SINGER SONGWRITER

The performers on these LPs were a new and different breed in popular music – the singer/songwriter, something unique to my generation. While it had been common for years in American blues and folk for the singer and writer of the song to be the same person, in popular music the singer was instead like an actor with their script, given a song written by someone else and told to make it fly (Think Sinatra or Elvis). This changed with the arrival of Bob Dylan. Dylan, uniquely American but so central to the global revolution, emerged from the folk tradition, but when he “went electric” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, the political and artistic thrust of blues and folk fused with rock ‘n’ roll, with its back beat and electrified power. Now popular music took on the power and immediacy and the “author model” of blues and folk. It wasn’t just a singer singing a song, it was another person speaking directly to us. The world – you can’t argue this – would never be the same.  (From AN AMERICAN STORY)