American folk music

The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music, traditional folk music, contemporary folk music, vernacular music, or roots music. Many traditional songs have been sung within the same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as the British Isles, Mainland Europe, or Africa.^[1] Musician Mike Seeger once famously commented that the definition of American folk music is "...all the music that fits between the cracks."^[2]

See also: Folk music, Contemporary folk music, and Americana (music)

American folk music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American music. The music is considered American either because it is native to the United States or because it developed there, out of foreign origins, to such a degree that it struck musicologists as something distinctly new. It is considered "roots music" because it served as the basis of music later developed in the United States, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and jazz.

Roots music[edit]

Many roots musicians do not consider themselves folk musicians. The main difference between the American folk music revival and American "roots music" is that roots music seems to cover a broader range, including blues and country.

Roots music developed its most expressive and varied forms in the first three decades of the 20th century. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were extremely important in disseminating these musical styles to the rest of the country, as Delta blues masters, itinerant honky tonk singers, Cajun musicians spread to cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. The growth of the recording industry in the same period was also important; higher potential profits from music placed pressure on artists, songwriters, and label executives to replicate previous hit songs. This meant that musical fads, such as Hawaiian slack-key guitar, never died out completely, since a broad range of rhythms, instruments, and vocal stylings were incorporated into disparate popular genres.

By the 1950s, forms of roots music had led to pop-oriented forms. Folk musicians like the Kingston Trio, blues-derived rock and roll and rockabilly, pop-gospel, doo wop and R&B (later secularized further as soul music) and the Nashville sound in country music all modernized and expanded the musical palette of the country.

The roots approach to music emphasizes the diversity of American musical traditions, the genealogy of creative lineages and communities, and the innovative contributions of musicians working in these traditions today. In recent years roots music has been the focus of popular media programs such as Garrison Keillor's public radio program, A Prairie Home Companion and the feature film by the same name.

Series: Greenwood Guides to American Roots Music, edited by Norm Cohen. Titles include, Folk Music, , Blues, Jazz, and Ethnic and Border Music.

Country

Norm Cohen, Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2nd ed., 2000)

Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr, Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia (University of North Carolina Press, 2014). Includes a foreword by and 20 track CD.

Dolly Parton

Benjamin Filene, Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2000)

Rachel Clare Donaldson, "I Hear American Singing": Folk Music and National Identity (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2014)

Kip Lornell, Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012)

Robert Santelli, American Roots Music--Based on the Television Series (Abrams, 2001), foreword by Bonnie Raitt

PBS

In 2004, published the book titled The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to American Folk Music,^[53] Linda Ronstadt wrote the foreword.

NPR

The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance by Michael F. Scully (University of Illinois Press, 2008)

Nettl, Bruno. An Introduction to Folk Music in the United States. Rev. ed. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1962.

In 2007, published Polkabilly: How the Goose Island Ramblers Redefined American Folk Music, which proposes a redefinition of traditional American folk music and identifies a new genre of music from the Upper Midwest known as Polkabilly, which blends ethnic music, old-time country music, and polka.^[54] The book was awarded the American Folklore Society's Chicago Folklore Prize for the best book in the field of folklore scholarship.^[55]

James P. Leary

Film, TV, and radio[edit]

Hootenanny, a weekly musical variety show broadcast on the ABC network in the U.S. in 1963–1964, primarily featured folk musicians.

The soundtrack of the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is exclusively roots music, performed by Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Emmylou Harris, Norman Blake and others.

In 2001, PBS broadcast a 4-part documentary series, American Roots Music, that explored the historical roots of American roots music through footage and performances by the creators of the movement.

The 2003 film A Mighty Wind is a tribute to (and parody of) the folk-pop musicians of the early 1960s.

A six-hour public television series, The Music of America: History Through Musical Traditions, appeared in 2010.

PBS series Country Music by Ken Burns, 8 episodes. "Explore the remarkable stories of the people and places behind a true American art form." Gives insight into the folk heritage of what would become country music.

BBC radio program Black Roots, Grammy Award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens explores the history of African American roots music through the stories of forgotten black pioneers.

Gilliland, John (1969). "Blowin' in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.

American folk music revival

Anthology of American Folk Music

List of North American folk music traditions

Protest songs in the United States

The Historyscoper

by Bill Markwick (1945-2017) - musical definitions and short biographies for American and U.K. Folk musicians and groups. Retrieved September 21, 2017.