Remember Burl Ives?

The first record I ever owned was a 78 by Ernest Tubb, Walkin’ the Floor Over You. The second record I ever owned was by Burl Ives. You almost never hear Burl Ives music anymore. Maybe you never even heard of him, I don’t know. Ives was an American actor and singer who lived from 1909 – 1995. He was black-listed during the 50s but allowed to work again after he testified. From Wikipedia:

Ives was identified in the 1950 pamphlet Red Channels and blacklisted as an entertainer with supposed Communist ties.^[21] In 1952 he cooperated with the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) and agreed to testify. He stated that he was not a member of the Communist Party but that he had attended various union meetings with fellow folk singer Pete Seeger simply to stay in touch with working folk. He stated: “You know who my friends are; you will have to ask them if they are Communists.”^[22]
Ives’s statement to the HUAC ended his blacklisting, allowing him to continue acting in movies. But it also led to a bitter rift between Ives and many folk singers, including Seeger, who accused Ives of betraying them and the cause of cultural and political freedom in order to save his own career. Ives countered by saying he had simply stated what he had always believed. Forty-one years later, Ives reunited with Seeger during a benefit concert in New York City. They sang “Blue Tail Fly” together.^[23]