We begin with a visit to nashvilles Ryman Auditorium as author dale ewing how the venue became a place for political rally, civil rights events and Country Musics grand ole opry. Today were at the historic Ryman Auditorium in downtown nashville, tennessee. The nickname of the Ryman Auditorium is the Mother Church of Country Music which definitely tells the history of both things that it is famous for. It was built by a riverboat captain who was famously converted under a tent in downtown nashville in may of 1865. And after his conversion he believed that traveling ministers should have a permanent home inside that was large enough to take the large crowds of the traveling ministers who go to town. So captain ryman built the Ryman Auditorium and it opened at first in 1892 as a tabernacle. So thats the church part of the history. And the Country Music part deals with the grand ole opry which came in 1943 any came here until 1974 when the new opry house was built, but during the run of the 40s, 50s and 60s and early 70s some of the most famous people in Country Music history debuted here including hank williams, george jones, dolly parton and all these brand names of Country Music cut their teeth and got their start in there wonderful building. The Ryman Auditorium almost didnt happen because of the president ial race of Grover Cleveland versus blaine and the democrat his lost literally six president ial races and not one since 1856 and tom ryman who is a riverboat captain in this town was a very bad gambler and he was walking the streets of downtown nashville and got goated on to start betting on the president ial election and the blaine people who are all out thinking that blaine was going to win and ryman basically took all bets or people that thought that blaine would win and ill bet 500 to you 1,000 to you and before captain ryman knew when he was doing he had bet his entire weight and his house on the outcome of the 1884 president ial election. Thankfully for us in nashville, Grover Cleveland won because if not, captain ryman would have been penniless and broke and probably would not have built this grand building a few years later. During rymans life he envisioned this building as a hall for all types of religious denominations, and it could be rendered for anybody. So it did not have one particular slant for religion. It was available for everyone which it was the Largest Convention hall when it was built south of the ohio river. So nashville got a lot of groups and people who came here and had their events here because this was an incredible indoor space. Around 1925, the grand ole opry started in another building near downtown National Near the state capital, but during that era, we had fiddling contests here at the Ryman Auditorium and one of the fiddlers uncle dave mincon who was later a member of the grand ole opry during that era competed in a fiddling contest here at the ryman. So the fiddling contests were probably some of the early versions of Country Music and it was interesting that the ryman had been around for about 50 years when the grand ole opry came calling in 1943 and the building had seen better days from a physical standpoint. It didnt have any airconditioning, of course, and it didnt have proper heating at the time. So a lot of and then some newer buildings were being built in nashville. The War Memorial Auditorium across the capital and other venues can now have concerts and so the grand ole opry moved from the War Memorial Auditorium from the ryman it was a perfect marriage. We needed weekly, vents for this building and the grand ole opry saved this building, in my opinion, because if it werent for the weekly concerts that happened every saturday night in this building, this building would not have had the revenue to support it and would have been torn down long ago, but the opry coming in provided new energy to this building and provided a place where literally three or four or 5,000 people a week got to hear the most popular and oldest Country Music show in the world. Interestingly enough, there was a Teddy Roosevelt story related to the a sass nation attempt in 1912 related to the Ryman Auditorium. Teddy roosevelt was in milwaukee, wisconsin, and he was campaigning for president after he left office and campaigning again, and an assassin shoots him and the bullet enters his chest. Hes got this long speech of about 50 pages, a bullet has slowed down, but it still enters the chest, and so Teddy Roosevelt, in tough guy fashion, he goes out and wins the speech anyway and one of the first things he says ive just been shot and gives this long speech and then goes to the hospital. The person who assassinated him tracked him down and was coming, stayed in a hotel a few blocks away from the ryman. In 1912 Teddy Roosevelt had been to memphis, chattanooga and knoxville and was supposed to come to nashville, but an antiTeddy Roosevelt group had being booed the ryman and only 200 people showed up and so this assassin was down the street thinking that the president would be here, and probablypeop assassin was down the street thinking that the president would be here, and probably the reason he didnt come here was another group had booked the ryman, and that kept Teddy Roosevelt from nashville. When they caught the assassin in milwaukee after they shot him the plans they had to shoot Teddy Roosevelt and follow him around were on the back of the hotel stationary from nashville, tennessee, two blocks from the ryman. The Ryman Auditorium played a very key point in the Womens Suffrage Movement in passing the 19th amendment that gave 27 million women the right to vote. Tennessee was the last state to ratify that on august 18, 1920, and before that susan b. Anthony spoke in this building in 1897 when tennessee was celebrating their 100th anniversary as a state with the tennessee centennial exposition. That was the first time that women were able to kind of hear from this National Leader and get involved in the movement. In 1914, tennessee had the first womens suffrage parade in the south and based on that and what the local women did, the National Womens Suffrage Convention that susan b. Anthony started had their convention right here at the ryman, and many people had been to conventions that had more free time than work time, and the women that came here in the fall in 1914 and they wanted the right to vote. They were going to work hard it lasted until 3 00 a. M. In this building when women got the right to vote. The ryman had as you been a place because it was so large for Political Convention of the state parties and the Democratic Party and the republican party. So in 1920, when it was time to select delegates to go to the Democratic National Convention Held in San Francisco, they met here at the Ryman Auditorium and for the first time tennessee sent two women delegates to that convention which was historic and that was really months before they passed the 19th amendment so women could get the right to vote. So history was made here even at the ryman before the right to vote was granted. The Civil Rights Movement was very important in nashville, tennessee. A few blocks from here, Young Students from fisk university, tennessee a i, now Tennessee University all did the lunch counter sitins including congressman john lewis. They got arrested here. They challenged the system of what was going on in nashville, tennessee, and the conscience of the country. So in 1962, Martin Luther king was here at the ryman to present an award or scholarship money to some of the freedom rider students. One of those students who got a check to go to school from Martin Luther king in the southern Leadership Conference was john lewis. So part of the history of the ryman is also Martin Luther king was here and spoke as well. Jackie robinson spoke a few years later here on the Civil Rights Movement, as well. And even before that, booker t. Washington, came to the ryman and spoke about three different times and sometimes for graduations and so, he had a crowd of about 5,000 people which was the capacity back then. So if you wanted to hear one of the leading voices in america during any time of the rymans history. They came to the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman Auditorium is the most interesting place to make the speech in america. It is a museum, but today it is a thriving concert venue which has 200 bookings. In the last five or ten yrs, people like diana