How a New Deal Era Music Unit Inspired a Generation of Folk Musicians

All Of It

In the 1930s, President Roosevelt's New Deal program revitalized Americans struggling during the Great Depression, including those working in the arts. One program, the U.S. Music Unit, sought to record and collect folk songs from all over America. The program collected over 800 songs over a two-year span before it was shut down for supposed socialistic sympathies. Author Sheryl Kaskowitz has written a new book about the history of the program, A Chance to Harmonize: How FDR's Hidden Music Unit Sought to Save America from the Great Depression―One Song at a Time, and she is with us to discuss her book and listen to archival recordings.
*This segment is guest-hosted by Kousha Navidar