Kay and folk music

Kay seems to have been a tolerant person overall, but her dislike of country-western music was known far and wide. That was more of an aesthetic issue, coupled with pressure from an employer who insisted Kay include singing-cowboy records on her morning radio program about 1949 or 1950.

But before that, Kay had taken a general stand against the folk-song movement. As she worked at Scott Air Field, first as a member of the Women's Auxillary Army Corps and then as a civilian, and then during the time she was producing shows to promote the sale of defense bonds, Kay was irked by the anti-war stand taken by some "folkies." In particular, she disliked The Almanac Singers, who made a number of recordings objecting to men being drafted into the Army.

"The Ballad of October 16" refers to the date in 1940 when the Selective Service Act passed in September went into effect and men had to sign up with their draft boards:

"Billy Boy" honed the familar folk song into a general statement against war:

And the lyrics of "Washington Breakdown" talk about serving in the armed forces in the opposite of the morale-boosting manner Kay favored: "Wendell Willkie and Franklin D./ seems to me /they both agree/ on killin' me. . . "

Kay was in no sense a warmonger, but she lumped folksingers in general in with the pro-German "America First" crowd, based on a few records by the singing group which included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Sis Cunningham among others. Kay didn't display many prejudices in general, but she certainly had no use for this type of social commentator, especially in a time of war.