A Photo of Cyril Caster from 1974

The Woodstock Sound-Outs were mini-festivals after which Michael Lang modeled his mega event in 1969. They were held on Pan Copeland’s farm on the outskirts of Woodstock, New York, from 1967 to 1970. The stage was inches from the ground and the amphitheater was a former cow pasture. Over the years different producers partnered with Pan, but by 1969 a musician from the Philadelphia area named Cyril Caster was tapped to head up the festival production team. That group became known as Coyote Productions. Bob Fass, Pan Copeland, Cyril and a couple of others were in charge of the enterprise.

By 1969 the Sound-Outs were officially renamed the Woodstock-Saugerties Sound Festival, or simply The Woodstock Festival. (That was one reason Michael Lang and his partners called their event the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair.) That season the Coyote team planned eight concerts, signing headliners like Van Morrison, Paul Butterfield, Cyril and his band, Tim Hardin, Chrysalis and Children of God. But due to inclement weather very few of the concerts were staged that year. When festival-goers heading to the Bethel event accidentally came to Woodstock, they were directed to Pan’s field. At least they could say they had attended The Woodstock Festival in Woodstock.

Remembering Woodstock

Dave Laing, the first essayist in Remembering Woodstock, writes that the “Woodstock festival was a part of a distinct history of (non-classical) outdoor music festivals stretching back to the early twentieth century. The earliest festivals were rural events, often celebrating local styles and skills in music and folk dance.” He goes on to suggest that the Georgia Fiddlers Convention held in Atlanta in 1913 was one of the first such events.

That may be, but as Michael Lang, co-creator of the Woodstock Festival of 1969, so succinctly says in Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,” the festival was named the Woodstock Music and Art Fair because he intended to stage the festival in Woodstock, NY. Secondly, he wanted to reference the Maverick Festivals held from 1915 through 1931 in the Woodstock area. These weekend-long classical music and art events often drew thousands to the festival grounds. For more on the Maverick Festivals see Anita M. Smith’s Woodstock History and Hearsay.

George McKay, another essay writer for Remembering Woodstock, suggests that the Beaulieu Jazz Festivals in England were precursors or mini Woodstocks that helped to pave the way for festivals in the UK. Woodstock, NY’s own mini folk/rock festivals (Sound-Outs) were considered by many a suburban myth until 2009. But Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival was able to persuasively document the Sound-Outs through photos of contracts, players and playbills. It was these concerts that helped to launch the mega festival in 1969. For more on this click here. Also, check out Wikipedia for an article on the Woodstock Sound-Outs.

Tim Hardin's Woodstock Piano; Remembering Tim on 12/23

Tim Hardin (1941-1980) moved to the Woodstock area in 1968 with his wife Susan Morss and his young son Damion. Already the town was a thriving music destination— with The Band, Bob Dylan, the Mothers of Invention, Richie Havens and the Blues Magoos in residence. It is said that Hardin, of all the songwriters in early 1960s Greenwich Village, was the best. His first album, recorded for Verve in 1966, yielded such tunes as “Reason to Believe,” which was covered by Rod Stewart, and “Hang On To a Dream” which became a staple for The Nice. In the aftermath of this release Bob Dylan referred to Hardin as the best songwriter alive.

It was with Tim Hardin 2, his second album, that the songwriter released “If I Were a Carpenter,” his most memorable song. Also on the album were such tunes as “Black Sheep Boy“ and “Lady Came from Baltimore.” During an eight-month period from 1965 to 1966 some of his best-known songs were written on a piano in his room in Los Angeles. By the time Hardin moved to Woodstock his career was taking off. Although his album sales weren’t great, his talent garnered respect in the music world. Particularly after his song “If I Were A Carpenter” was covered by such established acts as Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops and many others. Hardin headlined at many of the Sound-Outs and at WOODSTOCK. In his book, The Road to Woodstock, Michael Lang writes, “Tim was a friend, and I was a big fan of his music and was hoping he’d be at his best onstage.” This could have been a big break for Tim. Hardin had a strong first set and then he invited his band to join him onstage. Gilles Malkine was playing rhythm guitar for Tim and said in Lang’s book that the set went so badly that Malkine quit the music business for many years.

Post-festival, Hardin continued to record for Columbia and other labels and enjoyed some commercial success with numbers like “Simple Song of Freedom,” but his early promise was never realized. On December 29, 1980 he passed away at the age of 39 from a heroin overdose.

Ellen McIlwaine @ the Roots of Woodstock concert

“An Air of Magic—Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,” an article by David Bouton that appears in the winter 2009 issue of Kaatskill Life, offers a great review of the Roots book and concert. Bouton begins with, “[The festival] happened here in the Catskill Mountains. It did not take place at Berkeley, or in the Golden Gate Park near San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. The historic, famous, somewhat spontaneous Woodstock peace, music and arts festival of 1969 in the Catskills was not a fluke either in its nature or its location. Yes, the event eventually was held in Bethel, NY, 70 miles away, but the festival is and forever will be called “Woodstock,” reflecting its origins, its geographical location, its nature, and inherent outlook and attitude: that of the community of Woodstock, NY.”

In writing about Roots of Woodstock Live Concert, Bouton continues, “The performers energized our minds, upped our heartbeats, and had people dancing not only in the aisles but among photos of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix in the theater’s lounge. In true Woodstock style, some from the stage wondered among the crowd and visited with us. Although the concert began at 8 p.m. and the town of Woodstock drifted off to sleep on that wispy foggy evening, the concert in the Bearsville Theater had no time limits and went on through the night.”

David Bouton sums up, “If you missed the concert with its enhanced emotional understandings as to where ‘Woodstock’ came from, you can still find answers to the larger picture of ‘how come?’ with the words of the original townspeople and the library of historic photographs in the Blelocks’ book.”

