The Folk Music of the United States: Library of Congress

In 1978, the Library of Congress established the Folklife Center to document and present the traditional vernacular arts and cultures of the United States. The Center’s collections include field recordings, videotapes, photographs, manuscripts, and printed ephemera that document the lives of cultural groups throughout the United States.

What is Folk Music?

Folk music is music by and for the common people. It is passed down orally,
by ear, from one generation to the next. Folk music is simple and direct.
It uses the words and music that ordinary people use in their daily lives.

Most folk music is made by playing acoustic instruments-guitars, banjos,
fiddles, and harmonicas. But anything that makes a sound can be used to
make folk music: spoons, washboards, bones, jugs, harmonicas, even just
the human voice.

Origins of Folk Music in the United States

Folk music in the United States is music that is passed down through the generations by people who create and perform it. This type of music often has its roots in the traditions of cultures that have settled in the United States, such as the British, Irish, Scottish, and African cultures. Folk music has also been influenced by the music of other cultures, such as the music of Native Americans, Latinos, and Asians.

18th and early 19th centuries

Folk music in the United States is often viewed as the product of two centuries of immigration from Europe and Africa, with each successive group making its own contributions to the American musical melting pot.

The earliest known folk music of the United States consists of songs and ballads brought to the country by English, Scottish, and Irish immigrants during the Colonial period (1607–1776). These songs were passed down orally from generation to generation and eventually found their way into print in such collections as George Farquhar Gilchrist’s The Scottish Minstrel (1824), Edward F Folk Songs from Ohio (1850), Harding’s All-Sorts Songster (1853), and Lady Dufferin’s Canadian Songs (1865).

The first significant body of native American folk music was collected during the 18th and early 19th centuries by such amateur songsters as Francis James Child, who collected more than 300 ballads; George Lyttleton, who assembled a large number of songs about Robin Hood; Thomas Percy, who published a popular collection of ballads in 1765; and Michael Quinion, whose curiosity about local customs led him to collect songs and stories from all over England.

During this same period, professional musicians also began to take an interest in folk music, particularly in the rural areas of the southern United States. In 1839, fiddler John Elliott Moorland traveled through Kentucky and Tennessee collecting more than 400 tunes. In 1846, musicologist Josiah Hoyt published The Attentive Ear, which included a number of American folk songs; and in 1854, Benjamin Franklin White published The Spoils of War: An American Ballad Collection.

Late 19th century

In the late 19th century, a growing number of music publishers began to specialized in music from the various regions of the United States, including ballads and dance tunes from the Appalachian Mountains, Negro spirituals from the South, and songs from the Western frontier. Other song collectors, such as Francis James Child and Olivia E. CrANDALL Wheeler collected songs throughout the country and published them in volumes such as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (5 volumes, 1882-1898) and Folk Songs of New England (1917).

Early 20th century

In the early 20th century, beginning with the publication of Drawings and Photographs of Musical Instruments in 1918, the Library’s Music Division began to collect American folk music. In 1932, John A. Lomax and his son Alan published American Ballads and Folk Songs, which brought many of these songs to a wider audience. The Library continued to collect folk music throughout the 1930s as part of the activities of the Federal Music Project, a New Deal relief program. The WPA California Folk Music Project led by Sidney Robertson Cowell collected 2,600 recordings of folk music in California between 1937 and 1939; these recordings are now preserved in the Deposit Collections at the Archive of Folk Culture.

Folk Music in the United States Today

Folk music in the United States is often thought of as music that is passed down orally from generation to generation. This type of music is usually associated with the rural areas of the country and is often thought of as music that is simple and easy to play. Folk music in the United States has its roots in the music of the British Isles and the music of Africa.

Types of folk music

Folk music in the United States is often divided into two broad categories: Traditional music and Contemporary music.

Traditional music includes both songs that have been passed down orally from generation to generation, and those which have been written down and preserved in print or on recordings. It is typically older music, dating back to the time when folk music was first created. Contemporary folk music includes both folk songs that are still being passed down orally, as well as more recently-created pieces which are typically more modern in style.

There are also several subcategories of folk music, based on region or ethnicity. For example, Appalachian folk music is traditional music from the Appalachia region of the United States, while Cajun folk music comes from the French-speaking people of Louisiana. Mexican American folk music is another subcategory, as is Native American folk music

Popular performers

Folk music in the United States is often used to refer to the music of the country’s white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant citizens. However, folk music actually encompasses a much wider range of musical styles and genres, including music of African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian American cultures.

The term “folk music” was first used in the early 20th century to describe the traditional music of rural communities. In the mid-20th century, folk music enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, particularly among young people who were attracted to its simple melodies and rustic style. Today, folk music is still performed and enjoyed by people all over the United States.

Some of the most popular folk performers in the United States today include:
-The Decemberists
-Bon Iver
-The Avett Brothers
-Dawes
-Father John Misty

Notable folk music festivals

While there are many notable folk music festivals held throughout the United States, some of the most popular and well-attended include the Newport Folk Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival.

The Newport Folk Festival is one of the oldest and most prestigious folk music festivals in the country. Held annually in Newport, Rhode Island, it was founded in 1959 by Pete Seeger and Theodore Bikel. The festival has seen many legendary performers over the years, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger himself.

The Philadelphia Folk Festival is another long-running festival, having been first held in 1962. It is held annually in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, and features a wide range of folk musicians from across the United States. Some of the most notable performers in recent years have included Mary Gauthier, Ani DiFranco, and Loudon Wainwright III.

The Appalachian String Band Music Festival is held annually in Clifftop, West Virginia. Founded in 2000, it is one of the newer festivals on this list but has quickly become one of the most popular. The festival features a wide variety of musical styles from across Appalachia, including old-time music, bluegrass, and Celtic music.