Folk Revival Roots Still Evident in 1990s Recordings of San Francisco Psychedelic Veterans

"Psychedelic music," as created and played in San Francisco in the 1960s, drew far more heavily from the folk revival that preceded it than has been previously acknowledged. The revival's influence on San Francisco psychedelia can be seen in its ideology, repertoire, instrumental techniques, vocal harmonies, critique of politics and society, inclusion of female vocalists, penchant for playacting, and its approach to learning music, rehearsing, and performing. Psychedelic bands found their material in folksong books, field recordings, the Harry Smith Anthology, any number of other records, or from the playing of another singer. A review of the recordings (to 1970) of four of the most important bands on the San Francisco psychedelic scene, namely the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother and the Holding Company, revealed the following folk revival sources. Songs by Black southern bluesmen and songsters were numerous, coming from Blind Lemon Jefferson, Henry Thomas, Jesse Fuller, Frank Stokes, Robert Johnson, Skip James, Rev. Gary Davis, Memphis Minnie, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin' Wolf. A few songs came from Black string bands: the jugbands in Memphis and the Mississippi Sheiks; and some from traditional folk and country artists, such as Woody Guthrie, Obray Ramsey, Clarence "Tom" Ashley, and Grandpa Jones. Contemporary folk revivalists contributed greatly, with songs by Bonnie Dobson, Tim Rose, Hamilton Camp, Buffy Ste. Marie, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Erik Darling, and, in San Francisco, Dino Valenti. Various uncredited songs came from traditional (public domain) blues, folk, gospel, country, and bluegrass, and from England and the Bahamas. A discussion of all these sources can be found in Psychedelic Music in San Francisco: Style, Context and Evolution (Morrison 2000).

As Ian MacKay and Neil Rosenberg have indicated, the folk revival was a social construct made out of a conservative, restorative cultural patriotism. Although expressed as a romanticized vision of the past, in seeking a more just and genuine society the revival rebelled against oppression, consumerism, and modernism. Between approximately 1958 and 1965, young people participated in such numbers and with such fervor that the folk revival became an immense cultural and ideological force. The vision of a pastoral and romantic frontier past was carried into the hippie movement, where the inherent defiance, like folk music itself, was amplified.

In 1965, the advent of folk rock, a mix of folk and British "invasion" sounds, marked the waning of the folk revival. Two number one pop hits by the Byrds announced folk rock's arrival: "Mr. Tambourine Man," a Bob Dylan composition, and "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)," a biblical text adapted by Pete Seeger. Folk rock split the revival community into two camps: acoustic or electric. Some of those who remained dedicated to acoustic music moved toward a deeper involvement in specific music-cultures, such as bluegrass, old-time fiddling, blues, and, later, klezmer. Rosenberg calls these "named-system revivals," declaring them "aggregates of shared repertoire, instrumentation, and performance style generally perceived as being historically and culturally bounded by such factors as class, ethnicity, race, religion, region, commerce, and art" (Rosenberg 1993:177). Some of the people who explored electric folk music were Greenwich Village figures who migrated to Los Angeles, others were the founders of psychedelia music in San Francisco.

Folk rock took hold in San Francisco. The We Five, containing a brother of one of the Kingston Trio and sharing the same management, scored a Top Ten hit in 1965 with their version of "You Were On My Mind." It was a composition by Sylvia Tyson, of the Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia, who were promoted by Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman. Dylan's shift to electric instrumentation was mimicked by some of his San Francisco followers. Country Joe McDonald said, "I saw Dylan at the Hollywood Bowl with Joan Baez. I wanted to be Bob Dylan" (Saloman 1998:5). Shortly afterward, McDonald moved from Los Angeles to Berkeley, sang folksongs, and published a magazine of poetry and protest music influenced by the New York folk magazines Sing Out and Broadside. The instrumentation of the first version of...