I Come for to Sing
Encyclopedia
I Come For to Sing was a folk music
review
performed by Chicago
musicians and singers, Win Stracke
, Big Bill Broonzy
and Larry Lane. The program was narrated by Studs Terkel
. I Come For to Sing ran successfully for more than ten years, touring colleges and clubs throughout the United States, with the bulk of the activity taking place in the Midwest. Most notably, the show ran for more than a year at the now defunct Chicago jazz club, The Blue Note.
In a 2007 interview in the Chicago Tribune
, Terkel remembered his years with I Come For to Sing, "In the late 1940s and early 50s, Win and I, plus Big Bill Broonzy and Larry Lane visited universities throughout the country. It was a program of folk songs with different epochs. Win sang frontier ballads, Big Bill sang a black man's blues and Larry Lane sang Elizabethan ballads. I was the narrator. It was received with great amazement and enthusiasm. We often crossed paths with Pete Seeger and The Weavers, who were of course, masters of the milieu."
Cast members rotated in and out over the years and included banjo
player Fleming Brown
, pianist
Chet Roble and other performers who happened to be available, but the format of the show remained constant. The narrator set the tone for the evening by reading some prose or poetry or adding commentary, and the musicians reflected on that theme by performing folk songs from different musical traditions.
It is notable as the meeting place for the founders of the Old Town School of Folk Music
. The Old Town School also published a folk magazine with the same name from 1975-1987.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
review
Review
A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
performed by Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
musicians and singers, Win Stracke
Win Stracke
Winfred “Win” J. Stracke was an American Folk Musician and Co-Founder of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. Stracke was a Chicago fixture in music, theater, and television in the 1940s and was known for his booming bass voice...
, Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
and Larry Lane. The program was narrated by Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
. I Come For to Sing ran successfully for more than ten years, touring colleges and clubs throughout the United States, with the bulk of the activity taking place in the Midwest. Most notably, the show ran for more than a year at the now defunct Chicago jazz club, The Blue Note.
In a 2007 interview in the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, Terkel remembered his years with I Come For to Sing, "In the late 1940s and early 50s, Win and I, plus Big Bill Broonzy and Larry Lane visited universities throughout the country. It was a program of folk songs with different epochs. Win sang frontier ballads, Big Bill sang a black man's blues and Larry Lane sang Elizabethan ballads. I was the narrator. It was received with great amazement and enthusiasm. We often crossed paths with Pete Seeger and The Weavers, who were of course, masters of the milieu."
Cast members rotated in and out over the years and included banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
player Fleming Brown
Fleming Brown
Fleming Brown, 1926–1984, born in Marshall, Missouri. He was a banjo player and one of the early teachers at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. As an artist, Brown specialized in traditional songs of the Southern Appalachians. He was influenced by old-time banjo players such as Uncle Dave...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Chet Roble and other performers who happened to be available, but the format of the show remained constant. The narrator set the tone for the evening by reading some prose or poetry or adding commentary, and the musicians reflected on that theme by performing folk songs from different musical traditions.
It is notable as the meeting place for the founders of the Old Town School of Folk Music
Old Town School of Folk Music
The Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music artists...
. The Old Town School also published a folk magazine with the same name from 1975-1987.
External links
- Chicago Tribune - Studs Terkel talks about the program on the 50th anniversary of the Old Town School of Folk MusicOld Town School of Folk MusicThe Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music artists...
.