A. When is Folk?

› 1. 18th Century to 21st

Century…that’s a

long time

› 2. Folk music is

always EVOLVING

Traditional songs and

traditional instruments are frequently

recombined in any

variety of unique ways

B. Folk Music Facts

› 1. A catch-all term meaning anything NOT

mainstream or by popular artists

› 2. Relied on face to face transmissions until 1920s

[radio and phonograph]

› 3. Rarely heard via radio or television, yet sundry

records are available

Polka, cowboy, zydeco, blues, etc…

“All the music that falls between the cracks” –

Mike Seeger

C. Industry prediction was that mass media

would do away with “folk” music and culture

D. However, the OPPOSITE seems to be true

› 1. record labels become multinational sellers of

pop culture, however

2. A genuine demand for folk music still exists

3. O, Brother Where Art Thou

› a. Sold over 1 million copies

› b. Sparked the 2002 concert tour

Down From the Mountain which featured:

Ricky Skaggs

Allison Krause & Union Station

Ralph Stanley

Patty Loveless

A. Definition: music with a strong regional

affiliation or a distinct racial or ethnic identity

with a direct link to the past

› Folk, Grassroots, and traditional are all synonyms

of this type of music

B. The Two ERAS of Folk

› 1. a time in rural, un-urban past performed by

isolated and uneducated people who play “old,

simple, and charming” music with acoustic

instruments

examples:

Mississippi John Hurt

“Candy Man”

B. The Two ERAS of Folk

› 2. others say “folk” began in 1950s with the folk

revival in New York City

a. examples:

Woody Guthrie

Tom Paxton

Joni Mitchell

Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley”

paved the way for Bob Dylan

C. Style

[What Folk Is Not]› 1. not highly

structured

[like classical]

› 2. not studied in academia

› 3. not long and complex noted works

› 4. not performed via symphonic orchestras, operahouses, or concerthalls

D. Who is Folk?

› Pete Seeger

› Lead Belly

› Peter, Paul & Mary

› Bob Dylan

› Wilco

› Blind Lemon Jefferson

› Lydia Mendoza

› Bob Wills

› Memphis Minnie

› and hundreds more

E. Folk Provides Inspirational Roots

› 1. popular artists and popular music often look

toward their folk roots for inspiration

› 2. “Our need to look at the past appears to be

increasingly important in our increasingly dynamic,

multicultural, fragmented, and complex society”

– Kip Lornell

E. Folk Provides Inspirational Roots

› 3. example:

opening riff of “Honky Tonk Woman” by The Rolling

Stones

Keith Richards admired Ry Cooder, who worked with the Stones in the late 1960s

Keith Richards wanted to learn to play like John Lee Hooker

[who has a unique percussive slide-style guitar style in open G

tuning], which Ry Cooder could play

end result…we get a Detroit-based, Mississippi Delta-born

black musician by way of a young white Southern

Californian, teaching a British rock star

F. Folk as an Alternative Lifestyle› 1. Folk Culture includes music, instruments, food

and clothing that EMPHASIZE sharing, doing it yourself, simple is better, small is beautiful, inclusiveness, and multiculturalism

ex. Phish, Rockabilly Revival, or Reggae

› 2. displayed yearly at numerous folk festivals, the same festivals out of which the Newport Folk Festivals and Woodstock grew

G. A Folk Musician is:

› 1. an outsider in search

of recognition among

peers

› 2. someone who

doesn’t “sell-out”

› 3. who values creativity,

› 4. but, who won’t

collide too often with

the star-making

machinery

H. Folk Influences in Brief

› 1. Classical

Aaron Copland “Appalachian Spring”

Charles Ives “Fourth Symphony” which features “Turkey in the

Straw” and “The Irish Washwoman”

› 2. Rock

Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers, R.E.M., Wilco, Aerosmith, and

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

› 3. Punk

Johnny Rotten

› 4. Though these musicians are not Folk Musicians, they

do demonstrate an appreciation for the works of artists

such as Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Uncle Dave

Macon, Howlin’ Wolf, Bob Wills, and Patsy Montana to

name but a few

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