A Brief History of Folk Music: Songs that Shaped the Genre

Commonly known as music for the people, folk music has thrived for centuries. In the years leading up to the 17nth century the majority of people living in Europe were peasants. In those days folk music was traditionally used to tell stories and was passed on only through oral transmission. Compositions took a simple form and were rarely performed with the aid of musical notation, the genre clearly represented the poorer communities and aided in granting them an identity. During the expansion of Christianity in Europe, folk music was first revered for its association with heathenism and its wild singing styles however towards the start of the romantic period folk music became increasingly popular and became noticed by composers such as Beethoven, Haydn and Tchaikovsky. Who adopted folk songs as raw material for motets and masses. Before the development of large cities, the majority of people lived in urban communities and soon folk songs became recognised as national treasure's with each style of folk song becoming readily identifiable by ethnicity, religion, race or political belief's. The songs that were passed down from generation to generation could provide a great insight into the history and culture of a particular country.

Towards the end of the 19nth century, the rural populations of Europe were journeying to the larger cities and as a result of this, many folk traditions were starting to disappear. In an attempt to revive the spirit of folk and traditional music, American scholar Francis James Child collected and published five volumes of British ballads. Unfortunately his collection of folk music gathered very little attention at that time, and failed to restore the popularity of folk music in Europe to the extent that it once held. Starting in the year 1899 an Englishman named Cecil Sharp began touring the country collecting folk songs and dances, Sharp even helped establish the folk song and dance society, who became famous for preserving the traditions of folk music.

This sparked a real turning point in the genre's history, for the first time folk traditions were being documented. Throughout the first two decades of the 20th century there were many song collectors like Cecil James, many of these song collectors began to travel out to the country in order to notate and record traditional song's on wax cylinders. With the development of the phonograph, traditional music was able to be shared in a far more productive way allowing the influence of folk music to spread far and wide as opposed to being pinned down within the smaller communities. The recent popularity was however short lived, the death toll of the first world war helped destroy any hope of mass interest.

Folk music has always been renowned for its resilience, throughout history. Whenever traditions began to decline, there was always an effort to revive them. These folk revivals were often executed by a collaboration of folk musicians and participants, though these revivals would usually be spearheaded by a key figure in the folk community. In the mid-thirties Alan Lomax (famous folklorist and musicologist) recorded many folk artists for the library of congress's Archive of Folk Song. Lomax spent the 1950's in Britain continuing to support the revival of folk. He spent his time in London editing the 18-volume Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music anthology. Lomax worked alongside folklorists Peter Douglas Kennedy, Hamish Henderson and Seamus Ennis; recording Irish folk music for the BBC. He was also well know for his ballad opera Big Rock Candy mountain which featured Woody Guthrie's prodigy Ramblin' Jack Elliot. Lomax remains famous today for recording interviews with many famous folk artist's such as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly and Blues legend Muddy Waters. Lomax was always a strong believer in the power of local tradition and was strongly opposed to the destruction of local cultural expression and languages.

The success and popularity of folk has always relied heavily on the musicians who perform the music and share the songs, a seminal figure in the progression of folk music in America was Woody Guthrie. Guthrie was born Oklahoma in 1912 and performed continually throughout his life. At a young age he travelled from Oklahoma to California with migrant workers were he learned to play traditional folk and blues songs. Most of his songs were about the 'dust bowl' era that occurred during the Great Depression, earning him the name "Dust Bowl Troubadour". Guthrie received his first bout of commercial success in California, starring alongside lefty Lou Chrissman on a radio show dedicated to playing folk and hillbilly music. It was at this point that Guthrie began to write protest songs with political theme's, songs which communicated feeling's of rebellion and freedom. For years Guthrie was considered to be a communist because of his left wings beliefs and was famous for playing a guitar with a sticker on it saying "this machine kills fascist's". Even in the early stages of folk music's progression, folk music was famous for voicing the view's of the common working men and women. Guthrie represented a change in the winds as he became one of the first artists to really boost the profile of folk music in America. Many of the albums recorded by Guthrie spun out a legacy of their own, influencing the next generation of folk singers In America.

