Folk music has no nameable origin. It’s more tradition than entertainment. There are
folk songs that date so far back, they can be considered oral histories. Certainly, in America, songs by traditional American folksingers like Leadbelly and
Woody Guthrie tell stories that often don’t even appear in history books.
From its origins, folk music has been the music of the working class. It is community-focused and has rarely enjoyed commercial success. By definition, it is something anyone can understand and in which everyone is welcome to participate. Folk songs range in subject matter from
war,
work,
civil rights, and economic hardship to nonsense, satire and, of course, love songs.
From the onset of American history, folk music has shown up at times when the people needed it most. The earliest folk songs rose from slave fields as spirituals: “Down by the Riverside,” “We Shall Overcome,” etc. These are songs about struggle and hardship, but are also full of hope. They sprang from the need of the worker to go to a place in her brain where she knew there was more to the world than the hardships she was facing at the time.
Fellow Workers
The 20th Century brought folk music back into the American psyche as workers struggled and struck for child labor laws and the eight-hour work day. Workers and folksingers gathered in churches, living rooms and union halls, and learned songs that helped them cope with their rough work environment. Joe Hill was an early folk songwriter and union agitator. His songs adapted the tunes of Baptist hymns by replacing the words with verses about the ongoing labor struggles. These tunes have been sung during worker strikes and in union halls ever since.
In the 1930s, folk music enjoyed a resurgence as the stock market crashed and workers everywhere were displaced, scrambling for jobs. A series of droughts and dust storms encouraged farmers out of the Dust Bowl region and toward promises in California and New York State. These communities were found in boxcars and jungle camps, as workers tried to make their way from job to job.
Woody Guthrie was one of those workers who headed to California in search of gainful employment. Woody wrote hundreds of songs between the 1930s and his death in 1967 of Huntington’s Chorea.
In the 1940s,
bluegrass began to evolve as a distinct genre with greats like
Bill Monroeand the Blue Grass Boys, which spawned banjo legend Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt, as well as
Del McCoury and others.
A New Generation
In the ‘60s, again, the American worker found himself in struggle. This time, the main concern was not wages or benefits, but
civil rights and the War in Vietnam. American folksingers gathered in coffee shops and at
hootenannies in San Francisco and New York. They picked up the legacies of Woody Guthrie and others, singing songs about the concerns of the day. Out of this community rose Folk Rock’s superstars -
Bob Dylan,
Joni Mitchell,
Joan Baez, and others. Their work dealt with everything from love and war to work and play. The
1960s folk revival offered political commentary, sure, but also a powerful promise for change.
By the 1970s, folk music had begun to fade into the background, as the US pulled out of Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement saw its biggest triumphs. Folksingers continued to persevere.
James Taylor, Jim Croce,
Cat Stevens, and others wrote songs about relationships, religion, and the continuously-evolving political climate.
In the 1980s, folksingers focused on the Reagan-led economy and trickle-down economics. In New York, the Fast Folk Café opened and spawned the likes of Suzanne Vega, Michelle Shocked, and
John Gorka.
The Best is Yet to Come
Now at the head of the 21st Century, American folk music has begun to swell again, as workers find themselves in a position of nostalgia. Now, the main concerns are Civil Rights for LGBT workers and another war - this time in the Middle East. Folk singers in New York, Boston, Austin and San Francisco have emerged with a new brand of music.
Alt-Countryhas evolved over the past couple of decades. A new generation of bluegrass bands has changed the name of the genre to newgrass, thanks to bands like
Nickel Creek,
Railroad Earth, and Open Road.
Folk festivals are thriving with younger audiences joining their parents’ generation in celebrating folk singer/songwriters like
Dar Williams,
Greg Brown and
Ani DiFranco.
Folk singers may be of an ilk that rarely goes multi-platinum, but their work truly resonates with people of all walks of life, and their legacy is astounding.
