First Name in American Folk Music Crossword

Our latest blog post is all about the First Name in American Folk Music Crossword. Check it out to learn more about this famous musician and test your knowledge with the crossword puzzle!

Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter and musician who is often considered one of the most significant figures in American folk music. Guthrie’s musical repertoire included songs about topics such as social injustice, child labor, and the Dust Bowl. In addition to his work as a musician, Guthrie was also a prolific writer, and his work had a significant impact on the development of the American folk music tradition.

Life and career

Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional, and children’s songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This machine kills fascists displayed on his guitar. His best-known song is “This Land Is Your Land”. Many of his recorded songs were about his experience hitchhiking across America during the Great Depression and were war protest songs or labor union songs.

Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of a hunting accident in 1967, aged 55.

Major works

Woody Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter and one of the most significant folk music artists of the 20th century. Guthrie’s genomesongbook, containing more than 3,000 songs, earned him the nickname “the dust bowl troubadour”. Many of his songs are about his working-class upbringing in Oklahoma and the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s. His best-known song is “This Land Is Your Land”, which has become one of the most famous American folk songs. Guthrie was also a prolific writer, penning hundreds of songs and several books, including an autobiography.

Lead Belly

Lead Belly was an American folk and blues musician notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced. He is best known as “Lead Belly”, though many releases list him as “Leadbelly”. He is also recognized as the premier performer of the leadbelly guitar style.

Life and career

Huddie William Ledbetter /ˈhjuːdi/ (January 20, 1885 – December 6, 1949), better known as Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues musician notable for his strong vocal performances, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the eclectic mix of songs he performed. He is credited with having popularized many lead guitar techniques, including the use of the slide. His songs have been interpreted by many artists including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Jeff Buckley and Nirvana. He frequently performed with his wife Martha Promise Wallace from 1924 until his death.

Lead Belly was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana,[1] one of several siblings. His mother died when he was five years old,[2] and he was raised by his father’s cousin Delia Owens.[3] According to Lead Belly’s own account (as told to Alan Lomax), at the age of about five he was sent to Finehafer Plantation near Shreveport for a year or two to work as a farmhand until it became apparent that he could not stand living among so many other children. He then lived with an aunt in Bosco Prairie forestinal trouble caused by infection with roundworms which resulted in his also suffering bouts of temporary paralysis.[4][5][6] These health problems combined with troubles he had adapting to living in urban areas contributed to Lead Belly’s early incarceration.

Lead Belly began serving his first prison sentence in 1903 at Angola Prison Farm in Louisiana for carrying a pistol;[1][7] during this two-year stint he learned to play the guitar from another inmate named Henrietta Calhoun,[8][9] also known as “Mother

Major works

During his lifetime, Huddie Ledbetter – better known as “Lead Belly” – became a cult figure among folk and blues fans. His repertoire was huge, encompassing traditional songs and clapped-out work songs, sentimental ballads and sardonic parodies, spirituals and gospel tunes, children’s songs and reels, and his own original compositions. Here are some of his most famous recordings.

“Goodnight Irene”
Lead Belly’s best-known song was not originally his own. He learned it from a fellow Louisiana inmate in the late 1920s, and began performing it regularly in prisons and work camps. In 1933 he recorded it for The Library of Congress with John Lomax, who included it in his 1940 book Our Singing Country. The song became a hit for several artists in the 1950s, including Gordon Jenkins (with the Weavers) and Frank Sinatra. In 1988, Lead Belly’s descendants sued Gordon Lightfoot over his song “I’m Not Sayin”, claiming that it plagiarized “Goodnight Irene”. The case was settled out of court.

“Midnight Special”
This prisoners’ work song describes a train – the “Midnight Special” – that could supposedly shine its light into your cell to let you know when your time was up. It was first recorded by Lead Belly in 1933 for The Library of Congress, but he claimed to have learned it years earlier from an inmate named Cripple Clarence Lofton. The song has been recorded by many artists over the years, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, who had a hit with it in 1972.

