How can listening to music made by another cultural group help you to understand their life experience?

While researching The Weavers I learned that many songs from the folk culture deal with world issues/problems. The Weavers were a group who loved to spark controversy any chance they could get with controversial songs such as Goodnight Irene, which is a song about a man who losses his wife and at the end of the song he kills himself. Every member of The Weavers were activists against many different topics, including racism, inequality, and women's suffrage. Many of their songs dealt with these topics so it gives you the feeling that their lives are very complicated because of all the criticism they drew back when they were singing about these issues.