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      BLUFFTON, S.C. (AP) - The tea party activists that packed the
room picked up the refrain of a song as they waited for Republican
presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to arrive.


      "While we need a new beginning, no Republicans or Democrats.
Yes, clean out all the vermin and then kick out all the rats," Don
Fortney, who wrote the song, vocalized as he played the guitar.


      As Bachmann entered the Golden Corral restaurant, a crowd belted
out the chorus: "Can you hear us now?"


      "Blowin' in the Wind," it's not, and Don Fortney isn't the
platinum-selling troubadour of a new generation. But the tea party,
like its left-wing progenitor, has spawned a new genre of protest
music that's becoming the soundtrack for the political movement's
gatherings.


      About half of self-described tea party supporters are 50 or
older and can remember listening to AM radio that spun 45s of
liberal protest music like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger.


      "They're the modern hippies," Florence County GOP Chairman
Bill Pickle, 60, said. "But they're called `tea party' and they've
moved to the right."


      Memorable music has sprung from people seeking change: from the
slaves in the South and union organizers during the Depression to
the civil rights and Vietnam war protesters of the 1950s to 1970s.


      Tea party performer Billy Blaze finds some inspiration comes
from the 1970s protest music, such as Edwinn Starr's "War." But
Blaze's ballads talk about freedoms that are challenged and
government overreach. "It's like an onslaught of one thing after
another after another," said Blaze, of Austin, Texas.


      Performers are trying to put the movement's themes at the heart
of their tunes. For instance, Jordan Page loads his music with
liberty and small-government themes and even works in the Federal
Reserve with a lament about children as "slaves to the banks that
cause hyperinflation" and "bad legislation."


      Charleston Tea Party organizer Ron Parks said some of the music
amplifies the movement's message. "Some of it, I know, is really
from their heart - it really is something they believe and feel,
and they're really going after that," said Parks, 55.


      Tea party-inspired music has a long way to go to achieve the
influence of the songs heard during civil rights marches or
anti-Vietnam War protests. Ralph Young, a protest music expert at
Temple University notes tea party music has yet to seep through
society, the way the music of the `60s and `70s did. And people
don't come to tea party rallies for the music, Columbia Tea Party
organizer Allen Olson said. "It's not the heart of the movement
whatsoever."


      Whether or not the tea party is steeped in the tunes it spins
off, the performers say they've found a calling.


      "My job is to plant seeds. It's to get people talking," Page
said. "I am a vicious voice in protest. Because these things need
to be protested. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."


      Fortney says he's offering a milder tone. "I try to be a little
tongue-in-cheek and direct. I respect the left's position. I just
disagree with it," Fortney said.


      Marcus Lloyd sells something else as part of his gigs. The black
Baltimore native makes a point of putting down notions the tea
party has racist undertones. His 301st tea party performance came
at the CNN-Tea Party Express debate in Tampa.


      Lloyd, the son of a firefighter, was singing full-time for a
decade in 2009 when his "American Tea Party Anthem" became
popular. The 62-year-old said before then "everybody told me to
keep my political views to myself because that would stifle my
career."


      His anthem starts: "Mr. President: your stimulus is sure to
bust, it's just a socialistic scheme. The only thing it will do is
kill the American dream." The refrain: "We're having a tea party
across this land. If you love this country, come on and join our
band."


      TV appearances on Fox News followed, along with bookings that
loosed a man closing in on retirement age on the road. "I never
thought my music career would take off so late in life," Lloyd
said. "These people treat me like a rock star."


      It's still music for a narrow market and tough to make a living
from. Blaze, for instance, recalls a couple of years ago packing
500 CDs into his car and driving the 1,000-plus miles from Austin
to Greenville, S.C., for a big tea party rally. The crowd loved the
music, but he sold only 15 CDs.


      "You do good if you break even," Blaze said. Still, "it's a
good cause and I don't mind putting myself behind it."


      Fortney, 64, grew up in Baltimore. His dad played the honkytonk
bar circuit, put a ukulele in his son's hands early and eventually
graduated him to rhythm guitar.


      "In my tradition, when we'd go out into those bars and play at
cookouts in the `50s and `60s, everybody would sing along,"
Fortney said. "It's like a lost social grace."


      That was on display at the Bachmann tea party event in Bluffton
as Bachmann walked into the room to Fortney's tune.


      "It tells me somebody is listening," Fortney said.


      ----
      Associated Press Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta in
Washington contributed to this report.

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The tea party activists that packed the room picked up the refrain of a song as they waited for Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to arrive.

Tuning in, turning out: tea party finds its music

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