Always a Song: Meet Ellen Harper and Sam Barry — authors of the story of folk music revival

A Note from Hope Katz Gibbs, producer, Inkandescent Radio — What an honor it is to feature this new book by Ellen Harper and Sam Barry, entitled: Always a Song: Singers, Songwriters, Sinners & Saints. A collection of stories from Ellen, a singer, and songwriter, who is the folk matriarch and mother to the Grammy-winning musician Ben Harper. Ellen shares vivid memories of growing up in Los Angeles through the 1960s among famous and small-town musicians raising Ben (pictured below) and the historic Folk Music Center.

Jackson Browne says of the book: “An eloquent searching account of a life lived for truth, love, and music.”

Roger McGuinn, leader of the Byrds, writes: Ellen Harper is folk music royalty, growing up with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez around the dinner table. Her story is heartrending and a pleasure to read.”

Jonathan Lethem, New York Times bestselling author of Chronic City and Motherless Brooklyn, says: “Ellen Harper’s unique vantage as a red-diaper baby, folk connector, counterculture witness, and maven of family and community is matched by her memory, wit, and compassion.”

With the help of Sam, an author and musician who is a founding member of the book band The Rock Bottom Remainders (learn more about him below), readers take a ride through folk music history:

• Harper takes readers on an intimate journey through the folk music revival.
• The book spans a transformational time in music history and American culture.
• Covers historical events from the love-ins women’s rights protests and the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the popularization of the sitar and the ukulele.
• Includes full-color photo insert.

Ellen shares: “Growing up, an endless stream of musicians and artists came from across the country to my family’s music store. Bess Lomax Hawes, Joan Baez, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGee—all the singers, organizers, guitar and banjo pickers and players, songwriters, painters, dancers, their husbands, wives, and children—we were all in it together. And we believed singing could change the world.”

Be sure to listen to our interview and watch the video on the April 2021 cover of BeInkandescent Health & Wellness magazine. (more…)