Woodstock Sound-Outs or soundouts were mini-festivals held outside

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, New York, Kingston. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The popula ...

from 1967 to 1970. They were the brainchild of John "Jocko" Moffitt, a roofer and drummer. He had heard about a number of folk festivals in his native California, and he wanted to stage a rock festival in a country setting. Planning for the event began in 1966 and by the early spring of 1967 performers like

Richie Havens Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk music, folk, soul music, soul (both of which he frequently cover song, covered), and rhythm and b ...

were being tentatively booked. The first festival was sited at Pan Copeland's farm outside Woodstock—just south of NY Route 212 on Glasco Turnpike. The festival featured over twenty music acts including

Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs " If I Were a Carpenter", " Reason to Believe", " Misty Roses" and " ...

, Billy Batson,

Kenny Rankin Kenneth Joseph Rankin (February 10, 1940 – June 7, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter in the folk rock and singer-songwriter genres; he was influenced by jazz. Rankin often sang notes which were in a high range to express emotion. ...

and

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter, protest song, protest singer (or, as he preferred, "topical singer"), and Political Activist, political activist. Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic h ...

. Two thousand people attended the three-day event and the outdoor concert itself came together so quickly that the greater community was largely unaware that it had taken place. Moffitt co-promoted the event with Steve Bishop.^1,2

1968

Copeland and Moffitt soon had a falling out. However, Moffitt promoted one final Sound-Out at the Woodstock Playhouse in March 1968.

was once again on the bill and such other performers as Jerry Moore, Don Preston, Major Wiley and Bunky and Jake also performed.³ Pan Copeland resurrected the festival on her farm that summer and called it the Woodstock Sound Festival. She brought in people including Julius Bruggeman, James Matteson, Jackson C. Frank and others to help promote and run the festivals.⁴ Sound festivals occurred over the July 4th weekend in 1968, with

, Major Wiley, the

Blues Magoos The Blues Magoos are an American rock group from The Bronx, a borough of New York City, United States. They were at the forefront of the psychedelic music trend, beginning in 1966. They are best known for the hit song " (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Y ...

, Chrysalis and

Happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

Artie Traum Arthur Roy Traum (April 3, 1943 – July 20, 2008) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Traum's work appeared on more than 35 albums. He produced and recorded with The Band, Arlen Roth, Warren Bernhardt, Pat Alger, Tony Levin, ...

appearing.⁵ Later that month another mini-festival happened on July 19 and 20. Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys headlined, joined by such other performers as Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Batson, Happy & Artie Traum, Lothar and the Hand People,

Raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

, and

Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...

. In August two more shows were staged. On August 16 and 17 the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Fear Itself,

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Known as the "American Troubadour" or "King of the Trail", he is best known for his 1971 hit "American Pie (song), American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minut ...

, Rebecca & Sunny Brook Farmers, The Sanjac of Novipazar and

were on the bill.⁶ By this time

Bob Fass Robert Morton Fass (June 29, 1933 – April 24, 2021) was an American radio personality and pioneer of free-form radio, who broadcast in the New York region for over 50 years. Fass's program, ''Radio Unnameable'', aired in some form from 1963 u ...

, host of WBAI's ''Radio Unnameable'', was emceeing and promoting the festivals via the Pacifica airwaves. Over the weekend of August 30, 31 and September 1 the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band, Frank Wakefield, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Peter Walker,

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold more than List of best-selling si ...

, Scott Fagan and others performed. The Pablo Light Show was present at the July 19 and 20 show, the Pentacle Light Show was scheduled for August 16 and 17 and the Rose Window Light Show for the late August event. Each of these concerts drew from 500 to 1,000 attendees.

1969

According to Michael Lang, legendary promoter of the

Woodstock Festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

of 1969, "the Sound-Outs were kind of the spark for the Woodstock festival. The Sound-Outs just had a great feel, and it was in the country and it provided all the guidelines that I needed, and I was sort of thinking of a broader event but with the same kind of emotional impact."⁷ By 1969, the Woodstock Sound Festivals were under the direction of Cyril Caster. An ambitious schedule of eight events was planned, but due to inclement weather only one was successfully staged. Performers like

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer, and bandleader. After early training as a Western concert flute, classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored ...

, Happy & Artie Traum,

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

, Children of God, and the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band played at the event that summer.⁸

1970

The following year Ian Hain became president of Woodstock Sound Festival Inc. Working with Pan Copeland, he prepared a schedule of weekly concerts beginning on July 4. After the Woodstock Music & Art Fair at Bethel, the town of Saugerties (within whose boundaries the Sound-Outs had been held) placed on the books a set of laws that prevented promoters from organizing an assemblage of more than 200 without a permit. The acts in 1970 included

The Flying Burrito Brothers The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is known for its connection to band f ...

Ian & Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. History Early ...

and the Great Speckled Bird,

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock ...

, Ellen McIlwaine,

and Holy Moses. Hain was successful in staging a three-day event over the July 4th weekend. However, due to legal pressure the concert for the July 25 weekend was reduced to one day. Hain was arrested on July 25 when attendees surpassed the allowed limit and reached 210.⁹ He fought his case through the courts, and by September 9 the case was dismissed, but the season was over.¹⁰

2008

The Sound-Outs at Pan Copeland's fields ended, but the idea lived on and was resurrected in 2008. In that year on August 9 a contemporary Sound-Out was held—in conjunction with ''Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival Backstory Panel Discussion''—at the Colony Café in Woodstock, NY. The following acts performed: Hair of the Dog, Peter Walker, Spiv, Jeremy Bernstein, Steve Knight, Joey Eppard, Frankie and his Fingers, Norman Wennet, Mighty Xee, Marian Tortorella, Paul McMahon, Dharma Bums, Tim Moore, Justin Love, Lynn Miller and Sredni Vollmer, Naked and Nathaniel.¹¹

2009

For the 40th anniversary of the

, a ''Roots of Woodstock Live Concert'' took place at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock on August 15, 2009. At this concert several of the old Sound-Out bands were re-united for the first time since the 1960s. Performing that night were the

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howl ...

and band, Ellen McIlwaine, Marc Black, the Robbie Turner Band, and Jerry Moore with the Children of God. Blues hall of famer Hubert Sumlin had been invited to perform in a nod to Sound-Out alumni

Brownie McGhee Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Life and career McGhee was bor ...

and

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occas ...

. Woodstock troubadour Marc Black had been strongly influenced by the music of original Sound-Out performer

. Robbie Turner, who had attended the sixties Sound-Outs, played on stage this time around.^12,13

References

13. Tim Malcolm, “40 Years of Peace, Love and Rock Music,” ''Times Herald-Record'', (August 14, 2009), 12B-13B. Further Reading Peter Applebome, “50 Miles and 40 Years From Yasgur’s Farm, Woodstock Tries to Move on,” ''The New York Times'', Our Town/NY/Region (August 12, 2009), 1. Weston Blelock and Julia Blelock, ''Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,”'' (Woodstock, NY: WoodstockArts, 2009). Michael Lang with Holly George-Warren, ''The Road to Woodstock'', (New York, NY: Ecco, 2009). Jennifer Leba, “By The Time We Got To Woodstock,” ''Hudson Valley Magazine'', (August 2009), 60–1. Jean Young and Michael Lang, ''Woodstock Festival Remembered'', (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1979).

External links

{{Woodstock

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