Folk music is one of the most popular forms of music today; artists such as Mumford and Sons and the Carolina Chocolate Drops are giving new life to an age-old music. It was not until the 1950s that new popular interest in folk music began. Earlier, folk music was used by leftist organizations as a means to reach the masses. It assumed because of this history that many folk artists are sympathetic to the Left. By looking at the years from 1905-1975 with the end of the Vietnam War, this study hopes to present the notion that even though these artists produced music that promoted leftist ideals, they were not always supportive of the Communist Party and other leftist organizations. Specific artists will be examined, paying close attention to artists who not only produced revolutionary music, but who were also employed by leftist organizations to perform at rallies and meetings.

Liner notes by Ted Olson, song lyrics, and discography; produced by Ted Olson. "In this collection, all of Reed’s songs, both faith-based and secular, recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company over two sessions in 1927 in Bristol TN and Camden, NJ and two sessions in 1929 in New York City, are on one 22 track CD, complemented by well researched essays by Producer Ted Olson and LOTS of archival photos. Reed played fiddle and sang and on some sessions he was accompanied on guitar by his son Orville. ... Olson has included the younger Reed’s solo recordings." --Steve Ramm Review on Amazon / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1117/thumbnail.jpg

Review of ‘Exploring American Folk Music, Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the U.S.’ by Kip Lornell

Thesis (Ph. D. (Tshivenda)) -- University of Limpopo, 2010 / Refer to document

Book Summary: Folk Music in Overdrive is a reader of music scholar Ivan Tribe’s more significant published articles, revised and updated from their original publication in magazines such as Bluegrass Unlimited, Precious Memories: Journal of Gospel Music, Old Time Music, and Goldenseal: West Virginia Traditional Life, as well as two never-before published essays. Tribe delivers essays on well-known solo artists such as Charlie Monroe and Mac Odell; country music duos like husband and wife team Joe and Stacy Isaacs or the brotherly duos of The Bailes, Callahan, and Goins brothers; famous and lesser-known sidemen such as fiddlers Tater Tate and Natchee the Indian, or dobro player Speedy Krise; and musical groups such as the enigmatic Coon Creek Girls. This collection represents an important contribution to music studies and spans bluegrass as a genre from its beginnings to the present. Originally built around interviews with these figures and their close associates, these thirty-nine revised articles yield new information from a variety of sources, much from Bear Family boxed sets as well as counsel, advice, and knowledge shared by other music scholars. Tribe's profiles cover musicians and bands that were bluegrass pickers and singers themselves, as well as some musicians who are often characterized as traditional country musicians. Some led bands for all or part of their careers, while others ranked as noted sidemen or band members. Others composed songs that have become popular, indeed often standard, fare in the bluegrass field. As part of the Charles K. Wolfe Music Series, formed in honor of the late music scholar, Folk Music in Overdrive succinctly advances traditional music scholarship and Wolfe’s own love of early country and bluegrass.

Sizhu was written for the standard Pierrot ensemble though with percussion replacing the singer. This particular ensemble is capable of producing a multitude of colors while maintaining the balance inherent to a chamber group. The Chinese name, si’zhu, is a literal and figurative metaphor for these elements of the ensemble. Literally translated “silk” (sī) and “bamboo” (zhú), the word is a generalization for Chinese classical music developed in the Jiangsu province (Jiāngnán sīzhú) that utilizes strings, or “silk” instruments, and flutes, or “bamboo,” instruments in combination. A typical work involves two or more players of either ilk. In reference to the work presented here, Sizhu is a metaphor for the western instruments (flute and clarinet as “bamboo,” and violin and cello as “silk”) that are employed within the piece. It also refers to my use of a Chinese melody in the compositional process. The song, Er Quan Ying Yue (The Moon Reflected In Second Spring), was composed and performed regularly on the streets by the blind erhu player A Bing. The song has been fragmented, stretched, and varied to the point of near inscrutability, though it becomes more comprehensible following the mid-point. It inspires both structural and local events. The work also employs aspects of the spectral style. The first section is a slow distortion and transformation of the A harmonic spectrum; specific partials are emphasized as the spectrum expands and contracts. Additionally, fragments of the Chinese melody appear within the confines of each specific harmonic structure. The second part completely diverges utilizing assimilated pentatonic scale permutations. Finally, the third section synthesizes these two elements of musical material within the piece as the instruments morendo into silence.

From a mixed methodology perspective that includes ethnology, musicology and cultural anthropology, I argue that, despite initial detachment from folk revivalism, English folk-rock has moved closer to aspects of tradition and historical status and has embraced a revivalist stance similar to that of the folk revivals that occurred earlier in the twentieth century. Whereas revivalism often rejects manifestations of mass culture and modernity, I also argue that the early combinations of folk music and rock music demonstrated that aspects of preservation and commercialisation have always co-existed within this hybrid musical style. English folk-rock, a former progressive rock music style, has emerged in the post-punk era as a world music style that appeals to a broad spectrum of music fans and this audience does not regard issues such as maintenance of authenticity and tradition as key factors in the preservation process. Rock music has remained a stimulus for further change in folk music and has enabled English folk-rock to become regarded as popular music by a new audience with diverse musical tastes. When folk music was adapted into rock settings, the result represented a particular identity for folk music at that time. In a similar way, as folk music continues to be amalgamated with rock and other popular music styles, or is performed in musical settings representing new cultures and ethnicities now present in the United Kingdom, it becomes updated and relevant to new audiences. From this perspective, I propose that growth in the popularity of British folk music since the early 1970s can be linked to its performance as English folk-rock, to its connections with culture and music industry marketing and promotion techniques, and to its inclusion as a 1990s festival component presented to audiences as part of what is promoted as world music. Popularity of folk music presented at world music festivals has stimulated significant growth in folk music audiences since the mid-1990s and consequently the UK is experiencing a new phase of revivalism - the third folk revival.

