Zeeba Neighba
Staff member
Sam has done a great job lately with reviving some themed threads, and I began thinking that we should have more genre-focused threads. So was working on two, the first of which I'm pretty well acquainted, the second I'm continuing to discover (more on that later).
So, here's the first focused on Folk Music
Folk music, though it survives in various forms today invokes a ton of stereotypes ranging from idealistic singers with acoustic guitars at civil rights rallies to this guy:
Today, to the newcomer, folk music may seem too idealistic, too quaint....definitely too much of an easy target. Two of the greatest recent films about folk music, A Mighty Wind and Inside Llewyn Davis, show (humorously) the futility or hypocrisy, but don't show why the music had such power and traction in the first place (how great, though it the Cohn Brothers portrayal of an asshole folk musician though).
Though, folk music isn't for everyone though, there's not denying it's power, it's focus on lyrical storytelling, and it's accessibility. In the 1960s, anyone who had a guitar on a campus or in a park could, in theory, learn and play a basic folk song whether for high ideals or (as an older friend tells me) for women. No matter the motives, folk music rallied listeners together and made them belief (often idealistically and falsely) they could make a difference. There's still a place for such music.
But what about breaking it out and appreciating it musically outside of such settings? What if you don't have a cause and just want to enjoy it? Well, there's a lot to enjoy about it too - some of these folkies were some of the greatest guitar pickers of their era? The songs themselves often represent a wonderful mix of blues, spirituals, country & western, etc. The lyrics can be political or not, sometimes just telling a good yarn.
Folk is quite broad so needs a focus, and I'll focus on the U.S. Folk Revival, focusing further on the late 1950s/1960s when folk music was not only most prevalent in the U.S. but quite viable in the early album/LP era
From Wiki:
Sure the music of that era had its influences from the 1940s (and earlier) with artists like Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, etc. and we certainly may touch on this
British folk music, though there's a lot of overlap, is a different kettle of fish in many ways drawing from Britain's own history and folk tales, and (in general) we'll leave that to another thread (though I do love it so).
As always, I would love others (certainly who know and appreciate this topic more than myself) to chime in and even discuss their own faves from the era.
So, here's the first focused on Folk Music
Folk music, though it survives in various forms today invokes a ton of stereotypes ranging from idealistic singers with acoustic guitars at civil rights rallies to this guy:
Today, to the newcomer, folk music may seem too idealistic, too quaint....definitely too much of an easy target. Two of the greatest recent films about folk music, A Mighty Wind and Inside Llewyn Davis, show (humorously) the futility or hypocrisy, but don't show why the music had such power and traction in the first place (how great, though it the Cohn Brothers portrayal of an asshole folk musician though).
Though, folk music isn't for everyone though, there's not denying it's power, it's focus on lyrical storytelling, and it's accessibility. In the 1960s, anyone who had a guitar on a campus or in a park could, in theory, learn and play a basic folk song whether for high ideals or (as an older friend tells me) for women. No matter the motives, folk music rallied listeners together and made them belief (often idealistically and falsely) they could make a difference. There's still a place for such music.
But what about breaking it out and appreciating it musically outside of such settings? What if you don't have a cause and just want to enjoy it? Well, there's a lot to enjoy about it too - some of these folkies were some of the greatest guitar pickers of their era? The songs themselves often represent a wonderful mix of blues, spirituals, country & western, etc. The lyrics can be political or not, sometimes just telling a good yarn.
Folk is quite broad so needs a focus, and I'll focus on the U.S. Folk Revival, focusing further on the late 1950s/1960s when folk music was not only most prevalent in the U.S. but quite viable in the early album/LP era
From Wiki:
Sure the music of that era had its influences from the 1940s (and earlier) with artists like Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, etc. and we certainly may touch on this
British folk music, though there's a lot of overlap, is a different kettle of fish in many ways drawing from Britain's own history and folk tales, and (in general) we'll leave that to another thread (though I do love it so).
As always, I would love others (certainly who know and appreciate this topic more than myself) to chime in and even discuss their own faves from the era.
on the Sam-O-Meter.
on the Sam-O-Meter. Day-O!
