Music Review: Various Performers - Song Of America

It's said you can tell a lot about a country by its music, and while that is true, you can tell just as much about a country's mood at any moment in time through its music. As an extreme example, I'm sure the music of Nazi Germany was far different from that of both before and after Hitler's rule. The history of America is of course not that coarsely divided, but there were still periods of trouble and unrest.

The great depression of the twenties and the thirties brought about the first wave of music with conscience, for lack of a better word, that talked about the plight of the poor and working class and strove to articulate a vision of how America's potential as a cradle of modern democracy could be fulfilled. World War Two saw an end to that with an upsurge in patriotic music; propaganda aimed at encouraging the war effort and inspiring nationalism.

The 1950s saw the beginnings of the successful marriage between white and black music with musicians Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly mixing country music with black gospel and blues rhythms. While the recording of the music was a statement – white people playing black influenced music marked an unprecedented crossing of the colour line – the music itself did not offer any real social commentary.

It wasn't until the 1960s that American musicians broke out of the chill imposed on creativity by McCarthy and his witch-hunt that forced writers and musicians to work under assumed names and risk blacklisting if their material was found inappropriate. It was the successors of writers who wrote during the depression who began singing about social change and offering an alternative view of how America could fulfill its potential.

Of course that's only a small slice of history for the landmass that has become known as the United States of America. There were people living there prior to the arrival of the European settlers who had their own musical traditions. It's a testimonial to the efforts of the people behind the new three disc set, Song Of America, to be released on September 18th 2007 that they have opened their extensive collection with a song from that pre-contact period, a Lakota "Dream Song".

Song Of America is an exhaustive effort featuring new interpretations of songs dating back to the earliest music through to the 2001. From pre-revolution America's National Anthem, "God Save The King" sung by the band John Wesley Harding up to Shortee Wop updating Grandmaster Flash's breakthrough rap single "The Message", the diverse voices of America are nearly all represented.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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