ABSTRACT
One of the most heartening things about America in 1947 is the spring freshet of enthusiasm for native balladry and folklore that is running through the country from coast to coast. Big, dulcet-voiced Burl Ives from Indiana, Josh White with his South Carolina blues, Woody Guthrie with his Okie songs, Susan Reed with her winsome Southern lyric songs have become nationally known. One folklore book, Ben Botkin’s Treasury of American Folklore, has sold more than a half-million copies. The “Hootenanies” of People’s Songs play to packed houses from Los Angeles to Manhattan. Walt Disney has three American folklore “cartoonies” in production.