Another important figure in the advancement of the folk scene was Pete Seeger. Seeger was born in 1919 and grew up in the famous Greenwich village in New York. Pete Seeger was and still is a folk-singer and political activist and remains dedicated to his environmental activism. Seeger began to play music at an early age and by the the age of 16 he had learned to play the guitar and the ukulele. His obsession for folk music developed after attending a festival in North-Carolina and became a strong supporter of rural village life. During the blacklist period of the the late 1950's Seeger found a job as a music teacher in schools and summer camps in between recording for Moe Asch's Folkways Records label.

As the nuclear disarmament movement gained support in the late '50s, Seeger's anti-war songs, such as, Where Have All the Flowers Gone? and Turn, Turn, Turn gained huge popularity and support. At this point the lyrical content of folk songs was no longer assigned to promoting national identity, folk music was being used to speak out against the establishment and the injustices in the world. The power of folk music was becoming far more prominent than it had ever been before, attracting a younger audience and instilling hope in a younger generation, teaching them to rebel with music. Britain had also developed a taste for folk music after the war, through the efforts of James Miller in Lancashire. In 1950 he began recording and collecting songs. Famous for his song writing he produced many song which are still hugely popular today such as "Dirty Old Town," and also "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". All over Britain, folk music grew extremely popular with singer's like Louis Killen and singer/guitarist Martin Carthy performing to crowded folk club's every week. Although the recent success of folk music in Britain was encouraging, in the past the popularity of folk music had always fluctuated and it was the arrival of Beatlemania, that put a halt on the progress folk music had made in the late 1950's in Britain. The popularity of Irish folk music rose considerably with groups like The Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem, even in the present day Irish folk music has been supported by world renowned groups like The Pogue's and The Dubliners.

By the year of 1960 America was in a state of social revolution. A college dropout named Bob Dylan had made the long journey from Duluth, Minnesota all the way to New York in search of Woody Guthrie. Guthrie had been hospitalized for many years now with a rare hereditary disease of the nervous system. Dylan visited with Guthrie regularly in his hospital room; he also became a regular in the folk clubs and coffeehouses of Greenwich Village, met a host of other musicians, and began writing songs at an astonishing pace. After receiving a rave review from the 'New York Time's', Dylan signed a contract with Columbia record's and soon released his self titled album Bob Dylan in 1962. At that time Greenwich village had become the hot spot for young bohemian musicians and folk enthusiasts. Venues like the 'gaslight' and the 'cafe wha?' gave young folk-singers and poets a platform to promote their art. In 1963 Dylan released The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which contained two of his most important song's: A hard rain's a gonna fall and Blowin' in the wind. His next album the times they are a-changin' established Dylan as 'the definitive songwriter of the 60's protest movement'. The popularity of folk music had gone through the roof with the arrival of Bob Dylan. He had defied existing pop music conventions and and appealed widely to the counter culture.

Throughout the remaining years of the sixties Folk music addressed major issues that were taking place in society. America's involvement in the Vietnam war left the country in social turmoil. Folk music of this time prompted the youth of the 1960s to take action in the form of protest's, marches and activism. Folk music did not just affect the way that people addressed the problems in their country and in their countries government, folk also affected the physical appearance's of the younger generation. It is common in musical genres for the followers to dress according to the subculture and folk music done just that; by pioneering the image of the educated urban folk lover and the "folknik" hippie. Folk was no longer disappearing, It had become popular culture. Progressing later into 20th century as folk music began to get marketed into popular music, it was often transformed into a hybrid of two musical genre's in order to make it more accessible to a wider audience. Often the modified folk sound incorporate musical characteristics which aren't typical to the folk genre. One of the more common hybrids is rap music, which is really just an extension of African-American inner-city folk tradition. Even bluegrass is an amalgamation of American old time music, blues and jazz.

