By the early 1960s, the American folk music revival was at its zenith. Clean-cut, college-educated groups such as The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four, and The Limeliters wailed their way to stardom by covering such folk standards as “Tom Dooley,” “This Train,” and “The Midnight Special.” Fans of this type of music could also get grittier sounding fare through the work of Bob Dylan, Odetta, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. But even these offerings were by people striving to approximate various folk traditions rather than expressing those of their own upbringing, their own direct cultural inheritance.The Friends of Old Time Music (FOTM) worked to change this situation. The directors of this organization included Jean Ritchie, John Cohen, Ralph Rinzler, and Israel Young. Through the effort and support of FOTM, their members, and others like them, such luminaries as Doc Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Maybelle Carter, Mississippi John Hurt, and Bill Monroe, came to New York City for a series of 14 concerts from 1961 to 1965, which were meant to expose young urbanites to America's roots music by those who carried on their own homegrown traditions.On April 9, 1965, the FOTM, along with the Newport Folk Foundation, brought the Georgia Sea Island Singers to the New School on West 12th Street. This group had gained some notoriety through their musical offerings drawn from their Gullah Geechee roots. Most of the members grew up on St. Simons Island, and, within this isolated community, they learned songs and dances that traced back to their enslaved forebears who had worked the island's plantations. A few folklorists had found their work important for decades, but in the early 1960s, the Georgia Sea Island Singers began performing throughout the United States and found larger, welcoming audiences. With the 2024 Smithsonian Folkways release of this full concert, new audiences can discover this group's enduring musical prowess.Mable Hillery, Emma Ramsey, Peter Davis, Bessie Jones, and John Davis made up the Georgia Sea Island Singers, although the latter two often led their songs. Usually, the group performed a cappella, although they often augmented their voices with dynamic hand-clapping, which they briefly school their urban audience on in an early moment during this concert. But on this occasion, the FOTM paired them with blues guitarist Fred McDowell and cane fife player Ed Young. These two performers both came from the North Mississippi hill country, although their musical expressions were a far cry from each other. Placing them onstage with the Georgia Sea Island Singers seems like a surprising move, but these members of very different Black communities from the American South come together to find a path to harmony as they collaborate on spirituals, work songs, blues, ring shouts, and other traditional forms.During this concert, they stomp and shout through over 20 selections, with “Sink ’Em Low” and “Down to the Mire” being stand-out performances. But over the course of the evening, each member takes on a pivotal role and exhibits a unique voice. Mable Hillery pairs particularly well with McDowell on two blues numbers, “Shake ’Em on Down” and “Don't Ever Leave Me.” Also, Emma Ramsey and Ed Young make an engaging duo on the flirty and playful “Chevrolet.”For the most part, the concert focuses on entertainment and education, but at moments, this gathering makes an explicit connection between the art and efforts of the Georgia Sea Island Singers and the Civil Rights Movement. When introducing the group at the beginning of the evening, eminent folklorist Alan Lomax says, “We're on the road to world peace, and freedom, and integration,” echoing the feelings of many in the aftermath of the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the hope that the Voting Rights Act would soon follow.But just a month before this performance, marchers had been attacked in Selma, Alabama—an event often referred to as “Bloody Sunday” in the aftermath of the violence. As the evening wears on, Mable Hillery suggests that the struggle for equality continues, as she discusses her own efforts. At one point in the recording, recognizing that protest comes in many forms, she says, “If I can't march, I can sing,” just before she and Emma Ramsey roll into the song “Marching on the Mississippi Line.” It then becomes a kind of battle cry, as it name-checks figures for the Civil Rights Movement, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and against it, such as George Wallace.Other moments from the evening are less obviously political statements, but the entire concert posits Southern, working-class Black culture as valuable, as being important to America's heritage—creating a subtly defiant and exuberantly joyous occasion.In the decades since the folk music revival, many individuals and groups have become synonymous with this signature cultural movement, but the Georgia Sea Island Singers are not usually counted among them. For example, in Robert S. Cantwell's acclaimed history When We Were Good: The Folk Revival (Harvard University Press, 1996), they are not referenced once. Perhaps the white, middle-class generation often associated with this revival saw them and their music more as relics from the past rather than a living, vibrant African American tradition.This collection works toward both honoring the group and setting them among the pantheon of America's folk performers, a necessary effort, as their recorded work has largely been presented in a rather limited fashion. For example, four of the tracks on this release previously appeared on Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961–1965, also by Smithsonian Folkways (SFW40160, 2006), but that brief sample does not fully display the power and range of the group. However, this full concert album—along with its accompanying essays, song notes, and photographs—provides a fitting tribute to the legacy of the Georgia Sea Island Singers.
Mark Allan Jackson (Thu,) studied this question.