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The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States in the 1950s to mid-1960s. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 Its roots went earlier, of course, since traditional folk music has thousands of years of history, and performers like Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in decades prior to the 1950s. Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives ( 14 June 1909 &ndash 14 April 1995) was an Academy Award winning American actor and acclaimed Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14 1912–October 3 1967 was an American Singer-songwriter and Folk musician Guthrie's musical legacy Gilbert Vandine 'Cisco' Houston ( August 18, 1918 – April 29, The revival brought forward musical styles that had, in earlier times, contributed to the development of country & western, jazz, and rock and roll music. Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African

Contents

Overview

Pete Seeger performs, 1944
Pete Seeger performs, 1944

The folk music revival is sometimes said to have begun with Pete Seeger. Peter "Pete" Seeger (born May 3 1919 is an American folk singer political Activist, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American The Weavers, formed in 1947 by Seeger, had a big hit in 1949 with Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene". The Weavers were an influential American Folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Huddie William Ledbetter, (January 1888 – December 6 1949 was an American folk and Blues Musician, notable for his clear and forceful singing " Goodnight Irene " or " Irene Goodnight," is a 20th century American folk standard. This hit was probably one of the first glimmerings of the folk music revival.

Although carried along by a handful of artists releasing records, the folk-music scene's development was still only as a sort of cult phenomenon in bohemian circles in places like New York City (especially Greenwich Village), North Beach, and in the college and university districts of cities like Boston, Denver, Chicago and elsewhere. This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice" for that usage see Cult (religious practice The term bohemian, of French origin was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished Artists The City of New York Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. College ( Latin collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an Educational Institution. A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects The City and County of Denver (pronounced /ˈdɛnvɚ/ is the Capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. It was hip, but not terribly widespread.

In the 1950s and after, acoustic folk-song performance became associated with the coffee houses, private parties, open-air concerts and sing-alongs, and college-campus concerts. A coffeehouse ( French / Portuguese: café; Spanish: cafetería; Italian: caffè It blended, to some degree, with the so-called beatnik scene, and dedicated singers of folk songs (as well as folk-influenced original material) traveled through what was called "the coffee-house circuit" across the U. S. and Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page

The Kingston Trio, while playing at a college club called the Cracked Pot, were discovered by Frank Werber, who became their manager and secured them a deal with Capitol Records. The Kingston Trio is an American folk and Pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to early 1960s Capitol Records is a major United States -based Record label owned by EMI and located in Hollywood California and New York City as Their first hit was a catchy rendition of an old-time folk song, "Tom Dooley", which went gold in 1958. " Tom Dooley " is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County North Events January 28 - Little Richard begins attending classes at Oakwood College in Huntsville Alabama January The following year, the group won the first Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording category for the album The Kingston Trio at Large. The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards)—or Grammys —are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences At one point late in 1959 , The Kingston Trio had four records at the same time among the Top 10 selling albums according to Billboard Magazine's "Top Ten Albums" chart for the week of December 7, 1959, a record unmatched for nearly 40 years and noted at the time by a cover story in Life Magazine. See Billboard (Turkish magazine Billboard is a weekly American Magazine devoted to the Music industry

The Kingston Trio's popularity would be followed by Joan Baez, whose debut album Joan Baez, reached the top ten in late 1960, and remained on the Billboard charts for over two years. Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York) an American Folk singer and Songwriter known Joan Baez was singer Joan Baez ' 1960 self-titled debut album Her popularity (and that of the folk revival itself) would place Baez on the cover of Time Magazine in November 1962. However Baez, unlike the Kingston Trio, was extremely vocal about her often left-leaning political stances; though her first few albums were comprised largely of traditional Child balads, she began integrating her politics with her music, beginning in the mid-1960s, following the tradition of Seeger, Guthrie and others.

