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This Bell Still Rings: My Life of Defiance and Song
The autobiography of a courageous singer-songwriter, activist, and American icon.
"Barbara Dane is someone who is willing to follow her conscience. She is, if the term must be used, a hero."—Bob Dylan
A renowned folk, blues, and jazz singer who performed with some of the twentieth century’s most celebrated musicians, from Louis Armstrong to Bob Dylan. A proud progressive who has tirelessly championed racial equality and economic justice in America, and who has traveled the world to sing out against war and tyranny. An organizer, a venue owner, a record label founder, and a woman who has charted her own creative and political path for more than ninety years. Barbara Dane has led an epic, trailblazing life in music and activism, and This Bell Still Rings tells her story in her own adventurous voice. Dane’s memoir charts her trajectory from singing in union halls and at factory gates in World War II–era Detroit, to her rise as a respected blues and jazz singer, to her prominence as a folk musician frequently performing at and participating in civil rights and peace demonstrations across the US and abroad—from post-revolutionary Cuba to wartime Vietnam. This Bell Still Rings illuminates “one of the true unsung heroes of American music” (Boston Globe), and it offers a wealth of inspiration for artists, activists, and anyone seeking a life defined by courage and integrity.
"Barbara Dane is someone who is willing to follow her conscience. She is, if the term must be used, a hero."—Bob Dylan
A renowned folk, blues, and jazz singer who performed with some of the twentieth century’s most celebrated musicians, from Louis Armstrong to Bob Dylan. A proud progressive who has tirelessly championed racial equality and economic justice in America, and who has traveled the world to sing out against war and tyranny. An organizer, a venue owner, a record label founder, and a woman who has charted her own creative and political path for more than ninety years. Barbara Dane has led an epic, trailblazing life in music and activism, and This Bell Still Rings tells her story in her own adventurous voice. Dane’s memoir charts her trajectory from singing in union halls and at factory gates in World War II–era Detroit, to her rise as a respected blues and jazz singer, to her prominence as a folk musician frequently performing at and participating in civil rights and peace demonstrations across the US and abroad—from post-revolutionary Cuba to wartime Vietnam. This Bell Still Rings illuminates “one of the true unsung heroes of American music” (Boston Globe), and it offers a wealth of inspiration for artists, activists, and anyone seeking a life defined by courage and integrity.
488 pages, Hardcover
Published September 27, 2022
About the author
Barbara Dane
9 books1 followerBarbara Jean Spillman, known professionally as Barbara Dane, was an American folk, blues, and jazz singer, guitarist, record producer, and political activist. She co-founded Paredon Records with Irwin Silber.
"Bessie Smith in stereo," wrote jazz critic Leonard Feather of Dane in the late 1950s. Time wrote of Dane: "The voice is pure, rich ... rare as a 20-carat diamond" and quoted Louis Armstrong's exclamation upon hearing her at the Pasadena jazz festival: "Did you get that chick? She's a gasser!" On the occasion of her 85th birthday, The Boston Globe music critic James Reed called her "one of the true unsung heroes of American music."
"Bessie Smith in stereo," wrote jazz critic Leonard Feather of Dane in the late 1950s. Time wrote of Dane: "The voice is pure, rich ... rare as a 20-carat diamond" and quoted Louis Armstrong's exclamation upon hearing her at the Pasadena jazz festival: "Did you get that chick? She's a gasser!" On the occasion of her 85th birthday, The Boston Globe music critic James Reed called her "one of the true unsung heroes of American music."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 17, 2023
5.0 I had the honour to meet for an hour, Barbara Dane and her daughter Nina, knowing little about their lives and accomplishments. Barbara told me about her autobiography, explained the title to me, and I was intrigued, bought the book, and once started, couldn't put it down. I was surprised at how extremely well-written and accessible her story is, because she isn't a professional writer and was self-educated after high school.
Bottom line: this is a fabulous book about the Civil Rights and the War Protester Movements of the 1950's and 1960's in the midst of the "Post-World War II Blues" of which Al Stewart sang about.
Dane and her fellow singers are precisely what Tom Lehrer was making fun of in his comedy act song, "The Folk Song Army" which as a child I was perplexed by.
Dane in her heydey was as talented and pure-sounding a vocalist as John Baez, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith. During my reading of this book, I have been listening to her on Spotify.
She rediscovered and publicized lost Folk Songs, and all manner of Blues, Dixieland, Jazz, Cuban music, crossing many genres. She was the first Caucasian person to be featured in Ebony Magazine, for her support of Black Artists and promotion of Black songwriters.
You probably haven't heard of Dane, and there that is because she truly cared more about other people's careers rather than her own. She has lived a life true to her ideals, something which most of us, including me, have not done.
