A Voice of Defiance Until the End
Legendary singer, songwriter and activist Barbara Dane, who passed away at 97, left an indelible mark on American music and social justice movements. In her final interview, conducted just last week, the fiery spirit that propelled her groundbreaking career still burned bright.
“This is the end,” Dane reflected frankly from her hospice bed. “I struggle to breathe. My time ain’t long.” Yet even in her last days, the pivotal figure in U.S. folk and blues was celebrated for demolishing racial and gender barriers without ever compromising her principles.
“She’s always been a role model and a hero of mine – musically and politically.”
– Bonnie Raitt on Barbara Dane
Encounters with Legends
Born in Detroit, Dane’s lifelong fight against injustice ignited at age nine when her father publicly shamed her for serving a Black customer. She channeled her outrage into folk and blues, rubbing shoulders with luminaries like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Count Basie. Jazz icon Louis Armstrong, blown away by her voice, invited Dane to join him on TV and gushed, “Did you get that chick? She’s a gasser!”
But it was in 1960s Greenwich Village where Dane left an indelible mark. An unintentional den mother to the exploding folk scene, she fostered a young upstart named Bob Dylan. “He used to turn up on stage uninvited when I was singing!” she chuckled. Though Dylan hungered for stardom, Dane disdained celebrity – even rejecting overtures from his famed manager, Albert Grossman.
“Barbara is someone who is willing to follow her conscience. She is, if the term must be used, a hero.”
– Bob Dylan on Barbara Dane
Unsung Heroine
While contemporaries achieved massive fame, Dane slid into the shadows – a consequence of snubbing the industry and being blacklisted for her strident activism during the civil rights and Vietnam eras. She was among the first American artists to tour post-revolution Cuba in 1966, then daringly sang in North Vietnam as war raged.
Her intrepid 1966 collaboration with Black vocalists The Chambers Brothers, now reissued, was a landmark of racial unity. “Early on in LA, I suggested they join me in Mississippi singing freedom songs,” Dane recalled. “But as they were originally from there, they wisely declined.”
“Capitalism has made things worse… our world can’t survive. Capitalism and climate change have created a crisis.”
– Barbara Dane’s final political reflections
Now, as retrospective releases and a new documentary The Nine Lives of Barbara Dane spotlight her trailblazing legacy, Dane’s lifework resonates more powerfully than ever in a fractured America. Through her final breath, she decried the scourges of capitalism and found solace in the power of song to unite:
“There’s a power in music that unites people. You can take a roomful of people and make them feel their kinship in a way that nothing else can.”
– Barbara Dane’s enduring belief in music’s unifying force
Barbara Dane’s name may not be as iconic as some, but her life of courage, conviction and defiance – both on and off the stage – won’t soon be forgotten. As one last gift, this “gasser” of a woman has ensured that her voice will keep ringing out for generations to come.
Born in Detroit, Dane’s lifelong fight against injustice ignited at age nine when her father publicly shamed her for serving a Black customer. She channeled her outrage into folk and blues, rubbing shoulders with luminaries like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Count Basie. Jazz icon Louis Armstrong, blown away by her voice, invited Dane to join him on TV and gushed, “Did you get that chick? She’s a gasser!”
But it was in 1960s Greenwich Village where Dane left an indelible mark. An unintentional den mother to the exploding folk scene, she fostered a young upstart named Bob Dylan. “He used to turn up on stage uninvited when I was singing!” she chuckled. Though Dylan hungered for stardom, Dane disdained celebrity – even rejecting overtures from his famed manager, Albert Grossman.
“Barbara is someone who is willing to follow her conscience. She is, if the term must be used, a hero.”
– Bob Dylan on Barbara Dane
Unsung Heroine
While contemporaries achieved massive fame, Dane slid into the shadows – a consequence of snubbing the industry and being blacklisted for her strident activism during the civil rights and Vietnam eras. She was among the first American artists to tour post-revolution Cuba in 1966, then daringly sang in North Vietnam as war raged.
Her intrepid 1966 collaboration with Black vocalists The Chambers Brothers, now reissued, was a landmark of racial unity. “Early on in LA, I suggested they join me in Mississippi singing freedom songs,” Dane recalled. “But as they were originally from there, they wisely declined.”
“Capitalism has made things worse… our world can’t survive. Capitalism and climate change have created a crisis.”
– Barbara Dane’s final political reflections
Now, as retrospective releases and a new documentary The Nine Lives of Barbara Dane spotlight her trailblazing legacy, Dane’s lifework resonates more powerfully than ever in a fractured America. Through her final breath, she decried the scourges of capitalism and found solace in the power of song to unite:
“There’s a power in music that unites people. You can take a roomful of people and make them feel their kinship in a way that nothing else can.”
– Barbara Dane’s enduring belief in music’s unifying force
Barbara Dane’s name may not be as iconic as some, but her life of courage, conviction and defiance – both on and off the stage – won’t soon be forgotten. As one last gift, this “gasser” of a woman has ensured that her voice will keep ringing out for generations to come.