The contemporary-songwriter and folk-music scene during these times often had a facet of social concern. Definition In the absence of agreement about its meaning the term "social" is used in many different senses referring among other things to attitudes Young singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, playing acoustic guitar and harmonica, had been signed and recorded for Columbia by producer John Hammond in 1961. Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major See also Acoustic Guitar (magazine An acoustic guitar is a Guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings A harmonica is a free reed Wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes (reed chambers or Columbia Records is an American Record label founded in 1888 Columbia is the oldest surviving Brand name in pre-recorded sound being the first record company John Henry Hammond II ( December 15, 1910 – July 10, 1987) was a Record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the Events January 15 - Motown Records signs The Supremes January 20 - Francis Poulenc 's Gloria Dylan's record enjoyed some popularity in the Greenwich Village folk-music cult, but he was "discovered" by an immensely larger audience when a pop-folk-music group, Peter, Paul & Mary had a hit with his song "Blowing in the Wind". Pop folk is a Music genre consisting of both Pop music and Folk music. Peter Paul and Mary (often called PP&M) are a musical group from the United States who were one of the most successful folk-singing groups of the " Blowin' in the Wind " is a Song written by Bob Dylan and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Their songs often shared in the humanitarianism and social idealism of the Weavers, and a few of the earlier folk-scene notables, and this and other songs by Dylan fitted the bill. Humanitarianism is an active belief in Humanism (the idea of the value of human life whereby Humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans

Dylan’s general popularity was soon so great that record companies began to sign, and distribute records for, many new, young, sometimes-scruffy singer/songwriters – Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Eric von Schmidt, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Tom Rush, Fred Neil, Gordon Lightfoot, Billy Ed Wheeler, John Denver, Arlo Guthrie, John Hartford, and others, among them. Philip David Ochs ( December 19 1940 – April 9 1976) was a U Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is a well-known American folk singer and Singer-songwriter who has been writing Eric Von Schmidt ( May 28 1931 — February 2 2007) was an American Singer-songwriter associated with the Folk/blues Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941 or this date in 1942 is an Academy Award -winning Canadian First Dave Van Ronk ( June 30 1936 – February 10 2002) was a Folk singer born in Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939 in Seattle, Washington) is an American folk and standards Singer Tom Rush (born on February 8, 1941, in Portsmouth New Hampshire) is a noted folk and blues singer songwriter and recording Fred Neil ( March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American Blues and folk singer and songwriter in the 1960s and early Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr, (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer and songwriter who achieved international success in folk country and Billy Edward "Edd" Wheeler (born December 9, 1932, Boone County West Virginia) is an American songwriter performer writer and visual John Denver (December 31 1943 &ndash October 12 1997 born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10 1947 is an American folk singer John Cowan Hartford ( December 30 1937 &ndash June 4 2001) was an American folk, country and bluegrass Some of this wave had emerged from family singing and playing traditions, and some had not.

Archivists, Collectors, and Re-issued Recordings

During these same years, the devoted and growing folk-music crowd that had developed in the United States began to want and to buy records by obscure older folk musicians, from the Southeastern hill country and from urban inner-cities. The Appalachian Mountains ( often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. LP records made up of re-issue collections of ethnic and regional 78-rpm records (studio recordings) stretching back to the 1920s and 1930s were put on sale. The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. Also becoming available were LP-record collections made from original folk-music field recordings originally made by ethnomusicologists. Many smaller record labels, such as Yazoo Records, grew up to distribute reissued older recordings and to make new recordings of the survivors among these artists. Yazoo Records is a Record label founded in the late 1960s by Nick Perls. This was how many white Americans first heard country blues and especially Delta blues, that had been recorded by Mississippi folk artists 30 or 40 years before. Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) refers to all The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of Blues music. Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States

Artists like the Carter Family, Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Clarence Ashley, Buell Kazee, Uncle Dave Macon, Mississippi John Hurt, and the Stanley Brothers, as well as Jimmie Rodgers, the Reverend Gary Davis, and Bill Monroe came to have something more than a regional or ethnic reputation. The Carter Family was a Country music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956 Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8 1911 – August 16 1938 is among the most famous of Delta blues musicians "Blind" Lemon Jefferson ( September 24, 1893 or October 26, 1894 or July 1897 &ndash December 1929 was an influential "Tom" Clarence Ashley ( September 29 1895 - June 2 1967) was an American Clawhammer Banjo player and Buell Kazee ( August 29, 1900 - August 31, 1976) was an American country and folk singer Uncle Dave Macon ( October 7 1870 - March 22 1952)—also known as "The Dixie Dewdrop"—was an "Mississippi" John Smith Hurt ( July 3 1893 or March 8, 1892, Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi - November The Stanley Brothers ( Carter Stanley, August 27, 1925 - December 1, 1966, Jimmie Rodgers ( September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) an early purveyor of Delta blues, known as "The Singing Brakeman" Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, ( April 30, 1896 &ndash May 5, 1972) was a Blues and gospel singer William Smith Monroe ( September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American musician who developed the style of music known as The revival turned up a tremendous wealth and diversity of music and put it out through radio shows and record stores. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. A record shop (or record store) is an outlet that sells recorded Music.

