Burl Ives radio documentary

Lee, CP

Abstract

Burl Ives BBC Radio Four Documentary –

Writer and presenter

This programme explores the life, career and music of Burl Ives's including his co-operation with the 1950s anti-communist trials held by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Burl Ives came from Illinois, where he sang folk songs as a child, dropping out of school in the late 1920s to become an itinerant banjo player during the economic depression. By the 1930s he was appearing on radio, singing the songs he made famous, such as Foggy Foggy Dew, The Bluetail Fly and the hobo ballad Big Rock Candy Mountain. Along with Woody Guthrie, Ives was one of a generation of musicians who were rediscovering American folk music, performing it to politicise their audiences as well as entertain them. Ives was also a talented actor, and during the Second World War he found success in several roles in Broadway productions. Subsequently he won an Oscar for his role in the 1958 film, The Big Country. Like many other left-wing artists, Ives faced blacklisting in the late 1940s, when he was listed in a McCarthyite publication as having possible communist connections. But Ives survived the House Un-American Activities Committee two years later, by informing against other folk musicians, notably Pete Seeger. In 1993, however, two years before Ives's death, Seeger forgave him and the two were reunited and sang at a benefit concert in New York.

Citation

Lee, C. (2009). Burl Ives radio documentary. [BBC Radio Four]

• Physical Artefact Type: Artefact
• Publication Date: Jun 11, 2009
• Deposit Date: Jan 6, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016