The Almanac Singers was an American New York City-based folk music group, active between 1940 and 1943, founded by Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie. The group specialized in topical songs, mostly songs advocating an anti-war, anti-racism and pro-union philosophy. They were part of the Popular Front, an alliance of liberals and leftists, including the Communist Party USA, who had vowed to put aside their differences in order to fight fascism and promote racial and religious inclusiveness and workers’ rights. The Almanac Singers felt strongly that songs could help achieve these goals. (More from Wikipedia)
In the same time period that he released Dust Bowl Ballads, Woody Guthrie was one of the co-founders of the Almanac Singers, which were active between 1940 and 1943. The other founders were Millard Lampell, later a television and film screenwriter, plus Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, who were in the folk group the Weavers that formed later in the decade. As described in Wikipedia: “[The Almanac Singers] specialized in topical songs, mostly songs advocating an anti-war, anti-racism and pro-union philosophy. They were part of the Popular Front, an alliance of liberals and leftists, including the Communist Party USA . . . who had vowed to put aside their differences in order to fight fascism and promote racial and religious inclusiveness and workers’ rights.” Woody Guthrie hung around a lot of Communists during his career, but as far as anyone can tell, he never joined up.
(March 2015)
