The Almanac Singers

Formed in New York City in 1941, The Almanac Singers were a pioneering, loosely organized folk music collective that established the blueprint for modern protest music. Founded by Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie, the group lived communally and performed at union rallies and political events. Recording for labels like Keynote Records, they utilized simple, acoustic instrumentation (mostly guitars and banjos) to accompany their communal, unpolished vocal harmonies. Drawing heavily on traditional Appalachian folk, spirituals, and blues structures, they repurposed old melodies with new, anti-fascist and pro-labor lyrics. Though their career was brief and fractured by the onset of World War II, they permanently fused traditional American roots music with progressive political activism.