Living representatives of some of the varied regional and ethnic traditions, including younger performers like Southern-tradition singer Jean Ritchie, enjoyed popularity through enthusiasts' widening discovery of this music. Jean Ritchie (born December 8, 1922) is an American folk singer songwriter and Appalachian dulcimer player

Rock subsumes folk

See also: Folk rock

After the darling of the young enthusiasts, Bob Dylan, began to record with a rocking rhythm section and electric instruments in 1965 (see Electric Dylan controversy), many other still-young folk artists followed suit. Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of Folk music and rock music. See also Events January 4 - Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is sold to CBS for $13 million The electric Dylan controversy was the incident at the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday July 25, 1965, where folk singer Bob Dylan Meanwhile, bands like The Lovin' Spoonful and the Byrds, whose individual members often had a background in the folk-revival coffee-house scene, were getting recording contracts with folk-tinged music played with a rock-band line-up. The Lovin' Spoonful is an American Pop rock band of the 1960s named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 The Byrds were a popular American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964 Before long, the public appetite for the more acoustic music of the folk revival began to wane.

"Crossover" hits ("folk songs" that became rock-music-scene staples) happened now and again. One well-known example is the song "Hey Joe", copyrighted by folk artist Billy Roberts, and recorded by rock singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix just as he was about to burst into stardom in 1967. Hey Joe (disambiguation "Hey Joe" is an American Popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such has been performed in William Moses Roberts Jr (born 1936 Greenville South Carolina) is an American Songwriter and musician credited with composing the 1960s Rock music standard James Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix) (November 27 1942 – September 18 1970 was an American Guitarist, Singer and Songwriter The anthem "Woodstock" was written and first sung and accompanied on keyboard by Joni Mitchell while her records were still nearly entirely acoustic, and while she was labeled a "folk singer" receiving big airplay when Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded a groovy folk-rock version. " Woodstock " is a Song about the Woodstock Music and Art Festival of 1969 Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7 1943) is a Canadian Musician, Songwriter, and Crosby Stills & Nash ( CSN) is a Folk rock / rock supergroup made up of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash

Legacy

By the late 1960s, the scene had returned to being more of a lower-key, aficionado phenomenon, although sizable annual acoustic-music festivals were established in many parts of North America during this period. The acoustic music coffee-house scene survived at a reduced scale. Through the luminary young singer-songwriters of the 1960s, the American folk-music revival has influenced songwriting and musical styles throughout the world.

Major figures

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan at the March on Washington, 1963
Joan Baez and Bob Dylan at the March on Washington, 1963

Ethnicity

See also: List of North American folk music traditions

Although singers such as the Weavers and Joan Baez occasionally included Spanish-language material in their repertoires, the folk-music revival in North America (as it existed in the coffee houses, concert halls, and radio and TV) was overwhelmingly an English-language phenomenon. This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles dances instruments and other related topics English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In that sense, it bypassed a lot of ethnic folk traditions to be found in North America (e. g. , Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Jewish-American, Polish, Russian) – except in a small proportion of instances where songs’ lyrics had been translated into English. An Italian American is an American of Italian descent and/or dual citizenship French Americans or Franco-Americans are citizens or permanent residents of the United States of French descent Luso-Americans, or Lusitanic Americans are people living in the United States whose cultural background derives in part from countries with Portuguese speaking roots German Americans ( German: Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of Ethnic German ancestry American Jews, or Jewish Americans A Polish American is an American citizen of Polish descent There are an estimated 10 million Americans of Polish descent Russian Americans are Americans whose ancestors were born in Russia.

Bibliography

See also


Joe Hickerson (born 1935 is a noted folk singer and songleader No Direction Home is a Documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American Festival! is a 1967 Documentary film about the Newport Folk Festival, directed by Murray Lerner. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a large political rally that took place in Washington D A roots revival ( folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors Sing Out! is a quarterly journal of Folk music and Folk songs that has been published since May 1950
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