I think it's remarkable that, though admittedly Sandburg's musical life is dwarfed by all his poetic and historian's achievements, no one has thought to write a biography of him as a songster and collector of folksongs. Yet among all else, he is one of the fundamental figures in the folksong field.

Sandburg was there early (along with Dorothy Scarborough, John Lomax and a very few others), recognizing the value of the songs he heard while doing Midwest farm labor, living small town life and hobnobbing with friends high and low, and bringing them to audiences with his brooding vocals that were like murmured conversation. There was no "folksong context" then. To some in his audiences some of his songs may have been old familiar memories ... to others they must have come as if from another planet.

To reevoke his sources, his musical experiences and the influence of The American Songbag from 1927 onward—when later collectors were still shedding their milkteeth—would be to re-present the earliest history of what became the folk revival.

I'd be tickled to read such a biography. Anyone volunteer to write it?