ross, aretha frank lynn, t franklin, the foo fighters and the list goes on and on and on. Some people who normally play arenas of 15 or 20,000 play the ryman because it is such an interesting building that people want to perform in. The acoustics in the ryman are some of the best in america only most people think the mormon tabernacle in utah has better acoustics. The reason that people like the Ryman Auditorium is because its unique. Its a small venue. Theres not a bad seat in this whole place and the great thing about seeing a concert is you get to see one of your most favorite performers, but you get to see them in a much smaller space. When you go to a concert now most performers thank their band, they thank their fans. When you walk across the stage of the ryman, you pay homage to the building. Most people the first words out of their mouth is saying something about the building and how wonderful it is to be in here. I talked to former face the nation host Bob Schaeffer. During the president ial debates in 2008 that were at Belmont University Gaylord Entertainment and now Ryman Hospitality group had a special performance of the grand ole opry in this building and they invited Bob Schaeffer who has a country band to perform and brad paisley was hosting the opry that night and interestingly enough, i talked to Bob Schaeffer about that because later on he was moderating another president ial debate, that cycle against president obama and john mccain, and i asked him, were you more nervous moderating a president ial debate or playing at the ryman and that was an easy answer, and he said i was so nervous here at the ryman. This was my childhood dream to play at the Ryman Auditorium and it was as exciting as i thought it would ever be. The rymans legacy on a National Level is a venue that has literally had speeches of president s that has organized parties here. Weve had famous politicians even in the 20th century, and al gore senior and al gore jr. Another name a lot of people may not know is joe burns who was speaker of the house during president roosevelts time. He had many debates for congress here in the ryman and when joe burns died, his funeral was in nashville and fdr came to that, so the legacy of the ryman is tied with the legacy of the opry. Today, the opry is heard worldwide because of the internet and still because of wsn. The grand ole opry is the oldest radio show in the world and we are fortunate that the, although the opry has a new home, it comes back here in the winter for a few months and you can still see the grand ole opry where it was famous in the Ryman Auditorium. As the Ryman Auditorium reflects 20th century history, in the mid 19th century a group named the hutchinson family singers became the most famous entertainers in america travelled across america singing for enslaved africanamericans. Their 1844 song get off the track come is a Campaign Song for the Liberty Party and the First National antislavery party in United States history, one of the most popular songs of the hutchinson family singers, it becomes somewhat the anthem of the Antislavery Movement of the 1840 the book is on the hutchinson family singers. This group of antislavery singers who were born in New Hampshire in the late tens and early 1820s. They are a family group, thus the name, hutchinson family singers and a group of three brothers and one sister. I they are antislavery singers who are one of the most popular musical acts of the 1840s and 1850s, and i wrote it because the uniqueness of the hutchinsons and of their story and also the one really big question which is how does a group that sings for a social reform, a social activist, right . A musical social activist, how does this group become so popular . Initially the three brothers, jedson, jesse and Asa Hutchinson are somewhat captivated by this idea of of music. They come from a large farming family in millford, New Hampshire, which is on the southern board of New Hampshire. The southern border with massachusetts, and a large farming family, mainly male children. Its a family of 11 boys and two girls. One of the things that happens in the hutchinson family, the two oldest brothers will split whats the family farm or in line to split the family farm and the next series of brothers move out to whats considered the west at that time and out to ohio and illinois and the youngest brothers who are going to form threequarters of the hutchinson family singers, they move to lynn, massachusetts, the small early industrialized areas. In lynn, the hutchinsons connect their background in music that was developed through the baptist church. They had they come from a family that was very active in the Baptist Community in New Hampshire and it taught them, the church taught them how to sing and the church taught them to read music. Music is a little bit problematic particularly in rural new england at the time. Its dangerous. People who are musicians are seen as immoral, perhaps, in some way, and so, of course, the Church Provides a moral space for people to be able to sing because theyre singing the word of the the word of god and the hutchinson family as a whole is very active in the Musical Community in New Hampshire through the baptist church. One of their brothers is a choral director for the church and provides lessons for the community and the hutchinsons try to run with that when theyre in lynn and they get this idea that maybe we could become i performia performing t. In 1841 they decide to try their luck as three brothers and they tour new england and upstate new york, and its a complete flop. They grew up, they claim in the mountains of the old granite state, the White Mountains and even though the hutchinsons, in millford, New Hampshire, the highest point is only a couple of hundred feet and they dont visit the mountains until 1841 and nonetheless, they profess themselves as coming from the mountains and they try to experiment and they bring their youngest sister, 12yearold Abby Hutchinson on the stage with them and these two things, connecting to the geographic location of new england generally and the White Mountains in particular, the soil, along with bringing abby on stage creates a familybased presentation that instantly resonates with audiences. So this quartet creates the foundation for the hutchinson family singers that begins to work. One example in 1842 the hutchinsons play at dartmouth college, and this is one of the early concerts with Abby Hutchinson, and the first night they go out, they play for the audience and its all men. They applaud, its all great. The next night, they come out and its a mixedgender audience with children, right . Men, their wives children have come. The first night the men are literally checking them out, right . Is this going to concert, is this going to be acceptable for my wife and for my children to experience . And so this is the kind of gender dynamic that the hutchinsons are playing around with this presentation at this particular moment in time, but in 1842, there is an important event in the fall that starts to push the hutchinsness ons in al directions. Rebecca arrive in boston. Seven days later they are recognized by a friend of their virginian master who then contacts the master and the master contacts the United States marshal in boston and theyre immediately thrown in jail as fugitive slaves and there will be a trial and whether or not the latimers are fugitive slaves and whether or not they will be tried under the slave clause. And theyre living in lynn, massachusetts, at the time and they begin their kind of steps towards perhaps becoming antislavery singers. So this idea of immediatism which the hutchinsons will pick up on from their christian background is one of the factors in play and the idea of social betterment that connects also to a Youth Movement and many of the hutchinsons fans, from what we could tell were of a younger generation. A generation that is increasingly mobile, socially mobile and geographically mobile and theyre moving to cities from youral areas. The United States at this point in time is predominantly a rural nation and its not until 1890s that we would consider it an urban population. I tin rant ministers would travel from town to town and stay for been or two weeks and create a revival. People would literally, come in, camp out for a week and have a variety of celebrations and have personal spiritual awakenings, and in many ways these