American Roots Music, Episode 3: The Times They are A-Changin' (2001)

Synopsis of American Roots Music, Episode 3: The Times They are A-Changin'

The Times, They Are A-Changing follows the development of roots music during the '50s and '60s. During the late '50s, a folk revival swept the United States. Rooted in the work of folklorists and musicians from the '30s and '40s, the revival spread to mainstream America when the Kingston Trio released "Tom Dooley" in 1958. African-American migration from the Mississippi Delta to northern cities like Chicago gave birth to electric blues players like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, while singers like Mahalia Jackson and Rosetta Tharpe popularized gospel. The Civil Rights movement, and later, antiwar protests, also influenced the era's music. College students and folksingers participated in lunch counter sit-ins and attended the 1963 March on Washington. In 1965, controversy erupted at the Newport Folk Festival when a young Bob Dylan traded his acoustic guitar for an electric one, marking the end of the folk revival. The Times, They Are A-Changing includes film footage of Joan Baez, B.B. King, and the Staple Singers, and interviews with Keith Richards, Peter Yarrow, and James Cotton. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., Rovi

Director(s):

Jim Brown

Writer(s):

Charles Wolfe

Producer(s):

Jim Brown, Sam Pollard, Jeff Rosen

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