American Folk Music, Past, Present and Future

Past: The Rise of American folk music

Folk music has always played an important part in American life and has enjoyed some degree of popularity throughout the 20th century. For a more complete history of American folk music, click one of the green links in the "Early History of American Folk Music" module above, if you have not done so already, but don't forget to come back here.

• According to the last link in the link list above, the term "folk music" replaced "ballads" sometime in the 19th century.
• However, according to the next to last link in the list: "[Some of] the earliest folk songs rose from slave fields as 'Spirituals', songs of struggle and hardship, but, full of hope, and, some say, codes." (For more on this, click the green links.)
• But American folk music got it's first real boost in popularity in the early part of the 20th century, especially with labor union leader, Joe Hill and his songs of protest and in support of the labor union movement. (For more on Joe, click the green link.)
• The book in the Amazon spotlight below says there were 3 folk revivals:
• According to Ken Braiterman in an article in Suite 101.com "The first revival...was driven by collectors." They were no doubt at least partially inspired by Joe Hill. [The collectors] "combed through old manuscripts [looking] for new discoveries, [and] publishing as many versions and variations as they could find. Most famous among these collectors were John Lomax, father of Alan Lomax, and Charles Seeger, father of Pete, Michael, and Peggy Seeger."
• Between 1933 and 1936 (During the New Deal), Alan Lomax roamed the back woods collecting on a tape recorder for the Library of Congress. ...he [lived for awhile] with Pete Seeger. Lomax's Library of Congress recordings were a major source of material for folk singers who inspired one another in New York's Greenwich Village in the 1930's and 40's."
• Thus, the next boost for American folk music was in the 30's and 40's with Woody Guthrie and his dust bowl ballads, Burl Ives and his traditional folk ballads which he popularized through his radio show "The Wayfaring Stranger", Pete Seeger's solo folk singing from 1938 to 1941, and even more so from 1941 to 1944 with the Almanac Singers a group which Pete and Woody formed and which sing mostly labor movement songs and anti-war songs until they were forced to go underground.
  (For more on any of these click the green links)
• An even bigger boost came in the 50's, as the Almanac Singers resurfaced as the Weavers in 1950. (click the green links for more)
• The first extensive collection of folk music in the U.S., "Anthology of American Folk Music" (2nd Amazon spotlight below) was edited-created by record collector Harry Smith for Moe Asch's Folkways label in 1952. (For more, click the preceding green link, or this one).

10 Factors in the rise of the 60's folk revival

• 1The previous success of The Weavers (1950-52)
• 2The publication of Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music" (spotlighted above) in 1952 and subsequent interest in the same.
• 3The rise to #1 of The Kingston Trio's hit, "Tom Dooley" in 1958.
• 4The Kingston Trio's subsequent hits of Tijuana Jail" "M.T.A." and "A Worried Man" in 1959.
• 5Also in 1959, The formation of The Limeliters
• 6Also in 1959, The start of "The Chad Mitchell Trio."
• 7The formation of The Highwaymen in 1960 and the success of their #1 hit "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" in 1961.
• 8The coming of singer/songwriter, Bob Dylan to Greenwich Village in February 1961. (His great writing talent provided songs for groups like Peter, Paul & Mary and other groups as well as solo folk artists like Joan Baez and Judy Collins.)
• 9The formation of the group Peter Paul and Mary in Greenwich Village in 1961, and the release of their debut album in 1962.
• 10The formation of The New Christy Minstrels by Randy Sparks in 1961 and the success of their Grammy winning debut album "Presenting the New Christy Minstrels" in 1962.

Present: The Fall of American folk Music

Why didn't it last? Where is it today? Where will it be tomorrow?

As you can see from the above quote, starting with the 70's American folk music began to decline. Rock again took top billing on the charts. But, although many rock groups did have good harmony, none could match the folk sound. The Byrds were close with their folk-rock sound, covering many songs of Bob Dylan and other folk songs. Today, the oldies station will play the Byrds, but just try to get them to play Peter, Paul & Mary.

SO WHATEVER HAPPENED TO FOLK?