revivals are the earliest examples of kind of a Popular Culture in the United States. These mass entertainments and thousands of people and the largest ones would show up. So these kind of very personal, live performances, whether they be of religion and whether they be soon of is the site of entertainment and the hutchinsons branch the divide, and these two areas, the religious realm and the musical realm and the hutchinsons will be will bear witness to the great antislavery sensation and the antislavery circuit and the sensation of the antislavery circuit of 1842 cho is frederick douglas. Frederick douglas becomes one of the most notable purposes through his speeches at antislavery meetings in 1842. Throughout this moment of 1842 shall the george lat per incident and seeing frederick douglas, the hutch ipson decide to take that step and they will perform in 1843. Theyll perform in boston before that and their first foray into antislavery singing and they do this in very formal meeting settings and they do it brilliantly. So the hutchinsons will quite literally use tunes that other people are using and they often come from revival tents, songs that people were singing in a Church Setting or in certain cases there will be tunes that are circulating in popular consciousness. This is an era of blackfaced minstrels who are creating popular tunes and the hutchinsons will create their antiminstrel lyrics on top of it. So one example is one example of a minstrel tune they borrow from would be old dan tucker qwetucker its their 1844 song get off the track which is a Campaign Song for the Liberty Party, the first antislavery party in the United States history and one of the most popular songs becomes somewhat the anthem of the Antislavery Movement in the 1840s and 1850s and is old dan tucker sped up. That is they used a faster tempo and theyre using a tune that everybody could recognize and putting their own lyrics on top of it. They refused to sing to segregated audiences. Concert spaces in the 1840s and the 1850s and of course, certainly throughout the 19th century, almost always accepted the pham le singer shows and a few other examples are almost always segregated and given the seats in the way back and at the very least, whites and plaques are to not sit together in the very rows and not dispersed about one another and the hutchinsons tried their best to promote a desegregated audience. This gets them a lot of criticism, and this gets them criticism in boston and in 1847 in philadelphia a mob threatens to shut down Musical Fund Hall where the hutchinsons are playing because theyre playing to ay is desegregated audience and if they allow the hut hutchinsons to play for plaques and blacks and whites together that they will burn down the hall and this is a Common Threat thats been played out in pennsylvania and philadelphia in particular on several occasions where buildings have been burned down for antislavery activism. Several occasions where buildings have been burned down for antislavery activism. By and large, the brothers had founded in hutchinson, minnesota and asa will live out west for the rest of his life and john will remain centered in lynn, massachusetts. Abby will remain in new york and in orange, new jersey, new york city and in orange, new jersey and travel the world. Shell be in egypt and a variety of other places and shes married leadlow patton who is extraordinarily wealthy to whom she weds and the hutchinsons wont be the social voice they were in the 1840s and 1850s and by and large theyll be what a lot of what a lot of singers from the 1960s are today, right . They make money off of what they once were. Theyre had beens in many ways and theyre not creating new music and theyre repeating old music and people want to remember the older age in many ways and that younger generations are curious about all these stories that their parent his about this moment. We used to listen to so and so and you go and share that legacy that way. But theyll never reach the fame and celebrity that they once had during the 1840s and 1850s. Almost 100 years after the hutchinsons sang for reform singer and songwriter bob dylan begins achieving fame in the 1960s for his urging political change in america. Names of some famous people. Im sorry. Do you consider yourself a politician . Do i consider myself a politician . Well, i guess so. I have my own party, though. There are no president s in the party, no president s or Vice President s or secretaries or anything like that. So it makes it kind of hard to get in. Is there a right wing or a left wing in the party . No, its more or less in the center. Kind of on an uppety scale. Most people think that bob dylan is leftist or you know, is somehow associated with the Hippie Movement of the 1960s or Something Like that, and the voice of the generation of the 1960s which was a label that he detested. They would look at him as perhaps a great leader of an Antiwar Movement and he never went to an antiwar march. You cant stick him with democrats and republicans and you really cant say that hes exactly left or right. There are certain themes that come through throughout bob dylans life about his politics, and those subjects are social justice, support for the underdog and suspicion of institutions and authority and a concern about abuse of power, but those things arent necessarily the domain of the right or the left. So i think most people have a misconception about what bob dylan is. Bob dylan grew up in northern minnesota in a town called hibbing and that is in a portion of minnesota known as the iron range and thats a special place in minnesota. If a person would have gone to the iron range in the 1800s and early 1900s it would have been a hotbed of radicalism. You would have run into socialists and communists. These were folks working deep under ground in iron mines and so this is part of the Labor Movement that existed in america at this time, and so dylan li himself at one point said more suspicious of bankers growing up than communists and of course, bob dylan grew up in a jewish house he would and they made him a minority on the range, as well and that was going to have an impact, too, on the support of the underdog and that kind of thing. Before they call him a man the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind the answer is blowing in the wind in the 1960 s, early 1960s, 1950s, as well, the Folk Movement in america sprung up and it was certainly by and large a leftist kind of movement, interest in civil rights, antiwar and that sort of thing. So when you look at the early songs of bob dylan. Everyone knows blowing in the wind, masters of the war would be another one. There were more topical songs about emmett till, for example. This war and tragedy, you should all remember well his skin was black and his name was emmett till these types of songs were written by many other folk singer, as well, and so what happens is that dylan sort of progresses beyond that and by the mid1960s then hes writing songs that arent exactly songs you can put your finger on. Its all right, mom, only bleeding or like a rolling stone, highway 61 revisited with almost hallucinateory, and as american societiy is changing people start to read in a very heavy, political message in dylan at a time where if you are really looking at it objectively, you couldnt say that these songs are necessarily overtly political. You know, diplomat who carries on his shoulder a siamese cat and people are, what does this mean . What does this mean . There must be a deeper message. Johnny is thinking about the medicine and he doesnt say what hes thinking about the government, but you, the listener, then, inject your own meaning into that. So hes not really offering answering throughout this time. This voice of a generation thing, he says the answer is blowing in the wind. Well, its a great song and if i were to make a playlist of 1960s music that song would be on there, but the answer is blowing in the wind isnt particularly helpful if youre searching for answers. So, you know, i think thats how we have to understand his political output. Thats what i mean when i say its not exactly what people think. Id like to know about the meaning of the photograph with you and the wearing of the triumph tshirt. What do you want to know about it . Ooi id like to know its an equivalent photograph and its got a philosophy in it. Id like to know what it visually represents to you