Various commentators on punk (e.g. Laing 1985, Frith 1986, Goshert 2000, Reynolds 2005, Webb 2007) have remarked upon an essence or attitude which is much more central to it than any aspects of musical style. Through the analysis of specific recordings as texts, this study aims to deliver on this idea by suggesting that there is an entire generation of musicians working in the independent sphere creating music that combines resonances of folk music with demonstrable punk aesthetics. Given that the cultural formations of folk and punk share many rhetorics of authenticity – inclusivity, community, anti-establishment ideals and, to paraphrase Bannister (2006: xxvi) ‘technological dystopianism’ – it is perhaps not surprising that some successors of punk and hardcore, particularly in the U.S., would turn to folk after the commercialisation of grunge in the early 1990s. But beyond this, a historical survey of the roots of new folk leads us to the conclusion that the desire for spontaneity rather than perfection, for recorded artefacts which affirm music as a participatory process rather than a product to be consumed, is at least as old as recording technology itself. The ‘new folk’ of the last two decades often mythologises a pre-industrial past, even as it draws upon comparatively recent oppositional approaches to the recording as artefact that range from those of Bob Dylan to obscure outsider artists and lo-fi indie rockers. This study offers a survey of new folk which is overdue – to date, new folk has been virtually ignored by the academic literature. It considers the tangled lineages that inform this indie genre, in the process suggesting new aspects of the history of rock music which stretch all the way back to Depression-era recordings in the shape of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. At the same time, it attempts to steer a middle course between cultural studies approaches to popular music which at times fail to directly address music at all, and musicological approaches which are at times in danger of abstracting minutae until the broader frame is completely lost. By concentrating on three aspects of the recordings in question - vocal approach, a broad consideration of sound (inclusive of production values and timbre), and structure as it pertains to both individual pieces and albums – this work hopes to offer a fresh way of reading popular music texts which deals specifically with the music without losing sight of its broader function and context.

Various commentators on punk (e.g. Laing 1985, Frith 1986, Goshert 2000, Reynolds 2005, Webb 2007) have remarked upon an essence or attitude which is much more central to it than any aspects of musical style. Through the analysis of specific recordings as texts, this study aims to deliver on this idea by suggesting that there is an entire generation of musicians working in the independent sphere creating music that combines resonances of folk music with demonstrable punk aesthetics. Given that the cultural formations of folk and punk share many rhetorics of authenticity – inclusivity, community, anti-establishment ideals and, to paraphrase Bannister (2006: xxvi) ‘technological dystopianism’ – it is perhaps not surprising that some successors of punk and hardcore, particularly in the U.S., would turn to folk after the commercialisation of grunge in the early 1990s. But beyond this, a historical survey of the roots of new folk leads us to the conclusion that the desire for spontaneity rather than perfection, for recorded artefacts which affirm music as a participatory process rather than a product to be consumed, is at least as old as recording technology itself. The ‘new folk’ of the last two decades often mythologises a pre-industrial past, even as it draws upon comparatively recent oppositional approaches to the recording as artefact that range from those of Bob Dylan to obscure outsider artists and lo-fi indie rockers. This study offers a survey of new folk which is overdue – to date, new folk has been virtually ignored by the academic literature. It considers the tangled lineages that inform this indie genre, in the process suggesting new aspects of the history of rock music which stretch all the way back to Depression-era recordings in the shape of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. At the same time, it attempts to steer a middle course between cultural studies approaches to popular music which at times fail to directly address music at all, and musicological approaches which are at times in danger of abstracting minutae until the broader frame is completely lost. By concentrating on three aspects of the recordings in question - vocal approach, a broad consideration of sound (inclusive of production values and timbre), and structure as it pertains to both individual pieces and albums – this work hopes to offer a fresh way of reading popular music texts which deals specifically with the music without losing sight of its broader function and context.

<p>Arbetet behandlar sättet att sjunga folkvisan från bondesamhället till modern tid. Mitt syfte är att ta reda på om sättet att sjunga folkvisan har förändrats genom åren, vidare vill jag undersöka hur folksången har förändrats och vad det beror på. Jag har intervjuat fem kvinnor som alla är verksamma folksångerskor, använt mig av litteraturstudium och lyssnat till arkivinspelningar. I mitt arbete har jag kommit fram till att folksången har förändrats under årens lopp. En skillnad som blev tydlig för mig är att sångarna förr generellt sjöng på ett mer osentimentalt sätt och att sångarna i dag ofta lägger större vikt vid att tolka texten och att de drillar mer idag. Att skillnader i sången finns beror på många faktorer, bl.a. på att den vokala folkmusiken förr var funktionsmusik- nu har den blivit medialiserad, institutionaliserad och professionaliserad. Dagens folksångerskor blir även inspirerade av andra kulturers musik och andra musikstilar.</p> / <p>This is a paper discussing the way folksong singing has undergone changes from agricultural society to the present day. The aim of this paper is to discern if the way of singing folksongs has changed through the years. In addition, I want to investigate how folk songs have changed and what these changes depend on. I have interviewed five women, all working as folk singers, as well as studied literature and listened to archive recordings. The conclusion of this paper is that folk songs have changed over the years. A clear difference is that the older singers generally sang in a more unsentimental way compared to the singers today, who often attach great importance to interpreting the text and also using more ornaments. The reasons for these differences depend on many factors, e.g. the vocal folk music used to be functional music, whereas today’s music is much more exposed in the media, more institutionalised and professionalized. The singers of today are also inspired by other music cultures and styles.</p>