Win Stracke
| Win Stracke | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Winfred J. Stracke |
| Also known as | Uncle Win |
| Born |
February 20, 1908 Lorraine, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | June 29, 1991 (aged 83) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Bass singer, guitar |
| Associated acts | Frank Hamilton, Burl Ives, Big Bill Broonzy, Studs Terkel, Pete Seeger |
Winfred "Win" J. Stracke (February 20, 1908 – June 29, 1991) was an American folk musician and co-founder of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. Stracke was a Chicago fixture in music, theater, and television in the 1940s and was known for his booming bass voice. Nationally he was known as Uncle Win to viewers of his nationally syndicated children's television show on NBC until it was canceled in the wake of the 1950s blacklist.
Stracke was born in Lorraine, Kansas but grew up in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, and had ties to the area his entire life. He was the son of German immigrants and his father was a preacher. He discovered his singing talent while still in high school. Stracke had some operatic training, but his interests in the labor movement and American frontier history would draw him towards American folk music. He began his folk singing career in Chicago in 1931, when WLS hired him as a bass singer on their National Barn Dance program. He appeared with the Cumberland Ridge Runners and Smoky Mountain Singers.
In 1938 as a member of the Chicago Repertory Theater, a topically progressive theater group in Chicago (they regularly put on plays of pro-union and anti-war topics), Stracke met and began working with his soon to be lifelong friend Studs Terkel. Stracke and Terkel shared common ideas about the way music could be used to promote and assist the labor movement of the mid-20th century. During the 1940s Stracke left to serve in Europe and Africa during World War II; drafted towards the end of the war, he served in an anti-aircraft division. Terkel would later interview Stracke about his experiences in The Good War.
After returning to Chicago he again joined up with Studs Terkel. As well as an interest in American folk music and the labor movement the two also shared an appreciation for music of different cultures, Stracke was particularly fond of the German folk songs of his heritage. Terkel and Stracke had met the blues singer Big Bill Broonzy through Pete Seeger's labor songs organization, People's Songs. Drawing from these areas and along with fellow musician Lawrence Lane (a classically trained singer who later sang the National Anthem before Chicago Blackhawks games) the group formed I Come for to Sing, a touring folk review. The review played at colleges around the country in the late 1940s and 1950s. The program was set up around a theme with Terkel narrating and Stracke and the other performers singing songs to support that narration.
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