ABSTRACT
Throughout the early 1940s most of the news articles on Josh focused on his political work, but politics by no means monopolized his life. Benefit concerts and appearances for the Roosevelts were getting his name out in front of the public but were not helping to feed what was now a family of five. Josh was not yet thirty, but he was in a very different position from the free-living bachelors and bohemian couples who surrounded him on the folk scene. The radio work paid him something, as did the recording sessions and the concerts with the Golden Gates, but he still did not have a regular source of income. So, along with the benefits and politically oriented material, he was also trying his hand at other kinds of songs and venues. Shortly before the first Almanac Singers session he recorded four sides for the Conqueror label, backed by bass, drums, and clarinetist Edmond Hall. The instrumentation and material indicate that these were aimed at the black pop market but they apparently failed to attract attention. (One, “Gotta Go,” suggests the extent to which the John Doe antiwar songs were recorded simply to help the Almanacs and did not represent any strongly held personal convictions of Josh’s: its first line is “I’ve gotta join the army.”) He also appeared with Burl Ives and the actor Will Geer in a short folk music film, Tall Tales, which enjoyed a brief New York run.