because youre a part of that. Um i havent really looked at it that much. Ive thought about it a great deal. When people are looking to bob dylan for the answers, its a great thing to youtube, Bob Dylan Press Conference in 1965, no matter which one you hit it will be great. If you start to think what it must have been like to have every little thing that you do or say looked at so intently. How many times does someone say whats the meaning of the shirt youre wearing right now . Well, you know, what are you going to do with that . Just had to grate on a person. I think any thinking person that was in his situation would just find a lot of this inane. I believe thats a big reason why he really got away from that voice of a generation protest music. He saw it as, in my opinion, anyway, he saw it as a prison. Once he got locked into being this one thing he could never get out and so in 1965 he went electric, and started playing electric guitar rather than just acoustic and harmonica and people would come to his concert and yell judas and boo him and how dare he and that sort of thing and so once again, i think he looked at all that and said you know, no thanks. Thank you very much. And so by 1966, hes out of there. He goes to upstate new york and starts having children and starts writing love songs and its a whole new dylan in 1966. The irony is in the 19 60s when he becomes a born again christian, he for the first time is telling his audiences i have the answer, and a lot of people arent very interested then in hearing what his answer is. The publics reaction to the new dylan by the 1980s is youve got to remember now were a whole generation from the 1960s. So theres a whole group of kids growing up in the 80s and i would have been one of them who are watching mtv, and bob dylan, for as great of a songwriter that he is is not maybe the most mtvfriendly persona for a 14yearold and so it really depends on which public at this point because the baby boomers are now adults. Theyve got mortgages, theyve got jobs, et cetera and theyre not following music as closely, and so in some ways dylan is slipping through the cracks a little bit. When we are the world comes out, hes invited. He sings on that. And so hes not forgotten, but hes not quite the same public figure that he had been. You know, as a dylan fan when people find out that im a dylan fan some people will say, his voice i like his songs, but i dont like his voice. Listen deeper. By the way, his voice is often very good. Its like a leather coat. Its broken in, and thats when it fits best, and so, you know, it really he is a remarkable artist and you know, it might not necessarily be everybodys favorite style of music, but something he has said will resonate with you. In july 1966 bob dylan suffered serious neck injuries in a motorcycle accident forcing him to decline an invitation to a musical festival in monterey, california, that would help to define 1967s summer of love in america. We love you all, man, this is very groovy, man. Monterey is very groovy, man. This is something, man. This is this is our generation, man. All you people, were all together, man and its groovy and dig yourselves because its really groovy. The pop festival is a musical event in 1967 that kicked off the summer of love and it was the first real big rock n roll musical festival to happen here. The city of monterey, pretty conservative community at that point and there was a lot of concern about these what they called then beatniks. The word hippie was moot at that point and in the past years or so there was news of the young this young Hippie Movement and theyd be laughing at news, and the summer of love is happening in San Francisco and no one quite understood what that was all about and the kids and the boys with long hair and the drugs and they were concerned about this and the chief of police felt so confident and so comfortable about this group that were here and these kids who were causing problems that he released his policemen to go down to cannery row. The police would go down and monitor the fire because he felt fine with with what was going down at the festival that particular night. Whats great about the pop festival is it wasnt just rock n roll music and they brought in all different genres of music here. There was african jazz and there was soul music and the lou rawles sang here sunday night and one of the biggest hits of the entire festival was otis redding and most of the audience had no idea who otis redding was and he had been singing soul music before that and he came here and just blew this whole place away. Loving you too long stoet. He actually died just a few months after that festival in a plane crash, but so there was a lot they brought a lot of different ideas of music here to the festival and i think it opened up peoples eyes and not just the people that were here, but also people that live in the monterey area. One of the musicians that Paul Mccartney suggested was an africanamerican that was not known in this area, but known in england and jimi hendrix. Hendrix was in the army in 1961 and was stationed here in monterey. So he knew monterey and he played here in monterey at the festival and he really, no pun intended, ignited this place. He takes lighter fluid and pours on his guitar and lights the guitar on fire and gets on his knees and burns the guitar and then he smashed it up and throws it up into the audience and people were just stunned by this. You can see the burn marcos the stage here which is part of the monterey pop mythology and it is exactly where he was when he did that and the story was that hendrix came down the next day and carved his name in there and the truth is there was a covering on the stage there and theyd put a wooden cover on the floor here which you can see in the film and there was someone who came a few years later and carved the name underneath there. Monterey pop festival was a different audience and it opened montereys eyes and thought we can combine these cultures together and although they were very unsure about it and once they saw there wasnt a lot of problems, that i think it was good for monterey. Seven of the ten musicians and bands who played at the 1967 monterey pop festival went on to be inducted into the rock n roll hall of fame. Located in cleveland the museums louder than words exhibit impacted american politics. Were not going to take it no, we aint going to take it all i want to say is they dont really care about us all i want to say is they dont really care about us were very excited to have you here at the rock in politics exhibit. This is a brand new exhibit at the rock n roll hall of fame all through the lens of rock n roll. A lot of what we do here at the rock n roll hall of fame looks at artists and genres and the impact of the music, but when you step back and look at rocks ability to shape how we view things and how we process things and how people understand things, this notion of rock as a very powerful art form that really has a tremendous impact on some of the most important conversations that we have in our culture. All i really want to say is they dont really care about us so weve been talking about this exhibit for a number of years and its something that we thought was a very fruitful topic and now as the rnc comes to cleveland, were partnering with the newseum in d. C. To open this in summer 2016 here in cleveland as the rnc comes into town and also have it travel to the newseum in d. C. For the next president ial inauguration. So we organized this exhibit to look at topics like lgbt issues, freedom, protest songs, rocks use in political campaigns, rocks ability to help, you know, coalesce and create a movement. Look at those different topics and organize them by president ial administration from eisenhower going through to today with obama and how perspective changed over time and how issues have evolved through lyrics and through the art form of rock n roll and how our society has reacted as a result and how music has reacted at society. What we do here is tell stories. People come here as these talisman artifacts just to see that object, an object that has so much power and so much history embedded, its magical and this is really a sacred object for us. This is Jimi Hendrixs electric guitar and this is the guitar that hendrix used on stage when he infamously played the starspangled banner at woodstock. You had a lot of people that were considering a