing somewhere, usually accompanied by a few protesters carrying signs warning the incoming audience that he was a communist.  (Thank goodness those protesters seem to have disappeared.)  Pete was a major force in getting the Hudson River cleaned up - it was pretty much an open sewer when I was a kid - and for that I can never thank him enough.  I have a friend who dated one of his daughters for a while right around 1970, so my circle of friends got to know him a bit.  He's a genuinely nice guy.   

[dave stott]

DJ

I probably grew up 20-30 miles away from you in upsate NY... I vividly recall all the news stories about Pete trying to build a boat to up and down the Hudson River.

If there was a coffee house or anyplace with a stage, Pete was performing there, in order to raise money..

Dave

[Mike Brosnan]

Well, my connection between my love of blues and my leftiness is a lil' dif'rent, but here goes...
Much of my far left perspective was initially inspired by listening to hip hop.  (I can just hear the groans)  I grew up an hour and a half North of NYC and was born around the same time that hip hop showed up, so I  naturally felt drawn to this new and relatively local music. 
There was a lot more political hip hop around in the late 80s and early 90s.  It's still around, but seems to be a lil' more underground. 
From there hip hop indirectly led me to blues.  Long story, but I basically just became interested in music history by trying to identify hip hop samples.  Funk; Jazz; R & B; Blues; even some Rock n Roll type stuff... 
This led to a relatively brief classic rock phase which is when I really started researching the roots (i.e. country blues). 
Next thing I know I'm living on a commune in Southern Missouri, shunning mainstream society as best I could and constantly playing the dozens and dozens of scratchy ol' blues records that had been donated to the community over the years (the place had been around since the early 70s). 
Then I started playing bass by ear, spending hours meditating on the blues scale, wishing there were a few guitarists around who knew how to do more than strum along to their favorite Dead tunes. 
Then I found all these old Grossman books layin' around in various parts of the community.  Oddly enough, I couldn't quite pick up fingerpicking as quickly as I'd picked up bass pickin'. 
I didn't learn to play guitar for another 3 or 4 years, but those old records had seriously increased my interest and those old books made me realize I could play guitar like my heroes (sorta). 
Long after leaving the commune, it was in the hills of Humboldt County, CA where I finally GOT the alternating bass thing.  My life hasn't been the same since then.
All praise is due to old hip hop and old hippies!!!

[Mr.OMuck]

Hip Hop to Old Hippies. Will the circle be unbroken. Hallelujah brother!