''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

and

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

s that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960.

Background

''Sing Out!'' was the primary publication of the tax exempt,

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

, educational corporation of the same name. According to the organization's website, "''Sing Out!s mission is to preserve and support the cultural diversity and heritage of all traditional and contemporary folk musics, and to encourage making folk music a part of our everyday lives."

Irwin Silber Irwin Silber (October 17, 1925 – September 8, 2010) was an American Communism, Communist, Editing, editor, publisher, and activism, political activist. He edited the folk music magazine ''Sing Out!'' and was active in far-left politics througho ...

was an important co-founder along with

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

, and was the magazine's long-time editor from 1951 to 1967.Ronald D. Cohen, ''Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival & American Society, 1940–1970'' (Amherst:

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

, 2002), pp. 74–75 and 264–268. Its final editor and executive director, since 1983, was Mark D. Moss. The editors applied a very broad definition of folk music including material from contemporary singer-songwriters, Americana,

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, bluegrass, and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

. ''Sing Out!'' began under a different name, ''People's Songs'' which published "politically charged...civil rights songs, songs of peace and traditional ballads". Because it was committed to being a non-commercial magazine, in 1948, due to financial difficulties,'' People's Songs'' was forced to close. However after some restructuring, the first issue of ''Sing Out!'' was published in May 1950. One defining feature of the magazine was the inclusion of 15 or more songs with

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

within the pages of each issuesupplemented with an illustrative CD from 2001 until it ceased publication in 2014. The magazine also contained in-depth articles profiling musicians and musical traditions, "teach-ins," reviews of recordings and print publications, a comprehensive festival and camp listing, and columns covering topics such as songwriting,

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

, children's music, and the folk process. The corporate headquarters of ''Sing Out!'' were located in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

which is also home to the Sing Out! Resource Center. The magazine was distributed by mail subscriptions, and could be found in some North American bookstores and libraries.

''Sing Out!'' publications

In addition to the quarterly magazine, the corporation also offered an extensive mail order catalog of printed material on folk-music and folklore. The catalog included other ''Sing Out!'' publications, such as the folk music fake book, '' Rise Up Singing''.

The ''Sing Out!'' Resource Center

The ''Sing Out!'' Resource Center (SORCe) is a collection of recordings, photos, books, periodicals and other items. It is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

''Sing Out! Radio Magazine''

Even after the magazine's print publication ceased, the ''Sing Out! Radio Magazine'' has continued as a weekly syndicated radio program featuring songs, news and interviews with musicians. The show is hosted by Tom Druckenmiller.

References

External links

Official site

Text from recent issues
from FindArticles (archive; 2009)
Additional text reprints
from

HighBeam Research HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headqua ...

''Sing Out!'' Magazine Discography
from folklib.net (not up-to-date).
''Sing Out!''
at the Internet Archive {{Authority control 1950 establishments in Pennsylvania 2014 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Defunct magazines published in the United States Folk music magazines Magazines disestablished in 2014 Magazines established in 1950 Magazines published in Pennsylvania Music magazines published in the United States Music organizations based in the United States Quarterly magazines published in the United States