Speak Up! - Fall 2016

  “Speak Up!” digs into the long tradition of roots music as a voice for the voiceless, a tool for social change, and a universal language. The issue contains essays by artists, who have written about how they’ve used music to speak up – for themselves, for others, and for issues that concern us all. There’s a deep exploration of race in country music, a history of music programs in prisons, a conversation with John Prine about how his story-songs have changed minds, and retrospectives about how speaking up cost artists like the Weavers and the Dixie Chicks a large portion of their audience.  Long Features What happened to the Weavers? / A conversation with John Prine / Jail Guitar Doors USA and music in Texas prisons / Thirteen years since the Dixie Chicks’ stage banter heard ‘round the world / Exploring race in country music  Short Features Johnny Dowd and Hamell on Trial / Chuck Hawthorne / Anais Mitchell’s “Hadestown” / An organizing history of “We Shall Overcome” / Erin