rock n roll distorted guitar version of the starspangled banner to be just short of burning a flag, that it was seen as a protest movement in a time when a lot of people were frustrated with the protests that were going on and the the turbulence that was being created by these hippies. When hendrix gets on the couch and talks about this, this is not a protest. This is a tribute. Im a patriot. This man was in the 101st airborne so when you write your nasty letters in. You mentioned the National Anthem and talk about playing it in any unorthodox way you immediately get an immediately guaranteed hate mail. Thats not unorthodox. Isnt it . No. No. I thought it was beautiful, but there you go. That was a way for him to use his ability to connect that passion of this new sound of rock n roll and demonstrate his patriotism, demonstrate his love for the country, 50 years later now you see that its not uncommon for someone to play a guitar, electric guitar version of the starspangled banner in front of a ballpark, and it was a moment in time when that performance captured the turbulence of the time, the juxtaposition of patriotism and a love for the country with a change in society that says were not going to do things the same way and hendrix didnt do the starspangled banner the same way. He did it his own way. We have a couple of artifacts here including a 45 from Sergeant Bari sadler, the ballad of the green berets and the letter from vietnam and this is johnny cashs shirt that really, when you look at these two artists its really easy to look back 40, 50 areas later and to think that everyone was against the vietnam war, and there are often some surprises that we forget about like the ballad of the green berets. Men who fight by night and day courage speak from the green beret so theres a lot of time throughout history when you see its not just whatty woo remember, its not just what gets elevated in pop culture. Vietnam is a story that is very clear that we know that rock played a role there, but when you really dig deep, there are some surprises in there and there are some alternative perspectives and there are some stories that sometimes get lost. You also have examples of artists like neal young and southern man criticizing political views of the south. Southern change from the common man now your crosses are burning Lynyrd Skynyrd responded and i hope neal young will a southern man dont need him around anyhow you have these times when the debate him around anyhow you have the debate happening with the songs and singles that are released. And compare whats happening now to whats happening in the past. It provides insight and new perspective and new way of moving forward. We have here some artifacts from dee snider who helped us unveil this exhibit this year. He wore these items when he testified in the u. S. Senate committees hearing on censorship. You say your song under the blade is about surgery. Have you ever had surgery with your hands tied and legs strapped . The song was written about my guitar player. He was fearful of his operation and i would, while youre in the hospital, im going to write a song for you. Congress put together this list of the filthy 15, the songs that they identified as kind of public enemies number 1 through 15 in terms of making the case that rock n roll has to be controlled, censored, this led to warning labels being put on cds and, you know, these songs, if you talk to artists, werent that outrageous. And when they brought dee snider, its easy to understand why they wanted him there. He was this metal head lug, he wore mascara. He was a character. Its not a wild jump. I think what i said at one point was that songs allow a person to put their own imagination, experiences and dreams into the lyrics. People can interpret it many ways. She was looking for bondage and she found it. He was chosen to the one to testify in front of the senate. What they didnt know, this was a sober, articulate family man who was very passionate about the subject and really helped make this case about the reason that rock n roll and art forms shouldnt be censored. Theres a couple instances in our history where the government starts to get involved. Theres the pmrc hearings when alan freed was investigated by government for a scandal. Hello, everybody. This is alan freed. Its time again for another of your favorite rock n roll session. On the surface, thats a story about a guy whos corrupt, according to the government, and hes taking money to play music. Enjoy the moon dog show but it was much more than that. They were operating under the assumption that no one would play what they called at the time race music, no one would play this to our white kids without some sinister motivation behind it and clearly there was some financial gain. And it was about this concern for corruption, about whats happening in the radio waves, it was a concern that this nascent genre of rock n roll is starting to take root and get into our kids radios and ears and starting to introduce new ideas that challenge the status quo and create questions and challenge authority and that was a threat to the government. Later on, the fbi sends a letter to nwa for their song fuck the police. When Martin Luther king was assassinated, james brown had a concert in boston. Sometimes i do the james brown. I want you to know and boston was one of the few cities that didnt have riots after kings assassination because james brown kept it cool. And other artists came in after him and said, be careful. You may be a target now. Because now the government knows that if you can stop a riot, you can start one too. Several times in our history, you have situations where the status quo looks at rock n roll and says, its making our kids do bad things. Its promoting elicit sexual activity, its advocating drug use. Its not really music. It should be stopped. That happens with elvis, that happens with the beatles, that happens with twisted sister, that happened with frank zappa and nwa. They have the understanding that this music has the power to create tremendous unrest or to calm people and therefore they got to get involved and control it. This is one of my favorite displays in the exhibit. These are the original costume worn by the Village People. And, you know, really when you think about the Village People, they represent a time when our society is starting to change how they view homosexuality and the gay culture. The song ymca, its part of the american song book, its played at pep rallies and ball games now and very much accepted, part of our culture, part of our history. But that represents an important time for history because it starts to be these artists are literally coming out. And theyre making it okay. But theres a couple Different Things that are happening in that general time frame. If you think about the disco sucks movement, that was a really passionate, powerful, Grassroots Movement where people were protesting a type of of music and, you know, in hindsight, sometimes look ridiculous. Why do you need to protest what someone listens to. But that might not have been understood at the time, but sometimes a dog whistle from the conservative side saying were not okay with this studio 54 and the Village People and the gay culture being out. Throughout history, you see examples of artists, especially in Race Relations, making a statement. Sometimes its nina simone talking about overt enrage. All i want is equality for my sister, my brother, my people and me but that history connects to today. When you look at the Race Relations in our country, Janelle Monae is writing songs about walter scott, trayvon martin, michael brown. Using her popularity and her voice to make a statement. Kendrick lamar at the b. E. T. Awards as this all right song that uses his celebrity to give movement to the black lives matter movement. Still to the day, this music and these artists provide a voice to people who might not always be heard otherwise. Were presenting this exhibit not as a look at artists or genres, but a look at our culture through the lens of rock n roll. You want people to understand that this is a very powerful art form that has the ability to help us process things. To bring a voice to people who might not have otherwise been heard, to help us work through some of the most important conversations in american culture. There are over 700 inductes in the rock n roll hall of fame. We now take a look at james brown. I