Don't Criticize Me Buddy: The Kingston Trio and the Folk Music Revival
Abstract
At the onset of the 1960s, the folk music revival helped to quench middle-class
Americans' appetite for authenticity in the postwar world. Americans longed for a more
genuine approach to life that embraced the authentic ways of an idealized culture in
which life was composed not of artificial sterilities concocted by the mass media but
the vital spirit of personal feeling. The folk music revival satisfied the contradictions of
postwar life, but created further conflict within the world of folk music. The Kingston
Trio embodied the contradictions of postwar living, making the group controversial
to folk scholars and musicians. The group's professional and commercial nature
divided the folk music community on the definition of authenticity. Scholars and
folk musicians attempted to comprehend the correct place of the Kingston Trio in
the folk music spectrum. The struggle to categorize the Kingston Trio reflected the
conflict between postwar ideals and the yearning of Americans for authenticity. By
merging the contradictions of postwar living, the Kingston Trio offered Americans an
outlet for their desire for authenticity. The commercial nature of the group displaced
the traditional folk style with a transformed folk music that better suited the needs
of postwar America, making the Kingston Trio a crucial figure in American cultural
history.
Subject
Music criticism
Folk music
Musical groups
Popular culture
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/70973Citation
Volume VII, December 2012, pp. 21 - 33