Joseph Glazer (June 19, 1918 – September 19, 2006) was an Americanfolk musician who recorded more than thirty albums over the course of his career. He was closely associated withlabor unions and often referred to as "labor's troubadour".
Some of his more acclaimed songs include "The Mill Was Made of Marble," "Too Old To Work" and "Automaton." He recorded "In Old Moscow" ("My Darling Party Line"), a song which ridiculed theCommunist Party USA'sStalinist reversal following the 1939Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.[5] In 1954 Glazer released two albums of music from theIndustrial Workers of the World, including one entirely of songs by Wobbly songwriterJoe Hill, released byFolkways Records.
In 1960 Glazer collaborated withEdith Fowke to publishSongs of Work and Freedom, which included 10 of his original compositions. He went on to dedicate numerous albums to specific trades, including coal mining,newspaper printing,steelwork,textile mills, andwoodworking.
In 1970 Glazer founded Collector Records, originally to issue his own recordings, and, later, recordings by other performers. Collector's first release was Glazer's 1971 albumGarbage and Other Songs of Our Times backed by jazz guitaristCharlie Byrd and his trio. The title track became one of Glazer's most well-known songs afterPete Seeger performed it onSesame Street and recorded versions of it both for thechildren's music and environmentalism markets.
In 1979, Glazer invited 14 other labor musicians to theGeorge Meany Center for Labor Studies inSilver Spring, Maryland, to share musical and written compositions, and to discuss the effective use of music, song, poetry and chants in labor activism. The three-day event became an annual one, becoming known as theGreat Labor Arts Exchange (GLAE). Over the next five years, the concept of "labor culture" and how the labor movement and the arts interacted, which Glazer and others promoted, expanded. In 1984, Glazer incorporated theLabor Heritage Foundation as a parent body for GLAE as well as to curate and promote the culture of the American labor movement.[6]
Joe Glazer Sings Garbage – and Other Songs of Our Times with theCharlie Byrd Trio. Collector Records #1919, 1971. Reissued in 1980 with 2 extra tracks, and in 1993 as a cassette.
Joe Glazer Live at Vail. Central Pension Fund of the OEIU, 1973.
Songs of Steel and Struggle – the Story of the Steelworkers of America. Collector Records, 1975.
Down in a Coal Mine. Collector Records #1923, 1974. Reissued in 1997 as a cassette.
Textile Voices – Songs and Stories of the Mills. Collector Records #1922, 1975. Reissued 1985 as a cassette.
Singing BRAC with Joe Glazer. Collector Records #1924, 1975.
Union Train. Collector Records #1925, 1975.
Songs for Woodworkers. Collector Records #1929, 1997.