feel good i knew that i would now i feel good i knew that i would now so good so good i got you we are in the museum of history in augusta, georgia, we call this exhibit james brown, the godfather of soul and it gives a different perspective of him, the man, the music and his messages in his music. Youll see beautiful memorabilia, a beautiful grand cape that he designed as well as instruments from his home and its a great way to learn about godfather of soul visiting his exhibit at the Augusta Museum of history. I am one of the daughters of mr. James brown, the godfather of soul. Im president of the James Brown Family Foundation and founder of the james Brown Academy of music pupils, also known as j. A. M. This area is called the csra, central Savannah River area. It borders the Savannah River, South Carolina as well as georgia. He was born a little bit down right across the bridge. But he grew up in augusta. So thats why he made the beautiful song georgia lina. Because he had a good heart for both areas. I was raised in georgia born in carolina im a georgialiner my grandmother and my grandfather were poor. And so he grew up in the augusta downtown area which at that time was called the terry for the territory of where the black lowincome people lived. And his days were growing up in our aunt honeys place. And it was some things going on at aunt honeys house, it was a prohibition house, the military gentlemen came gown to visit the women of the evening. As a young boy, he got a chance to see some things. But thats the area and with the surroundings that he grew up in. He met bobby bird, which i call uncle bobby. He met uncle bobby at a detention home in rome, georgia. And uncle bobby was part of a gospel group. They performed in the boys home. And dad was there, as an inmate. And they met there. And they became friends because in order for dad to be able to get out of that boys the detention home for boys, he needed a home. He needed a place to go. Somebody had to take him in. And so uncle bobby talked his mom into taking dad in as a young boy so he could get out of the detention home that he was in. And from that point on, they started to make Music Together and they started doing gospel music. But dad kind of changed that a little bit when he started bringing in some of his favorite songs at that time like a lot of choochoo songs. They began to start doing r b as we know it. The first big hit was please please please in 1956. From the early 50s onto the 90s, late 90s, dad used to be amazed by how people were so into him and into his music. And he would be so amazed when he traveled around the country and he would call me sometimes when i did radio and hed be in china, in prague, in these places and these people didnt speak english. But they knew so much about him and they loved his music. And it amazed him how his reach was so far, so deep to people who didnt speak english and it amazed him, especially being where he came from. I think sometimes he wrestled with trying to understand that. It was baffling to him, how could a poor young boy from South Carolina come into such grace, such favor from good to be able to make this music, never went to school, never finished high school, never went to college, never went to a music school. It just came to him. He always wanted to be for the common man. Somebody who would go and work those 13, 14 hours a day and still dont make enough money for their family. But still go and do it each and every day. He wanted to speak for the common man because he did not forget being in that position when my grandfather had to walk from South Carolina to augusta just to find a little bit of work for a little bit of money. But a whole lot of time spent. He always spoke with president s starting with lyndon b. Johnson, all the way up, for opportunity for young africanamericans, john opportunity, education opportunity, and then housing in the inner cities for families to be able to live in. Dad did some things that was way ahead of his time back in the late 60s and the early 70s. He had a restaurant called the gold platter. It would be like a walmart today. Not maybe as big, but you could go grocery shopping, but you could also have a meal there. You could eat. There was a restaurant in there. You could go to walmart now, you can do just about anything, you can get something to eat, shop, get your hair done. He was way ahead of his time. He even created a system where people could have foot stamps so they could be able to purchase the food in the stores. He was so far ahead of his time in trying to help his community. Say it louder say it loud to make a threeminute song, that threeminute song have so much power on generations to come, i dont even think that my dad realized what he was doing at the time. I believe that he realized the impact that it would make at that time doing those days in the 60s, during the Civil Rights Movement, but have we even came out of that movement to whats going on today, to whats happening today in ferguson, new york, with young black men being shot down . Have we left that movement . It may have appeared that we really have not, that were still in a Civil Rights Movement. Still to this day, that song is relevant and it means a lot because now its introduced to a new generation who needs to understand, to be black and to be proud. Dad when i did radio, he would always tell me when i play that song, to expand it. Because were in a different day and time now. At that time, he made it for that purpose. But he would always say, come back behind that with reminding people that whatever it is you are, you come from, be proud of it. If youre a woman, be proud. If youre an indian be proud. If youre german, be proud. Whatever it is, whatever your culture, you be proud. Today we present the j. A. M. Masters. James brown legacy for me is the james brown academic of music peoples. These students are awesome. When dad used to talk about the importance of Music Education in schools, his biggest gripe was that students needed to continue learning how to play instruments. He said you put an instrument in a childs hand, you change their life. Ive seen that literally happen with these students that i work with. And never in a million years thought that i would be doing it. But what i have seen is the exact thing that my dad told me what i would see. And these children have embraced his music, they learn music theory, music composition, they learn a lot of his songs, they learn a lot of artists music, but its all clean. That was very important to my dad. From the georgia home of the godfather of soul, we travel further south where the New Orleans Jazz Museum features this unique american form of music. People say that jazz is the only original american art form. Im not sure if its the only original one, but it certainly is the most famous and most world renown, change the world kind of music. Im going back home to say as im walking to new orleans its something that the country can be proud of. Its something that has defined america not only for americans but for people outside of america. And like any great art, it has spoken profoundly to the truths and the great issues of our time and of humanity. Right now were on the second floor of the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Herman Leonard exhibit. Its been in this building since 1983. After hurricane katrina, the exhibit was moved out and put in storage until basically now. We have slowly started taking the instruments and the artifacts out of the archive and putting them back here and slowly but surely having the instrument cases right behind me, the exhibit, the women of note exhibit, the gonzalez mural, all of slowly but surely, weve been getting it out. And the eventual plan is to turn the second floor into an 8,000 square foot history of jazz in new orleans exhibit. New orleans jazz brings to mind a collectively improvised dance music, influenced by blues and spirituals and ragtime and assorted other things that have come through the crescent city. Jazz starts in new orleans for a lot of different reasons. One is that new orleans is a huge port town so lots of different cultures that contributed to jazz came here through the port, through people bringing goods, either from europe or from the caribbean or, you know, from the northern parts down the mississippi. There also was a very large presence of enslaved africans here and yet the laws governors how you