Sing It Pretty: A Memoir

Bess Lomax Hawes grew up with her father John Lomax and brother Alan in the first family of American folk music. Her compelling account of the folk music boom of the mid-twentieth century and the development of “public-sector” folklore includes family friends Ruth Crawford Seeger and Carl Sandburg, fellow Almanac Singers Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and other musicians and artists. Her own creative endeavors as producer of American folk culture films, author of academic papers and books, and coauthor of the Kingston Trio’s hit “MTA Song” (adapted from a local political campaign jingle) unfold alongside her teaching of guitar and American folk music to thousands of adults in Los Angeles. Whether instructing college students in anthropology, learning singing games from the Georgia Sea Island Singers, or directing the Folk and Traditional Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, Hawes tells the larger-than-life story of a woman dedicated to preserving and appreciating America’s traditional cultures.