From the 1950s through the 1980s, a steady stream of talented blues and folk artists came through Reed College. With the folk music revival in the ‘50s and the blues revival in the ‘60s, there was no lack of skilled artists across the country. Reed drew in dozens of artists, from smaller local musician Mike…

Tracing their roots to New York City and San Francisco a group of poets, known as the Beat Generation, were actively causing a ruckus during the mid to late 1950s. They were often thought to be a precursor to the 1960s counterculture movement and were interested in experimental drugs, the natural world, Zen Buddhism, and…