Cunningham, Agnes (1909–2004)
Cunningham, Agnes (1909–2004)
American music publisher and musician. Name variations: Sis Cunningham. Born Agnes Cunningham, Feb 19, 1909, in Watongo, Oklahoma; died June 27, 2004, at a nursing home in New Paltz, NY; middle of 5 children of a schoolteacher and failed farmer; attended Oklahoma State College for Women, Southwestern State College, and Commonwealth College in Mena, Arkansas; m. Gordon Friesen (radical journalist), July 1941 (died 1996); children: Agnes and Jane Friesen.
An icon of radical American folk music, played, sang with, and wrote songs for Woodie Guthrie, including "How Can You Keep On Movin' Unless You Migrate Too?"; was an agitator with the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union (late 1930s); became a member of the Almanac Singers, playing the accordion and singing along with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Josh White; with husband, founded the influential folksong magazine Broadside (1962), with the 1st issue containing the song "Talking John Birch" by then unknown Bob Dylan (his "Blowin' in the Wind" appeared 5 issues later); published more than 1,000 songs in the magazine. Fifteen albums of Broadside songs were released by Folkways Records; album The Best of Broadside, 1962–1988: Anthems of the American Underground from the Pages of Broadside Magazine (2000) was nominated for 2 Grammys.
See also autobiography (with husband) Red Dust and Broadsides: A Joint Autobiography (1999).