There have been millions of folk music albums over the history of the genre, however not every single album plays a significant part in the development of the folk genre. Woody Guthrie The Asch Recording's Vol 1 stands as a collection of some of Guthrie's most famous composition's and is a goldmine of American traditional song. Many of the songs recorded on Volume 1 of the Asch recordings were in fact featured on later records such as dust bowl ballads and nursery days. Although we know these recordings were made between 1944 and 1945, many of the song's have unknown session dates and locations. The most influential songs of the asch recording's was Guthrie's own composition; This Land is your Land. Decades after its initial creation this land is your land became one of the United States' most famous folk songs. The lyrics were written by Guthrie himself in 1940 over the existing melody of a Baptist hymn recorded by the carter family ten years before and was written in retaliation to Irving Berlin' God Bless America. The lyrics of the song promote strong national ideologies and communicate Guthrie's obvious feelings of national pride. Due to the songs popularity in America It became one of 50 recordings chosen in 2002 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. This Land is Your Land, also played an important part in the folk revival of the 60's because of its strong political message. Famous folk artists such as Bob Dylan, The Kingston Trio, The New Christy Minstrels and Peter Paul and Mary performed and recorded the song. Contemporary artist who have performed the song include Counting Crows, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and even Bruce Springsteen, who used the song as part of a line of Acoustic played in support of Senator Barack Obama and his 2008 election campaign. Although Guthrie's Asch Recording's received critical acclaim and little commercial success, the album still stand out as a beacon of light for those who are still discovering the genre but more importantly to artists like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan who continued the legacy of folk music on for decades after Guthrie's death.

Another important album in the progression of folk music is The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, this is Dylan's second album. With the majority of songs on the album composed by Dylan himself. The album marked a turning point in Dylan's career, by granting him great attention for his song writing abilities. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan achieved massive success both in America and Britain, with the album going platinum before becoming a number 1 hit in the Britain. The first track on the album is one Dylan's most Important songs Blowin' in the wind. Dylan wrote the song early in 1962. It was published in 1962, in the sixth issue of Broadside, the magazine devoted to topical songs. Blowin' in the Wind was described as an anthem for the civil right's movement in America. The success of Dylan's Freewheelin' was paramount to the survival of the folk tradition's, for the first time ever folk music was receiving commercial success and it began to thrive among the younger generations. Blowin' in the wind now remains one of the most important songs in the history of popular music, the lyrical content was so powerful that it instilled hope in whole race of people who were being oppressed by the establishment. Other prominent tracks on the album include a hard rains a gonna fall, this particular track was first performed at the gaslight in Greenwich Village to an audience of speechless folk-lovers. At first the song was interpreted to be about the fear of nuclear warfare however Dylan quickly denied these rumour's saying:

"No, it's not atomic rain, it's just a hard rain. It isn't the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that's just gotta happen... In the last verse, when I say, 'the pellets of poison are flooding the waters', that means all the lies that people get told on their radios and in their newspapers."

Decades after its original release The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan remained as popular as ever rating 97 on Rolling Stones list 500 greatest album's of all time and became one of 50 recordings to be chosen by the library of congress to be added to the national recording registry in 2002.

Blue is the 1971 album of Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, serves as another milestone in folk music history Blue received both critical and commercial success, reaching #15 in the Billboard Album charts and #3 in the UK. Mitchell had already received commercial success after her first three albums were released during the 60's. Mitchell decided in 1970 to take a break from performing live and It was on this break in Europe that Mitchell would write the Blue album, taking a whole new approach to traditional music by incorporating the Appalachian dulcimer and the slide guitar into many songs on the album. Though Mitchell has denied the connection, the album was always strongly rumoured to be about fellow songwriter and love interest David Blue. One of the most intriguing songs on the album is California, due to song being written at the end of the 1960's or perhaps at the beginning of the 1970's, the song is evidence of the transition that folk music went through at the turn of a new decade. For instance in the lyrics we see reference's of the 60's the peace movement:

"Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They wont give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had"

These words indicate a change in the winds of time which I feel is relevant to the genre history's. Throughout the song Mitchell discusses her journey through Europe, she discusses various different cultural trends of European life but the point of the song is to indicate how much she misses the traditions of her hometown California. The Blue album has always been famous for a change in Mitchell's sounds. Although the album is a folk record The album was heavily influenced by jazz music, Mitchell uses alternative tunings on her guitar to allow easier access to augmented chords and notes in unexpected combinations. Blue is a prolific album in the sense that it remains a testament to the healthy progression of popular folk music and its ability to evolve with the time's.

Of all the musical genre's present today, folk music has to be one of the most resilient genre's. Folk music was never started to sell albums or even to make money but It still stands today as one of the strongest genre's in modern times and is supported by thousands of folk enthusiasts all over the world. Over the year many genre's have perished because of their failure to evolve with the time's however folk music never keels over. Tradition is an important part of everyone's heritage, its reminds us of our past and the many people who have gone before us. Folk music represents the feeling's of the people and in some cases can influence the feelings of a whole nation. As long as there are people in the world Folk Music will never die.