O is for outrage

The outrage that Dylan caused by going electric on 25 July 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival. This was his first appearance with an electric blues band in concert and it divided his fans.

Many felt he had betrayed his pure folk roots, and later in the UK, at the Manchester Free Trade Hall when he repeated it, the cry “Judas” can be heard loud and clear on the recording, from an outraged member of his audience. That controversy was only one of many in Dylan’s life, but significantly marked a rapid move into the fusion of folk, pop, country, rock.

O is also for Oscar Brand

Folk historian and folk champion, who over half a century provided a platform for folk’s great proponents. His website, modestly, describes him as: ‘Folk Singer, Recording Artist, Songwriter, Guitarist, Bawdy Song Balladeer, Sea Chantey Performer, Radio Broadcaster, Television Program Host, Special Events Director, Emcee, Broadway Musical Composer, Playwright, Actor, Author, Storyteller, Musicologist, Historian, Children's Recording Artist, Curator of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Honorary Ph.D. He was also on the panel that created Sesame Street...’

He is also responsible for Laughing America (laughing through hard times), Ballads and Ballots (American political songs). Educational Awareness Month and Take Your Daughter to Work Day!

As Folksong Festival host over five decades on New York’s municipal radio station, WNYC, he fearlessly featured artists blacklisted as ‘commies’, from Guthrie, The Weavers, Leadbetter, Harry Belafonte, through Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Harry Chapin, Emmylou Harris and others.

Watch: Bob Dylan live at Newport Folk Festival, going electric