A couple of days later, I am back to continue responding to the various questions raised. I have attached a recent e-mail from Mark Moss (Sing Out's Executive Director) on "Rise Up Singing" and its planned second volume, tentatively titled "Spread Your Wings."

By the way, this comes from Sing Out's own listserve/discussion forum which mudcatters might enjoy (see info following Mark's message):

At 08:24 PM 12/3/2001, Robert Bledsoe wrote: >I have heard, read, or dreamed perhaps.... that Rise Up Singing is being >upgraded or revised... did I really read that or was it a dream? Any >information available?

Rise Up Singing is being upgraded. The songs will stay the same, but we're incorporating corrections compiled over the years, fixing the typography a bit, and adding "Track numbers" to make the new Teaching Discs (CDs) easier to work with. No exact release date is set for the revised edition (we're a small, stressed staff ), but list members will be the first to know when the release is imminent.

At that time, we hope to make a slightly larger Leader's Edition available as well. No price is set for that, yet. Again ... details to the list as soon as I have 'em.

We are *also* working on a sequel to Rise Up (working title "Spread Your Wings"). This is a *WAYS* off, but we do have a phenomenal list of another 1200+ songs for the book. The permissions process is on-going ... and it's the next big project *after* the "upgraded" RUS.

_____________________________________ Mark D. Moss / Sing Out! P.O. Box 5460 (for UPS: 512 E. 4th St.) Bethlehem, PA 18015 Ph: 610-865-5366 x203 Fx: 610-865-5129 (eFax: 413-403-9883) Toll Free (orders only!): 888-SING-OUT E-mail: markm@singout.org Web: http://www.singout.org

Community email addresses: Post message: SingOut@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: SingOut-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: SingOut-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: SingOut-owner@yahoogroups.com

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Now its me again. I should mention that the teaching CD's are a big improvement over the Teaching Tapes for Rise Up Singing. The recordings are the same, but it is now very easy to find the song that you want.

On to other questions asked above.

katlaughing- We try our best to fill all orders promptly, and I believe that our next issue is presently at the printers and should be received by subscribers before Years end, and hopefully before Christmas. I suggest that you subscribe by phone or by our web site with a credit card. If you call, you can ask the person who answers directly. If you start the subscription with our most recent previous issue (rather than the one now at the printers) I would be very surprised if we couldn't get it there by Christmas.

Legacy Books - In addition to our resource center we also now operate Legacy Books (formerly of Hatboro, Pa.) This makes us a source for many difficult to find and out of print books relating to "folk music," above and beyond our own publications. The Legacy Books catalogue is now on-line at the Sing Out web site, complete with a secure server for credit card orders, a shopping cart, and a search capacity. I plugged in the word "Morris" and we had five publications for sale relating to Morris Dancing. This is brand new for us. Be the first on your block to use it!

Barbara- Although your PC comment is obviously offered in a light-hearted way, it is a criticism that we at Sing Out! have frequently heard over the years, so I will respond seriously. The editors at Sing Out! do not have a political litmus test either for the inclusion of songs in the magazine or in our publications. However, we certainly try not to print songs that are racist or sexist if we can help it (unless perhaps in the context of an article to which the song would be relevant).

That being said, however, Sing Out! has always been pretty clear in its general orientation with the left and nobody should pretend otherwise. We are much more likely to publish a good topical song from the left than from the right, but we have also given good coverage to the likes of Merle Haggard over the years.

Sing Out! was initially formed to fill the void left by the collapse of the People's Songs organization. People's Songs was associated with the Communist Left, and Sing Out! was certainly viewed by the McCarthyites as no different. Among Sing Out's founders were Paul Robeson, Howard Fast, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others who were subjected to vicious red-baiting. For most of its first twenty years, Sing Out's Editor was Irwin Silber, who also edited and wrote for other left-wing publications and was not one to hide his politics. We had many critics who felt that he made Sing Out! too political at various times.

Perhaps we still have such critics, but under Mark Moss' editorship (and he has now served in that position longer than any previous editor, including Irwin Silber) the magazine's politics are not nearly as prominent as they were in earlier years. No reader would confuse today's Sing Out! with a political magazine, nor do I believe any objective reader could accuse us of dogmatism or of following some particular political line. We nevertheless continue to include current topical song in every issue and the topical songs we choose generally reflect a left-wing point of view.

All music has politics, whether acknowledged or otherwise. I think Sing Out! is proud of its history and politics and views left-wing political music as, if anything, a core element of what has come to be known as "folk music" in this country and around the world. We are also more likely to to think a political song that does a good job stating a point of view that we agree with is a song worth printing than a political song that we don't like because of our disagrrement with its message. If that amounts to an undue "PC" attitude, we stand convicted. It's better to be politically correct than politically incorrect.