Cover image of the book, depicting Woody Guthrie at the Cooper Union, 1959

In 2001 powerHouse Books published there is no eye, John Cohen’s photographic memoir of his life and times. He is member of the New City Lost Ramblers and his photographs hang in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. He has done field recordings, a number of fine albums, and films.

His book includes black and white images of Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Woody Guthrie and many others. Cohen notes that “over the distance of time, those years on Third Avenue [1957-1964] seem very exciting, but in reality felt mostly desolate and run down. Still, I liked the sober seriousness of my daily life.” It was a time that Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and Happenings were gathering steam. During this period Cohen rehearsed in the apartment with The New Lost City Ramblers and had his first photographic show. The mood of his book is filmic, lush and gritty.

Recently a friend recommended that we read the book, because it reminded him of Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock.” The title, there is no eye, is taken from Dylan’s Highway 61 liner notes, name checking Cohen.

Full Circle, Lamanna's debut CD, showcases her inventive singer/songwriting ability.

Pat Lamanna, a Camp Woodland alum, will be performing in the “Phil Ochs Fest” at the Colony Café, 22 Rock City Road, Woodstock on Dec. 5th. The gig begins at 8 p.m. Others on the bill include Graham and Barbara Dean, the Flames of Discontent and Greg Engleson.

FYI, Phil Ochs headlined at the 1967 Sound-Out. Camp Woodland nurtured folk music in the Woodstock area during the fifties and sixties—and together with the Sound-Outs was instrumental in creating the vital music scene that triggered the Woodstock Festival of 1969.

Woodstock’s Music Scene During the Summer of 1969:  WKZE#1

Artie Traum’s Reminiscence of Woodstock in the Late 1960’s:  WKZE#2

Tracy Bigelow Grisman's Gaslight Trio: Ralph Rinzler, Bob Dylan and John Herald

In 1954, a 15-year old Johnny Herald saw Pete Seeger in concert at Camp Woodland, outside Phoenicia, NY. He was so inspired that he vowed he would be a musician, too. Herald, of Armenian-American background, was born and raised in Greenwich Village. His poet father used to take him around to parties where Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie performed live. On the liner notes to Roll on John, Herald recalls “and here I was, somebody that was in on another sort of bohemian revolution in the sense of the folk part of art; folk craft, folk culture and so on.”

Herald began listening to Don Larkin’s New Jersey radio program on bluegrass music (Larkin Barkin’). Soon he was jamming with Bob Dylan, Rory Block and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. In 1959 he joined the Greenbriar Boys with John Yellin and Eric Weissberg. The latter was a fellow alum of Camp Woodland, although they actually met (according to Weissberg) at a freshman mixer at the University of Wisconsin.  Things started to heat up after Ralph Rinzler replaced Weissberg in the group. He urged the trio to practice more, and they won first prize for bluegrass in a North Carolina competition. Soon they landed a contract with Maynard Solomon’s Vanguard record label.

According to Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,” John met his wife Kim in 1965 at the Café Espresso’s family table in Woodstock, NY. In those days everybody mixed—fans, musicians and artists alike. There was an easy camaraderie. Kim says that even then her future husband was conflicted about his life’s direction. His music career was on fire, but he loved nature and might easily have been a biologist for the state instead of a famous bluegrass musician. He wanted to be in nature and be true to himself. John, Kim says, didn’t understand that he couldn’t have success on his own terms. He had an inability to sacrifice everything for his art.

 Nonetheless he recorded four albums with the Greenbriar Boys: The Greenbriar Boys (1962), Ragged But Right! (1964), Dian and the Greenbriar Boys (1965) and Better Late Than Never (1966). In addition, he was kept busy with session work and in 1972 he recorded his first solo album for Paramount. A string of other albums followed. One of his best loved tunes is “Jon the Generator.” Unfortunately, over the years his conflicted feelings about his life’s path caused old friends like Dylan to pull away. He found it harder and harder to pay his bills and in 2005 he committed suicide.

10/28 at 9 a.m. on WKZE with Rick Schneider

10/30 at 9:30 a.m. on WKNY with Warren Lawrence

Attendees of the upcoming presentation will learn why the festival was named Woodstock, and why it continues to be so closely associated with the town, even though the concert actually took place in Bethel, NY. The first part of the book features a transcript of a panel discussion that took place in August 2008 among townspeople—including Festival promoter Michael Lang—knowledgeable about the music scene in the late sixties. The second part of the book is a “roots of Woodstock” photo essay that chronicles the Arts and Crafts origins of the town, from its glass-making era in the 1800s to the founding of the Byrdcliffe colony in 1902. In addition, it details the town’s hallowed tradition of weekend-long music concerts, beginning in the early 1900s with Woodstock’s Maverick Festivals, and stretching up through the counter cultural Sound-Outs of the late 1960s.

 According to Billboard, “For those [readers] wishing to know more about the upstate New York culture that gave rise to the Woodstock festival, [this book] examines the area’s burgeoning music scene, including the open air Sound-Out[s] that inspired Michael Lang’s festival concept.” ForeWord says that it “delves deeper into the background of the festival than any other recent title; and Midwest Book Review calls it “a thoughtful, profusely illustrated preserve of American history, highly recommended for lay readers and serious students of the Woodstock event alike.”

 The book highlights the Woodstock exploits of artists, writers and performers such as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, and Richie Havens. Bob Fass, a Woodstock Sound-Out emcee and host of WBAI’s Radio Unnameable for more than forty years, contributed a brilliant and evocative foreword to the book. Also included are a compendium of important Woodstock players, a map of historic 1960s locations in the Woodstock area, and 115 images—many of them rare, vintage photos of the Woodstock music and art scenes.