Music has never been just entertainment. Throughout decades, certain songs have served as catalysts for political movements, voices for the oppressed, and blueprints for cultural transformation.

What is an “American song”? Simply defining this term raises a whole bunch of questions. Is an “American song” one that is about America? Is it one that played a role in American history, or one that ...

"Of all nations," wrote Walt Whitman, "the United States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets and will doubtless have the greatest and use them the greatest." This prediction in ...