In The Beginning....

This is where it all began for me...and for hundreds of other young people in Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

It was January, 1966, a very cold and snowy time.

But, while Nashville is usually a city, even today, that shuts down when the weather is bad, there was a spirit and a energy present in those days that still seems quite unique.

A new group called "Sing-Out '66" performed a series of whirlwind concerts all across the city that seemed to electrify many of the young people and even adults who saw it. That included myself, a freshman at Father Ryan High School. I had gone to see one of the shows at the old Fairgrounds Coliseum with some cousins of mine. It was a performance like none we had ever witnessed.

The appearance of Sing-Out had been promoted for weeks by the city's afternoon paper, THE NASHVILLE BANNER, and it definitely helped build the excitement.

The photo above is one that appeared on the cover of a book sold at the Sing-Out shows. It was called "How To Create Your Own Sing-Out."

So that is exactly what happened! In fact, more than 600 people attended the first organizational meeting at Belmont College (now University) on January 26, 1966 with over 200 coming back the following Saturday morning despite a new snowstorm that had struck the city.

Sing-Out South was born!

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, we in Sing-Out South soon tried to become as good as our national counterparts. That included not only wearing out our copies of "How To Create Your Own Sing-Out" to learn the words and movements to the songs, but even posing for a publicity shot that looks a lot like the cover photo above.

Actually, this photo was taken at Dupont High School in May of 1966 right before we performed an outdoor show at the football stadium there.

So what was your first Sing-Out experience? Were you there at the beginning? Did you see an SOS or Up With People show and then get involved? Please share your thoughts by clicking on the comments links below.

We plan to do a new blog posting here at least once a week, taking a look back at the history of SOS and UWP in the 1960s and early
'70s, along with some flashbacks on the news and the overall pop culture we all grew up during that time. We've love your ideas about what we should blog about and, especially, any stories you have to share.