Jerry Gallagher

The Folksingers: a Novel Jerry Gallagher

On a July morning in 1963 Jeff McCarthy leaves his dorm room at Prince College in Coaltown, Pennsylvania, where he is taking summer courses and sets out on a hitchiking trip to Newport, Rhode Island. In Newport Jeff will be a part of a historic musical event, The 1963 Newport Folk Music Festival. On the road to Newport Jeff will meet up with a cast of offbeat characters who will help him to begin his adventure. When he arrives at Newport he will meet and interact with Folksingers and folk music lovers from everywhere who have come to Newport to share a unique musical experience. The Newport Folk Festival of 1963 provides an interesting musical backdrop for this Novel. Newport 63 brought together the musical stars of an era for a musical experience that would not be forgotten by anyone attending the event. Newport had Pete Seeger singing his anthems like "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and introducing Joan Baez and Bob Dylan singing Dylan's songs together on stage. It was Dylan's Festival in many ways. Not only did Dylan sing but Peter, Paul and Mary sang many of his songs, as well. The First Half of "The Folksingers" introduces, not only Jeff and his Journey, but also introduces other important characters, including Janice Clayton, a well known female Folk Performer with a disturbing secret and Harold Wilde, a Singer and Playwright from New York with dark secrets of his own. In the First Half of the Novel Jerry Gallagher provides extensive personal background on these and other major characters in the Novel. The Second Half of the book describes the actions and interactions of the major characters with each other and with others during the time they spend at The Newport Folk Festival in 1963.