I've spent many years examining the influence of the spirituals, freedom songs and gospel songs on the civil rights movement. Something that surprised me early in my research was the potent ...

You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store Ernie Ford’s recording of Sixteen Tons ...

Joe Glazer, the troubadour of the U.S. labor movement who performed, composed and collected the songs of work and protest for 60 years around the globe, died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Sept. 19 at his ...

In honor of Labor Day, here’s a stab at the impossible task of naming the best songs ever written about working people. Woody Guthrie. (CC) In honor of Labor Day, I’ve revised a previous attempt at ...

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Marcus Brown, the musician who records as Nourished By Time. His new album takes inspiration from the working class sounds of Baltimore house music. SUMMERS: This is ...