treated these enslaved africans were much more lenient than any other place in the country. Im not saying it was easy to be a slave here. It was as difficult as you can expect. But slaves had it a tiny bit easier here, they had to have a day off, you couldnt split up families when you sold slaves, they could own their own property, they could have their own businesses. So it was a little more lenient for them and that meant that the kind of things that they brought from africa stayed around here longer than other places. In terms of the things that came together for jazz, you can start seeing it in the early 1890s and then probably by about the early 1900s, 1904 to 1910, you can start hearing something where if you heard it today, you would say, thats jazz. In new orleans, music has always been an essential part of the culture. They say the figures opera performed in america was performed here. We have several opera houses. There are lots of dance halls, lots of places to hear music. So music has been an inherent part of the culture and because of that, music is a part of every kind of cultural tradition. Theres always music there at your parades, your parties, your christenings, funerals. Everything, generally, you hire a band for. So we have the largest collection in the world related to new orleans jazz. The jewel of the collection is this coronet that was a coronet that Louis Armstrong learned to play on. It wasnt his first coronet, but it was the coronet that was provided to him. Louis armstrong was born where the Municipal Traffic Court is. Hes born about as poor as you could be in this country. And he started out kind of, you know, running the streets and singing in a Singing Group with his friends and quite a few like being one of those kids that you see with the bottle caps on the bottom of their shoes with a hat in front of them. Very resourceful kid. Played a little bit, sang, and he was arrested new years eve when he was about 7 or so for shooting off his moms boyfriends pistol in the air on new years eve and was sentenced to a year and a half in a home. And thats where kind of the band leader there saw that he might have some potential and got him in the band and he started playing in the band. By the time he got out of there, he had some idea that he wanted to be a musician and started playing music among the other odd jobs that he had and hang out with king oliver and oliver was his mentor and almost kind of like a father figure to him. Oliver and his wife would have louis home for dinner and stuff like this. As you can see, it was played by kids not only during the time that armstrong was there, but for many, many years afterwards. And peter davis, the superintendent of the home presented it to Louis Armstrong as a gift to the New Orleans Jazz Museum back in 1965. And Louis Armstrong confirmed this was the horn by the notches he made in the mouthpiece. You can see the notches today. Louis felt it gave him more of a grip with his lips on the instrument. We moved into another area of the museum. We have a number of instruments on display. And this one is of particular interest. It was a trumpet that was owned by dave bartholomew. Hes still living. Hes in his 90s now. And he was a prolific producer and arranger, writer and band leader. And he was really fundamental in dominos career. He helped produce and create arrangements for dominos early rock n roll work. And hes one of the earliest in the developments of rock n roll. Dave bartholomew as a jazz music and arranger is a direct link from jazz to rock n roll. This is one of his pianos. Fatz, he returned to his home and wanted to live in new orleans. His home was damaged during katrina, flooded heavily. This piano was in there. It floated in about 12 feet of water. Once the water receded, it was heavily damage. The entire piano was in horrible condition. Its not playable, but its been con veved a conserved and brought back to its original appearance. If we try to make it playable again, it wouldnt have been the same piano. We didnt want to lose the historical nature of the piano. Fatz domino was from new orleans and he influenced all of early rock n roll. The beatles were some of his biggest fans. When the beatles came here in 65, they asked if they could meet with him. He had many, many friends and many of the musicians he played with stayed with him his whole career and they went onto influence many others and create their own music and their own bands. He had a very Strong Influence on music here in new orleans. But really around the world. Fatz passing less than a year ago was a major blow to his city and his family. He left a wonderful legacy. He influenced so many people with his warmth and with his music. Sweet emma barrett was born in 1897. She was a true new orleans character. She was really well known by the bells that she wore on her ankles. You can see that in this photo here. She was a wonderful musician and in her later years, beginning in the 60s or so, she began playing at preservation hall and was a well soughtout musician. We have a wonderful video of her performing in the first jazz fest in 1968. She was selftaught and its evident in her style. But her style is a true new orleans style. [ applause ] okay, now weve moved into the collection storage area. Come this way. This is a really neat drum set here. This was the drum set of minor ram hall. He was the drummer in his band. And theres some wonderful footage of this drum being played with the band. So this would have been a jazz band that was led of course by kid. Were happy to have this. This came to us about six years ago as a donation. Right over here we have speaking of drums, we have a drum snare shell. Thats one of baby dodds drums. Many drummers think of baby dodds as the father of modern drumming. And it came with this full, beautiful white pearl ludwig set that he played in the latter half of his career. It will be one of the prime drum sets in a new exhibit that were doing on drums later this year in september. When folks come to the museum, i would like for them to take away several things, the deep history of the music here, its a living, breathing art form still in new orleans and in most of the country. Its a part of everything that goes on around here. Even people who say they dont like jazz or dont know jazz, know jazz songs. Its a part of your life here, even if you dont realize it. As jazz reflects new orleans and its africanamerican roots, the mountain music archive in North Carolina provides a window into the lives of those living in the Appalachian Mountains through musical and spoken word recordings. Was there a particular time when you learned songs or just here and there . Just here and there. Theyd sing them in the field when they didnt have nothing to do. And i went right to songs with other people too. Its a short life in trouble little girl for a boy with a broken heart these folks were people who were came of age before selfdoubt was invented. These were really wise, knowledgeable people, educated in the natural world, educated in the musical world, in their own folklore. So it was just something deep and wise. So mountain music is a catchall term for the traditional music of the southern app pa lashens. It could be ballads and folk songs, it could be bluegrass music. People used that term generally to refer to the traditional music of the southern appalachians. When all of those things came here in the mountains, we had a hybrid that just busted loose. This is around the banjo kicked things into gear in the mid 1800s and that was a black influence. It came from africa. And that rhythm of the banjo changed the way the music that was played. Thats one of the things it did along with the music and dancing. But that combination made this incredibly powerful hybrid of music that has affected music to this day. The mountain music archives is a part of our special collections housed in the library and it consists of a number of items, recordings, photographs and other items related to music makers of this region, western North Carolina. A lot of the collection was collected in the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1969 i came back to the southern mountains. I was going to college at the university of california Santa Barbara are a and i had fallen in love with the sound of the banjo. I asked where i could go to learn this style, the claw hammer style. He said you need to go back to ashville. I