Sing It Pretty: A Memoir (Music in American Life) - Softcover

"This valuable book will establish Bess Lomax Hawes's reputation more widely as a folklorist, musical teacher and musicologist, while also making a worthwhile contribution to the music history of mid-20th-century North America."--European Journal of Communication "This book is loaded with enjoyable anecdotes from throughout Ms. Hawes' 89 years. . . . Along the way, we meet many seminal folk music figures and, though these are characters we've all met before, thanks to Bess' storytelling skills, we often see them in a new light."--Sing Out "This volume covers much . . . of Hawes's fascinating public and private lives in folk music, and includes numerous photographs and a helpful chronology. . . . Recommended."--Choice "She learned the tools of folklore fieldwork by transcribing the songs of rural musicians and taught herself how to play these songs, eventually joining the Almanac Singers, which included Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, as part of a growing folk movement. . . . Libraries with comprehensive folk music collections will want to own her memoir."--Library Journal

A leader in the development of state and federal programs supporting traditional arts and folk cultures, Bess Lomax Hawes grew up with her father John Lomax and brother Alan in the first family of American folk music. Her compelling account of the folk music boom of the mid-twentieth century and the development of \u201cpublic-sector\u201d folklore includes family friends Ruth Crawford Seeger and Carl Sandburg, fellow Almanac Singers Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and other musicians and artists. Her own creative endeavors as producer of American folk culture films, author of academic papers and books, and coauthor of the Kingston Trio\u2019s hit \u201cMTA Song\u201d (adapted from a local political campaign jingle) unfold alongside her legacy of teaching guitar and American folk music to thousands of adults in Los Angeles. Whether teaching anthropology to college students, learning singing games from the Georgia Sea Island Singers, or directing the Folk and Traditional Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, Hawes remains dedicated to preserving and appreciating the traditional cultures of America.