“Rock Island Line”
This traditional American folk song was first recorded by Lead Belly under the title “Rock Island Blues”. He claimed to have learned it from Arthur Blake (aka Blind Arthur), a street musician he met in Dallas in the 1920s. The British skiffle group Lonnie Donegan had a hit with the song in 1956 (as “Rock Island Line”), causing a renewed interest in Lead Belly’s music. It has since been recorded by many other artists, including Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan.

“Cotton Fields”
This traditional folk song was adapted by Lead Belly from an old prison work chantey called “Po’ Boy”. He first recorded it as “Cotton fields Back Home”, before changing the title to simply “Cotton Fields”. The song became popular after being recorded by Harry Belafonte in 1950 (as “Calypso Freedom”), and has since been covered by many other artists, including the Beach Boys and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger was an American folk singer and songwriter who was a driving force in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. He was also a social activist and a leading figure in the American civil rights movement. Seeger was born in New York City in 1919 and died in 2014.

Life and career

Pete Seeger was an American folk singer and social activist. A master of American folk music, he was also a prominent figure in the American civil rights and anti-war movements.

Born in New York City in 1919, Seeger began his musical career in the 1940s as a member of the folk group the Weavers. With hits like “Goodnight Irene” and “On Top of Old Smokey,” the Weavers helped to bring folk music into the mainstream.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Seeger became increasingly involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements. He wrote protest songs like “We Shall Overcome” and “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season).” He was also a founding member of the influential folk group, The Almanac Singers.

Major works

Pete Seeger was an American singer, songwriter, and social activist. A pivotal figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival, he was also a key figure in the protest folk movement that lasted from the 1940s to the 1960s. Seeger wrote some of America’s most iconic folk songs, including “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)”, and “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)”.

Joan Baez

Joan Baez is a singer, songwriter, musician, and activist whose contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has recorded songs in at least six other languages. Although generally regarded as a folk singer, her musical style has diversified since the counterculture days of the 1960s and encompasses genres such as folk rock, pop, country, and gospel music.

Life and career

Joan Baez was born in Staten Island, New York, on January 9, 1941. Her father, Albert Baez, was originally from Puebla, Mexico, and her mother, Joan Bridge Baez, was born in Scotland. When she was a child, her family moved to Southern California because of her father’s job as a physics professor at Stanford University.

Baez became interested in music at a young age and began playing the guitar when she was 15. She began performing publicly when she was 18 and soon became one of the leading figures of the American folk music revival. In 1960, she released her first album, which included the song “Silver Dagger” and Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”

In 1963, Baez toured with Dylan and performed at the Newport Folk Festival. The following year, she released her second album, which included the Dylan-penned song “With God on Our Side.” In 1965, Baez joined Martin Luther King Jr. on his Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights. That same year, she released her third album,…

Major works

Joan Baez’s major works include her eponymous debut album, which was released in 1960, and “Farewell, Angelina,” which was released in 1965. Other notable albums include “Joan Baez in Concert” (1962), “Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2” (1964), and “Baptism” (1984).

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author, and painter who has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal chronicler and a reluctant figurehead of the American civil rights movement. A number of his songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'”, became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements. As a songwriter, Dylan has been compared to Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the Bible.

Life and career

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author, and visual artist who has been a major figure in popular culture for more than 50 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'” became anthems of the civil rights and anti-war movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a wide range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture.

Major works

Bob Dylan’s major works include the following:
-Bob Dylan (1962): His debut album, Bob Dylan, featured mostly traditional folk songs.
-The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963): The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan catapulted Dylan to fame and is considered one of his best albums. It featured several original compositions, including “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.”
-The Times They Are a-Changin’ (1964): This album was released during the time of great social and political changes in America, and many of the songs reflect that.
-Bringing It All Back Home (1965): This album marked Dylan’s transition from acoustic folk to electric rock. It features some of his most popular songs, such as “Like a Rolling Stone.”
-Highway 61 Revisited (1965): Highway 61 Revisited is considered one of Dylan’s greatest albums, with hits like “Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Desolation Row.”