Folksinging in Modern Times

Instructor:  Rod MacDonald

Course Description:  Folksingers/songwriters from Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger to Leadbelly, Odetta, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Paul Simon and many others have long given voice to society’s ideals and dilemmas while creating and reviving our most loved songs.  This course will examine the work, biographies and enduring importance of leading folksingers of the later twentieth century, with live performances, video, cd and occasional guest artists.

Six Lectures

1. Folk groups:  The Weavers, Kingston Trio

2. Folk in the 1950’s: Harry Belafonte, Odetta

3. The new tradition: Joan Baez; Peter, Paul & Mary

4. The Songwriters: Buffy Saint-Marie, Bob Dylan, Donovan

5. The Poets: Judy Collins, Phil Ochs, Paul Simon

6. The Life & Times: Leonard Cohen, James Taylor, John Denver

Biographical Information:  Rod MacDonald is a professional folksinger of thirty years’ experience in the Greenwich Village music scene and in Florida. He has 28 songs in the Smithsonian Folkways collection and 8 solo cd’s, including “A Tale of Two Americas” released in 2005 by Wind River Records.  He regularly appears in the South Florida Folk Festival, clubs and concert venues, and tours in North America, Europe and Australia.  He performs in Phil Ochs Song Nights at the invitation of Phil Ochs’ family, has recorded the cd “A Few Dylan Songs” with Big Brass Bed, and developed “Songwriting For Self Expression,” a series of workshops for aspiring songwriters.  In 2001 he was named “Best Local Acoustic Performer” in Broward and Palm Beach counties by New Times, and in 2002 one of “Ten Magnificant Musicians of Palm Beach County” by the Palm Beach Post.