K is for Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in folk

Given the organisation’s racial views over the years, it’s not surprising it should feature in the folk-protest area of music. A recent example is Greensboro Massacre by Bob A Feldman in the early 1980s, about ‘the massacre of 5 labor-movement activists at an anti-KKK rally in North Carolina, November 1979’.

The Klan is abbreviated KKK, which is not to be confused with the old folk song K-K-K-Katy. They sing often appropriated religious songs as their own anthems. Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit (1939) painted a comparison between fruit and rotting corpses of lynched black men hanging on trees; a folk song of protest.

K is also for The Kerrville Folk Festival

One of thousands, but unique in its focus on support and promotion for songwriters, writing, folk music education and live performances of trad-folk, bluegrass, acoustic rock, blues, country, jazz and Americana music.

A pair of celebratory Kerrville albums (25th anniversary and the early years) were produced by Tom Paxton, another of the big folk names. Over forty years of writing and singing have produced a huge range of songs for Seeger, The Weavers, Judy Collins, Sandy Denny, Baez, Doc Watson, Harry Belafonte, Peter Paul & Mary, Marianne Faithfull, and Willie Nelson among many.

His songs range from deeply profound to light comedy. He has touched on massacres, wars, injustices and short shelf-life numbers on temporarily topical issues such as financial meltdowns.

Listen: Folk-protest, with Bob A Feldman, 1980s