She spoke out. She refused lucrative jobs if a Black entertainer was being barred from performing in the Band, or if the policy of the Boss wasn't in alignment with her belief that music should be easily accessible for everyone, that the People were more important than the Bottom Line.
Dane was followed by the FBI, as many of her fellow artists were, for her wholehearted support of Communist and Socialist Ideals.
I was raised to believe that those ideologies were "Evil." I have now come to see the intense frustation and anger that the wrongs of Capitalism have engender and have opened my mind to the idea that many of us are searching for some kind of Political Party that isn't corrupt. Some kind of Ideology that actually is fair to the Middle Class and supportive of those in poverty who are trapped in the crime-ridden Inner City.
Dane wasn't a Marxist, or Maoist, but is and was a Utopian and a Humanist.
I loved reading about the years of Barbara Dane's youth and activitism, and the close ties she forged with Cuba at a time when literally no other US Entertainer would even travel there.
My only small criticism of her book is that the last 100 pages were not as well edited as the first 350. It is clear that much was cut from the last half of her life, due to the publishing contraints and the length of the autobiography.
The book is full of photos that are fantastic.
Barbara Dane has lived over 95 years well, and she is a true Hero. She deserves to be the Feminist Hall of Fame, the Folk Song Hall of Fame, and the Vietnam War Protest Hall of Fame, among others.
However, as she wasn't "famous" outside of her field, she had the opportunity to meet and truly know EVERYONE who was anyone in the Music/Entertainment world at that time in history (Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong, Jane Fonda being only a few of her friends mentioned in the book).
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves music of any kind (this is me), who is interested in the history of the Civil Rights, and the dreadful and needless Vietnam War.
Her children Nina and Pablo are equally amazing and wonderful to "know" through the printed page.
This would have been worth reading just to read about the March on the Pentagon told by someone who was in the front lines and to have a first hand account about Berkeley and San Francisco 60 years ago.
Bottom line: this is a fabulous book about the Civil Rights and the War Protester Movements of the 1950's and 1960's in the midst of the "Post-World War II Blues" of which Al Stewart sang about.
Dane and her fellow singers are precisely what Tom Lehrer was making fun of in his comedy act song, "The Folk Song Army" which as a child I was perplexed by.
Dane in her heydey was as talented and pure-sounding a vocalist as John Baez, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith. During my reading of this book, I have been listening to her on Spotify.
She rediscovered and publicized lost Folk Songs, and all manner of Blues, Dixieland, Jazz, Cuban music, crossing many genres. She was the first Caucasian person to be featured in Ebony Magazine, for her support of Black Artists and promotion of Black songwriters.
You probably haven't heard of Dane, and there that is because she truly cared more about other people's careers rather than her own. She has lived a life true to her ideals, something which most of us, including me, have not done.
She spoke out. She refused lucrative jobs if a Black entertainer was being barred from performing in the Band, or if the policy of the Boss wasn't in alignment with her belief that music should be easily accessible for everyone, that the People were more important than the Bottom Line.
Dane was followed by the FBI, as many of her fellow artists were, for her wholehearted support of Communist and Socialist Ideals.
I was raised to believe that those ideologies were "Evil." I have now come to see the intense frustation and anger that the wrongs of Capitalism have engender and have opened my mind to the idea that many of us are searching for some kind of Political Party that isn't corrupt. Some kind of Ideology that actually is fair to the Middle Class and supportive of those in poverty who are trapped in the crime-ridden Inner City.
Dane wasn't a Marxist, or Maoist, but is and was a Utopian and a Humanist.
I loved reading about the years of Barbara Dane's youth and activitism, and the close ties she forged with Cuba at a time when literally no other US Entertainer would even travel there.
My only small criticism of her book is that the last 100 pages were not as well edited as the first 350. It is clear that much was cut from the last half of her life, due to the publishing contraints and the length of the autobiography.
The book is full of photos that are fantastic.
Barbara Dane has lived over 95 years well, and she is a true Hero. She deserves to be the Feminist Hall of Fame, the Folk Song Hall of Fame, and the Vietnam War Protest Hall of Fame, among others.
However, as she wasn't "famous" outside of her field, she had the opportunity to meet and truly know EVERYONE who was anyone in the Music/Entertainment world at that time in history (Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong, Jane Fonda being only a few of her friends mentioned in the book).
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves music of any kind (this is me), who is interested in the history of the Civil Rights, and the dreadful and needless Vietnam War.
Her children Nina and Pablo are equally amazing and wonderful to "know" through the printed page.
This would have been worth reading just to read about the March on the Pentagon told by someone who was in the front lines and to have a first hand account about Berkeley and San Francisco 60 years ago.
Displaying 1 of 1 review