Careless Love (1963)
Born into a white middle-class family (1927), from the mid-40s she became involved with the labor, civil rights and feminist movements. She sang folk and jazz, working with Pete Seeger, Kid Ory , George Lewis , Turk Murphy and others, appearing at festivals and on television, and she even hosted her own show in San Francisco. Dane appeared at many prestigious venues and shared bills with distinguished performers, including Louis Armstrong, Memphis Slim, Lightnin' Hopkins and controversial comedian Lenny Bruce. In 1959, she recorded with Earl Hines and toured with Jack Teagarden 's band, and continued her high profile on television, radio and in concert, throughout the 60s and 70s. In this time she became increasingly involved in political causes, including demonstrations and marches in support of the civil rights movement and in protest against American military involvement in Vietnam. She concentrated her musical efforts on singing at fund- and consciousness raising gatherings in America, Spain, Cuba and Italy, and traveled to Vietnam in 1975. Dane's decision to ally her singing to political causes has tended to keep her from the general audience. Her folk singing has a strong sense of commitment and she is also a sound and convincing singer of the blues. Her records are hard to find but worth seeking out.
In l96l Barbara opened her own club, Sugar Hill: Home of the Blues, on San Francisco's Broadway, with the idea of creating a respectful venue for the music right on the tourist rialto where a wider audience could come in contact with it. There Dane performed regularly with her two most constant musical companions: Kenny "Good News" Whitson on piano and cornet, and Wellman Braud, former Ellington bassist. Among her guest artists were Jimmy Rushing, Mose Allison, Mama Yancey, Tampa Red, Lonnie Johnson, Big Mama Thornton, Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, as well as the many jazz musicians who came regularly to sit in.
"Why the blues?" says Barbara. "Because they speak from the heart to the heart. The blues were born out of the worst conditions one people can force upon another, out of slavery and exploitation--and were given to the world in the spirit of turning madness into sanity, pain into joy, bondage into freedom, and enmity into unity. This is music for survivors, and this spirit is something to be learne
d from, shared and spread as far as it will go! No matter what the words say, no matter who I'm singing to, this is always what I'm singing about."
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