left that summer in 1969 with my buddy. We traveled all through the southern mountains, went from georgia to west virginia, going to fiddlers conventions and i fell in love with the music and the people and the place and culture. To me, it was like it was like stepping into the lost world because at this time, were talking 1969 through 1973 or something, a lot of these oldtimers all of them were born in the late 1800s. These people that were closely connected to our pioneer an ancestors more than modern people, i thought this was fascinating and the music was great and the people were so wonderful. They wouldnt give you lessons, but they would play for you and you would try to figure it out, come back and talk to them the next and build a r it became important to collect this music in and theres a variety of reasons. In the 1960s, you had a folk music boom you could call it. An explosion of interest in folk music. This manifests itself in performing groups like the kingston trio or peter, paul and mary, bob dylan. But people began exploring the origins, where these songs came from. And some individuals became very fascinated with those origin stories and to the point of tracking down individuals who had originally recorded a lot of this music back in the 20s and 30s which became the source for recordings of these musicians in the 1960s. Folks at Warren Wilson college decided it would be great where the students could learn the instruments. Not just fore lore aspects of it, but to learn to play the instruments. And i was new in town, really. I moved here in 73. Were talking about 1975 when they wanted to start this program. And i was a guy from the outside. And pretty much the only guy in town from the outside collecting music. And so i had contact with different aspects of the music, the bluegrass players, the oldtime players and they were mad at each other. So i was kind of a perfect person to go in between and bring them all together and have them come out to the college to teach. The collection is about 110 tapes. That was the best equipment we could find in those days. And i collected a lot of it and the students collected a lot of it. At Warren Wilson college, they have a workhardening program, and i have students that worked for me and their job was to collect music from these providers. There became almost a critical need to document and record these people who were at this point entering the Twilight Years of their lives before they passed away. It was really in the 1960s and 70s when you saw an explosive of field recordings of people going to remote parts of the country and tracking down musicians and recording them as a way to preserve their music and document it for the Public Record before they may pass away and it would be unavailable. David started the Traditional Music Program back here in the 70s and i started teaching here in the 90s after he had left and i was aware that he had recorded concerts back in the 70s and these recordings were all here in the archive and is they were all on reeltoreel tapes and they were not accessible, even if i had a student who wanted to listen to them. Who knew what was on those things . It wasnt a good set up. So i wanted to make them available to our students and i had a student in 2002 who took the reeltoreel tapes and we got a reeltoreel player and digitalized them and then he and i went through and looked at what was on these and picked out appropriate cuts to put to add to this online resource. So now we have these resources. We can let students listen to them in the case of a fiddler, learn their fiddle, learn the nuance of their playing. In the case of a Singing Group, we can hear what types of songs were popular at that point in time, but also hear the nuance in their singing styles. And so it gives us huawei to keep an oral tradition going where the actual culture bearers may not be with us any longer. Shape note singing is a tradition of sacred musicmaking unique to america and it originated in the early 19th century and really what shape note refers to is the shape of the notes that appear on a page. What individuals were experimenting with around 1800 were developing a system of notation that could make it easier for people to learn how to read music. In the 19th century, it became so popular as a way for individuals to learn how to sing that Singing School masters would travel around the region and teach Singing Schools where they would actually have a class of 20, 30, 40 individuals in a community and everyone would get together and for two weeks learn how to read shape note notation. After the Singing School was over, the master would move on to another community and the community that person left would have a book and they would get together regularly and sing out of this book of shape note state of the unions. So you really had a blossoming of singing in this region. There were a number of books that were published. The book that took hold was called the christian harmony. And it was compiled by william walker. Theres a continuous christian harmony singing thats been going on here in western North Carolina for over 100 years. So the ballad singing tradition goes back to the earliest settlers who came from the british isles. Some of these ballads, you can date them back to the 1500s, 1600s. In the days before recorded music, this is how you passed music along. So madison county, which is just north of ashville, is still has ballad singers, people who have been singing the ballads for six or seven generations in their families. Youll find people who are singing about lords and ladies and bloody daggers, even though theyre in the mountains of western carolina if its the last thing i ever do the lord thomas is waiting ill go ballads are telling a story in song. Theres a narrative going on. And usually something happens and theres a moral to the story at the end of so theyre important for passing along the customs and beliefs and fears of a culture. We use the mountain music archive to help us show current students the way that certain types of mountain music were performed and presented by individuals who were really doing it, you know, 100 years ago. And so it creates a really critical resource and a sort of window back in time. Recordings offer an Excellent Way to hear the nuance of somebodys playing or the ornaments in someones singing that you really couldnt get otherwise. This music is important. Its American Folk Music. And when ive traveled to other parts of the world and i tell people that i play American Folk Music and sing american folk songs, they say, what . We didnt know there was anything other than the commercialized that we get to hear from america. Every country has a folk music tradition and this is this is American Folk Music. Its important to make it preserve it, document it, make it available because its part of our nations history. These tunes that i was talking about, the old ballads, these are bits of wisdom that are being passed down from other generations that its not an essay, its not a book. Its something that is encapsulated in a tune and i cant be put any other way. But theres power in that tune and wisdom in that tune. When you run it through your body or a group of people like here at the college, it informs them in a little different way. And i think its a lot of it is very uplifting and i think it just makes people healthier. Its good medicine. Cspans cities tour travels the country exploring the american story. With the support of local cable providers, we bring you the literary life of a different city. To watch videos of any of the places weve been, go to cspan. Org citiestour. Were featuring American History tv programs. Tonight, cspans city tours highlights Americas National parks. Well feature a mixture of Natural Beauty and history at eight different parks around the country, including mt. Rushmore, se Selma National trail and Gateway National park. Author Jonathan Rosenberg discusses his new book dangerous melodies. It explores the intersection of politics and music in the first half of the 20th century. He describes how music could serve as a tool of outreach and xenophobia, depending on the current climate of the area. Good afternoon. Hello, everyone. Im amanda, and on behalf of Smithsonian Associates its my pleasure to welcome you here today for Classical Music and foreign relations. Thank you to our members. 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