Instant Downloads of "Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing?" on TradeBit.com

You can access instant downloads of my Radio Documentary series about Pete Seeger and his fellow musicians at tradebit.com.

Check it out!

A New Review of "Singing Out" in the Journal of Music

In the current (August/September 2010) issue of The Journal of Music, Peter Rosser reviews my recent book, coauthored with Molly Beer, Singing Out: An Oral History of America's Folk Music Revivals. An excerpt from the review reads, "...Dunaway, in an important and excellent new book, co-authored with Molly Beer, has uncovered the true life of folk music in North America as it progressed through the world-altering twentieth century."

Read the full review at The Journal of Music online.

Busy Summer

I'm finally back from my many journeys this summer. I was part of a conference and television program in Prague and I had the chance to lecture in South Africa while visiting my son. During my time away I've also been keeping my hometown projects moving along.

I just submitted a proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities for the America's Cultural and Historical Organizations Planning Grant. The grant was nearly accepted last year, but got caught up in some legal wording. The new proposal has even more interactive and advanced resources for interpreting Route 66, though, and I'm very excited to see where this takes my work.

I also have a book on Route 66 coming out with University of Texas Press in the spring. It will be an anthology of literature and oral histories that reveal the many facets of Route 66.

This fall I'll continue my work here at the University of New Mexico, teaching my course on autobiography, and next spring I'll return to San Francisco State to resume my post as Distinguished Professor of Broadcasting. A lot of good projects and good work to be done this year, and I'm looking forward to it.

Summer Travels

I am off this summer for conferences, lectures, research, and leisure in South Africa, Mozambique, Prague and Copenhagen. Before I left SFSU in the spring I recorded this youtube clip elaborating on the work I do there. Please enjoy.

Singing Out just out from Oxford University Press

SINGING OUT
An Oral History of America’s Folk Music Revivals
David King Dunaway and Molly Beer
Release date: March 17, 2010
Publication date: May 6, 2010
$27.95 | 288 pages | hardcover (01)
ISBN13: 9780195378344 | ISBN10: 0195378344
Editor: Nancy Toff | Publicist: Carolyn Petri | Marketer: Samara Stob


Intimate, anecdotal, and spell-binding, Singing Out offers a fascinating oral history of the North American folk music revivals and folk music.

Culled from more than 150 interviews recorded from 1976 to 2006, this captivating story spans seven decades and cuts across a wide swath of generations and perspectives, shedding light on the musical, political, and social aspects of this movement.

The narrators highlight many of the major folk revival figures, including Pete Seeger, Bernice Reagon, Phil Ochs, Mary Travers, Don McLean, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Ry Cooder, and Holly Near. Together they tell the stories of such musical groups as the Composers' Collective, the Almanac Singers, People's Songs, the Weavers, the New Lost City Ramblers, and the Freedom Singers. Folklorists, musicians, musicologists, writers, activists, and aficionados reveal not only what happened during the folk revivals, but what it meant to those personally and passionately involved.

For everyone who ever picked up a guitar, fiddle, or banjo, this will be a book to give and cherish.

Extensive notes, bibliography, and discography, plus a photo section.

Read reviews and summaries or buy the book here.

Surviving the Elements

Like Hannibal crossing the Alps, I recently battled my way through three separate snow storms across the mountains while traveling from Albuquerque, NM to San Francisco, CA. This treacherous journey across mountain roads was inspired (or rather, required) by my semester long appointment at San Francisco State University as a distinguished visiting professor of Radio Studies. Perhaps this is just another prime example of the hard work professors willingly endure in order to inspire the minds of their collegiate pupils. I am looking forward to another Spring semester here at San Francisco State teaching Radio Documentary workshops.

A Three-Minute Interview

While I was out in San Francisco this past Spring, I was interviewed by the San Francisco Examiner for their "3-Minute Interview) series. You can read it here: S.F. State professor digs on Pete Seeger.