299pp. Index, Discography Signed inscribed by author on title page. Light wear, DJ: rubbing.

299pp. Index, Discography Signed inscribed by author on title page. Light wear, DJ: rubbing.

First edition, 2001. Black cloth 8vo, 299pp. Fine in a like dustjacket.

First edition, 2001. Black cloth 8vo, 299pp. Fine in a like dustjacket. Inscribed by Glazer to Russell Gibbons, who was a labor activist and chief of communications for the United Steel Workers. Contents are clean and unmarked. Scarce.

24 cm, 299, illus., discography, index, slight wear to DJ edges, pencil

24 cm, 299, illus., discography, index, slight wear to DJ edges, pencil erasure on title page. Inscribed by the author. Joe Glazer (June 19, 1918-September 19, 2006), closely associated with labor unions and often referred to as "labor's troubadour, " was an American folk musician who recorded more than thirty albums over the course of his career. Some of his more acclaimed songs include "The Mill Was Made of Marble, " "Too Old To Work" and "Automaton." He recorded "In Old Moscow" ("My Darling Party Line"), a song which ridiculed the Communist Party USA's Stalinist reversal following the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In 1954 Glazer released two albums of music from the Industrial Workers of the World, including one entirely of songs by Wobbly songwriter Joe Hill, released by Folkways Records. In 1960 Glazer collaborated with Edith Fowke to publish Songs of Work and Freedom, which included 10 of his original compositions. He went on to dedicate numerous albums to specific trades, including coal mining, newspaper printing, steelwork, textile mills, and woodworking. In 1970 Glazer founded Collector Records, originally to issue his own recordings, and, later, recordings by other performers. Collector's first release was Glazer's 1971 album Garbage and Other Songs of Our Times backed by jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd and his trio. The title track became one of Glazer's most well-known songs after Pete Seeger performed it on Sesame Street and recorded versions of it both for the children's music and environmentalism markets. In 1979, Glazer invited 14 other labor musicians to the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland, to share musical and written compositions, and to discuss the effective use of music, song, poetry and chants in labor activism. The three-day event became an annual one, becoming known as the Great Labor Arts Exchange (GLAE). Over the next five years, the concept of "labor culture" and how the labor movement and the arts interacted, which Glazer and others promoted, expanded. In 1984, Glazer incorporated the Labor Heritage Foundation as a parent body for GLAE as well as to curate and promote the culture of the American labor movement. Glazer founded Collector Records in 1970 to distribute his own recordings of labor songs and those of younger and newer performers he had met through his work-many of them through the Labor Heritage Foundation, which he founded in 1978, and its yearly Great Labor Arts Exchange. Some artists, such as Bobbie McGee, went on to become well-known folk singers, but many Collector artists remained at their jobs. Eddie Starr (1956-2003) was a third-generation Illinois steelworker who declined a life on the road as a rock musician, and took a factory job at home to support his family. Kenny Winfree was a textile worker when Glazer heard his bluegrass-style labor songs. He continues to work, now at an aircraft plant in Texas, where he is an active member of UAW Local 848.

xvii, 299, [5] p. Illustrations. Discography. Index. This is one of the Music

xvii, 299, [5] p. Illustrations. Discography. Index. This is one of the Music in American Life series. Spiced with colorful anecdotes, leavened with humor, and rich with compassion for the struggles of the rank-and-file worker, "Labor's Troubadour" traces the life and work of labor balladeer Joe Glazer. For more than half a century, armed only with his guitar, reams of songs, and conviction, Glazer has marshaled the power of music to fight for union representation in mills, mines, factories, and offices all over the country. A performer, educator, and "musical agitator for all good causes, " Glazer has sung on picket lines, in worn-out union halls, and at elegant dinners, using humor, irony, and pathos to drive home the message of unionism. With the ease and lan of a seasoned storyteller, Glazer tells of sharing platforms with political powerhouses including Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson, George McGovern, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ladybird Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. With sparks of humor, he describes his encounters with Jackie Kennedy, Rudolf Serkin, and other celebrities, as well as his relationships with Walter Reuther, George Meany, Cesar Chavez, Philip Murray, John Sweeney, and other outstanding leaders of the labor movement. During half a lifetime of rubbing shoulders with the powerful, however, Glazer's focus has never wavered from supporting workers' efforts to secure fair wages and decent working conditions. His reward has been to see his music bring unity out of discord, galvanize union support, and lift the spirits of striking workers who were running low on every resource except a shared faith in the strength of unity. In a career that has taken him all over the world to sing, write, and collect songs about the common human condition of working, Glazer has seen songs about the battle for the eight-hour day give way to songs about automation and cheap imports, with a constant refrain of union busters, scabs, solidarity, plant safety, and retirement benefits. Seventy of these songs are included in the book. An enthusiastic recruiter and promoter of new talent, Glazer has also drawn a number of new labor balladeers into the limelight, some of whom he profiles here. A lively and moving testament of "sticking to the union, " "Labor's Troubadour" reveals the powerful role music can play in the serious business of changing the world.