At its peak, the Federal Music Project (FMP) employed nearly 16,000 people who reached millions of Americans through performances, composing, teaching, and folksong collection and transcription. In Sounds of the New Deal , Peter Gough explores how the FMP's activities in the West shaped a new national appreciation for the diversity of American musical expression. From the onset, administrators and artists debated whether to represent highbrow, popular, or folk music in FMP activities. Though the administration privileged using "good" music to educate the public, in the West local preferences regularly trumped national priorities and allowed diverse vernacular musics to be heard. African American and Hispanic music found unprecedented popularity while the cultural mosaic illuminated by American folksong exemplified the spirit of the Popular Front movement. These new musical expressions combined the radical sensibilities of an invigorated Left with nationalistic impulses. At the same time, they blended traditional patriotic themes with an awareness of the country's varied ethnic musical heritage and vast--but endangered--store of grassroots music.

"Sounds of the New Deal is not only an important contribution to the cultural history of the Great Depression, but it promises to transform the way in which historians connect culture with politics when studying the era. Gough's keen attention to intra-agency politics, regional differences, cross-cultural interactions, workplace issues for musicians, and, perhaps most importantly, the role of audiences in all of this gives us a better understanding of just how important federal programs were in shaping and creating the demand for culture in the American West during one of the region's most significant periods of growth. A fantastic book."--Peter La Chapelle, author of Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California