Guy Carawan (born July 27, 1927 in Los Angeles, California, United States) is an American folk musician and musicologist. He serves as music director and song leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee.
Carawan is famous for introducing the protest song "We Shall Overcome" to the American Civil Rights Movement, by teaching it to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. A union organizing song based on a black spiritual, it had been a favorite of Zilphia Horton (d. 1956) wife of the founder of the Highlander Folk School. Carawan reintroduced it at the school when he became its new music director in 1959. The song is copyrighted in the name of Horton, Frank Hamilton, Carawan and Pete Seeger.
Carawan sings and plays banjo, guitar, and hammered dulcimer. He frequently performs and records with his wife, singer Candie Carawan. Occasionally he is accompanied by their son Evan Carawan, who plays mandolin and hammered dulcimer. Carawan and his wife live in New Market, near the Highlander Center.
Read more about Guy Carawan: Early Life, Career At Highlander Center, Hammer Dulcimer, Bibliography, Discography
Famous quotes containing the word guy:
“You think you’re the only guy that ever got a kick in the teeth? Well you’re not. It’s happening every day and it’s gonna keep right on happenin’ till this thing’s over. And you, you can sit here and feel sorry for yourself, or you can come on out with me and see how nice people are when they’re alive.”
—Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)