MODERN FOLK
Time Frame:
In the early 1900’s, folklorists, people dedicated to preserving folk music, began traveling the countryside notating popular songs of the time in order to preserve the music. In the 1940’s and 1960’s, there was a folk revival, most likely due to the wars that the country was encountering. The main influential period for popular folk music is the 1960’s.
Description:
Folk music describes popular music based on the stylings and preservation of traditional music. Many folk artists take traditional songs and remake or incorporate them into their music. Bob Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind” was a traditional slave song. New folk focused on American life, political undertones, and protest songs. Protest songs came directly from the folk movement.
Roots:
Folk derives from the preservation of American traditional music. This goes back to puritan hymns and slave songs.
Subgenres:
World music
Roots music
Protest songs
Influential Artists:
John
Lomax
Woody Guthrie
Bob Dylan
Pete Seeger
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young (CSNY)
The
Byrds
Grateful Dead
James Taylor
Cat Stevens
Joni Mitchell
Phil Ochs
Shawn Colvin
Paul Simon
Ani DiFranco
Dar Williams
Greg Brown
The Carpenters
Peter, Paul, and Mary
Joan Baez