• It is not even mentioned in the Grammys or any music award shows today.
• The only time I hear folk music on the radio is in a 3 hour program on Sunday afternoon on public radio called "folk and acoustic music" (see link below) and much of that is acoustic and not folk--much is more bluegrass which is really more like country. See the link below for more on this weekly program.
• Many online and mail CD clubs don't even list folk as genre.
• Go into many CD stores, both new CD stores and the ever popular CD exchanges and you will be hard pressed to find folk as a category. If they even have any "folk" CD's they will be very few and tucked away under "country" or some other obscure category.
• The Showtime section of our local paper, in listing upcoming concerts and appearances by music genre never lists any under folk. If there are folk artists they are listed under "country" or "bluegrass."
• Yet, at least is seems that folk music is not entirely forgotten.
  (case in point: The album in the 2nd spotlight below:)

Future: The Future of American folk Music

On The Positive Side (Sort-of).

• Of course there are occasional specials on folk music on the public T.V. stations, though they're few and far between and interrupted by pledge breaks.
• There are some local folk groups which get together from time to time and there are still the annual folk festivals, but it seems to be a cult thing with few followers.
• I have to admit I was surprised to find so much folk on Youtube.
• Barns & noble, Amazon and even Ebay do have it as a catagory--I wonder for how long?
• At least it is on public radio (I already mentioned the 3 weekly hour radio show. There is also the "Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour," which is a radio show which is re-broadcasts on public T.V. semi-regularly.) But as I said these radio show tend to also include things like bluegrass and even country instead of sticking stricktly to folk.
• The Grammys Do have it as a catagory. Since it's never mentioned on T.V., I had assumed they had eliminated it as a catagory, untill I came across and article this article: 2011 Folk and Americana Grammy Predictions By Kim Ruehl, stating that "the folk and Americana categories will not be shown on TV." (More on this in the 2nd module below:)
• Dunaway and Beer, in their book Sing Out!An Oral History of America's Folk Music Revivals speak about the eclectic folk "boomlet" of today.

Present and Future: American folk music and THE GRAMMYS

• THIS IS WHAT I WROTE WHEN I FIRST MADE THIS PAGE, ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO:
  Perhaps I'm being too negative, but I just feel that folk should have a more prominent place among music genres today--especially it should be a category in the Grammys. I think it was for a while after the Kingston trio did so well with "Tom Dooley." There wasn't a category for it then, so they were declared best country group. The category was added later, but as folk's popularity waned, it was dropped. Since there are still folk singers and folk groups struggling to make their way today, why don't they add it back?
• BUT TODAY (Feb.10, 2011), I was surprised to find this article called "2011 Folk and Americana Grammy Predictions" By Kim Ruehl, in which he mentions that the folk and Americana categories will not be shown on TV." So at least it is a category now. So perhaps I was wrong and it never was eliminated, or perhaps it was eliminated and later restored. At least it's a category now, but why don't they mention it on T.V.? I guess it's the old time restraint thing, but it sort of shows where folk music is. Do you think it will be mentioned on the show next year? Please vote in the pole module below. And to see kim's predictions as to who will win this year go here.
• AND TODAY, FEB.14, 2011, Here I am again, with egg on my face! I was pleasantly surprised to find that the performances at the Grammys show last night included a surprise salute to acoustic music, introduced by David Letterman's "Top 10 List" and which featured 2 folk-rock groups (if you can't have pure folk, folk-rock is better than nothing) one from England, Mumford and Sons, and one from South Carolina, The Avett Brothers. Then, Bob Dylan came out and sang with the two groups, of all things, "Maggie's Farm, " the song, ironically, which he had done with electric guitar at 1965's Newport Folk Festival. Who knows why these artists were slated to perform. The Mumford brothers nominated for 2 awards but not in the folk category (best new artist and best rock song), the Avett brethers were not nominated for anything and neither was Bob Dylan although he won last year (where was I?) for best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album for "Modern Times."
  Also, The Kingston Trio were mentioned as receiving a lifetime achievement award.
  I checked out the winners of traditional folk album and contemporary folk album and I must say I was not impressed. You can check out the winners at http://www.grammy.com/nominees, or better yet, just check Kim's predictions, because she was right on. Upon checking the Grammys site, I didn't see a category for best folk song--only albums. So that's something they need to work on. What one source said of the show this year in general certainly applys to the area of folk specifically. It's basically, that the awards were disappointing, but the performances made up for it.
• Regarding the 2012 Grammys, Kim Ruehl says in 2012 Grammy Winners - Folk and Americana, While little of the folk or Americana categories were represented on the show, folk and Americana artists were nominated in a number of different categories, and the folk category winners - the Civil Wars - were granted one minute to play an excerpt of one of their songs before introducing Taylor Swift. Mumford and Sons - one of the most mainstream-friendly folk bands in 2011 - earned a nomination for one of the monster awards of the mainstream: Record of the Year.