Photos from the Vault

1965 Hootenanny

The sound of music
Three of the Guitar Club singers, left to right, Bobbie Klaggs, Glen Rathbone and Laurie McLinn, entertain Morro Bay High School Students Tuesday with a hootenanny.

February 22, 1965
Kingston Trio. Even the Beatles had acoustic folk sounding albums from this era with Revolver and RubberFolk music was a hot ticket by the mid 1960’s. Bands ranged in style from roots music of The Carter Family, the birth of Bluegrass with Bill Monroe or more polished commercial acts like The New Christy Minstrels and Soul and took notice of a new writer named Bob Dylan.

Television leaped to capitalize on the trend with a show called Hootenanny first aired in 1963. Later in the decade the Smothers Brothers get their own show showcasing subversive satire via a folk music setup.

Morro Bay High School was in on the excitement with a 30-member guitar club organized by teacher Dorothy Selkirk. The group met twice a week and put on a lunchtime Hootenanny to raise money for American Field Service program. Admission was 5 cents.

The mocumentary “A Mighty Wind” captures the tenor of the time or any early Bob Dylan film.

The last photo is included for those guitarists who don’t remember the era before electronic tuners. Back then we used a thing called ears to tune our guitars.

Three other quick random notes from the paper…
The day the photos were made (2-22-65) was the same day the story of Malcom X’s murder was printed.
The day the photos were published (2-25-65) also had a story about the 10th anniversary of the San Luis Obispo County History Museum.
Below the history story was yet another tasteless Smirnoff ad featuring a reputable looking gentleman sneaking two bottles of vodka into a party.