Term
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Definition
- Virtually impossible for the movement to avoid being infiltrated by popular culture, once its popularity began to grow
- Revival lost its status by mid-1960s
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Term
| Robert Cantwell on Tom Dooley |
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Definition
| Tom Dooley's dark themes took youths away from high school and transported them to a world of southern mountain culture |
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Term
| Why was there a surge in interest in folksong collecting at the turn of the twentieth century? |
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Definition
- Reactionary: modernisation and immigration
- Nostalgia and Romanticisation of the folk
- Nationalism and desire for a collective past
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Term
| How did the Lomaxes alter the the nature and scope of folksong collecting? |
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Definition
- Made the definition of folk music broader
- Recorded music that had previously been ignored by collectors
- Recorded music from the South but popularised the music in the North
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Term
| Limitations of the Lomaxes |
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Definition
- Some moral ambiguity in their collecting
- Clear idea of what they believed to be folk music and this influenced what they collected and how
- Preserving vs. popularising folk music
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Term
| Other Key Folksong Collectors |
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Definition
- Cecil Sharpe: one of the earliest folksong collectors
- Francis Child: belief in the primacy of the British ballad
- Benjamin Botkin: believed folk music could come from anywhere
- Lawrence Gellert: strong social commentary from blacks
- Carl Sandburg: search for heroic common themes in US history
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Term
| Aunt Molly Jackson (1880-1960) |
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Definition
- The epitome of authencity
- Music raw, unpolished and simplistic e.g. 'Ragged Hungry Blues'
- Importance of women in the folk revival
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Term
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Definition
- African-American so deemed 'authentic'
- Adaptibility of his talents to suit his audience, as noted by Filene e.g. The Bourgeois Blues to Take This Hammer
- Made up his own songs as well as playing traditional songs
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Term
| Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) |
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Definition
- Spritual heart of both waves of the revival and his Huntingdon's Chorea endowed him w/ cult-like status (Studs Terkel 'World Literature' article)
- Authentic
- Flexible and happy for people to cover his songs
- Dynamic and articulate spokeman for the Dust Bowl
- What young folk revivalists strove to be
- Topical songs w/ familiar melodies w/ a strong emotional core
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Term
| Pete Seeger (1919-Present) |
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Definition
- Helps to link the first and second waves
- Still respected by all in the revival though not 'authentic'
- Became a leader both as a performer and an organiser
- Role model for young middle-class white revivalists
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Term
| How crucial was Pete Seeger to the development of the folk revival in the US? |
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Definition
- Bridge the gap between folksong collectors and performers
- Participatory performance style and diversity of his musical traditions
- Unite the folk w/ those who enjoyed folk music but came from wealthier backgrounds
- Inspired a generation of folk singers b/w first and second wave
- Kept movement going inbetween the two waves
- Second wave organiser and leader
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Term
| Was the folk revival 'a truly inclusive movement'? |
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Definition
- Variety of musical styles e.g. blues, bluegrass, Dylan, Kingston Trio, ethnic music
- Variety of individual backgrounds e.g. Seeger, Leadbelly
- But not much variety in political content as tended to be vey left-wing in message
- Some desire for exclusivity in the movement e.g. Little Sandy Review
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Term
| Why were people attracted to folk music in the first wave? |
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Definition
- Romanticisation of the folk
- Wider appetite for folk music in US society
- Middle-class society and the all-inclusive nature of post-war folk society
- New outposts of folk music arising
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Term
| Why were people attracted to folk music in the second wave? |
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Definition
- Performances at colleges inspired a new generation of folk artists
- Highly commerialsed so something for everyone
- Importance of the individual while having a collective message
- Fill the void left by rock and roll
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Term
| Why was the second folk revival so popular/diverse? |
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Definition
- Nature of post-WW2 society in America
- Closely linked with political activism
- Element of exclusivity
- Mechanisms of the revival e.g. coffee houses, magazines
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Term
| Bob Dylan (active from 1961) |
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Definition
- Waiflike appearence and distinct style
- Excellent and varied lyricist
- New sound that captivated audience
- Remains so popular because of how commercialised he was
- Ultimately, unhappy with the image thrust upon him so 'goes electric' at Newport 1965
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Term
| Joan Baez (active from 1960) |
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Definition
- Media's queen of the movement
- Very politically active and unwavering in her message
- Helped to get Dylan's career started
- Background similar to young folk revivalists
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Term
| What caused the decline of the folk revival? |
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Definition
- The Beatles ad the development of folk-rock
- Natural cultural response to a changing political climate
- Movement trying to do too much and represent too much
- Development of perception of music as primarily a form of artisitic expression e.g. Jimi Hendrix
- Development of the counterculture
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Term
| To what extent did the folk revival come to an end in 1965? |
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Definition
- Movement did not come to an end but rather splintered in the course of natural musical development
- Growth of the counter-culture
- Singer/songwriter genre e.g. James Taylor, Judy Collins
- Progressive Rock e.g. Led Zepplin, Jethro Tull
- Ethnic folk music e.g. The Chieftains
- Development of perception of music as primarily a form of artisitic expression e.g. Jimi Hendrix
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Term
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Definition
- Hippies stressed non-conformity and the experiential rather than the political
- Recommended the withdrawal from mainstream culture
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Term
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Definition
- Folksong for the Lomaxes was a link to the collective past but also with the experiences of individuals in the present
- Concerns over Lomaxes' work w/ latent racism, 'conservative romanticism' and 'purity
- Lomaxes feared folklore and modernity might not be as reconciled as many people thought
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Term
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Definition
- At turn of the century surge of anti-modernism in the arts
- Disorientated upper and middle-class people found value in an idealised concept of a pure folk culture which remained grounded in rural values
- Increasing immigration and fears of overthrowal of the existing racial order led to collectors like Cecil Sharp to respond that only American folk music was worthy of consideration
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Term
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Definition
| Francis Child believed collected folksongs belonged to a now-vanished past rather than belonging to living performances |
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Term
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Definition
- Lomaxes romanced the folk but didnt realise their identities as outsiders might influence the way southern blacks responded to them
- Lomax recordings say just as much about their tastes and values as about the 'reality' they documented
- Lomaxes lamented the system's injustice but did not challenge it
- With Guthrie ill and Leadbelly dead, Pete Seeger picks up the torch of the revival and spreads the word, in turn, becoming a symbol himself
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Term
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Definition
- Modernisation had helped speed up the interchange between the city-billy and the hill-billy
- The growth of folk-rock reflects the growing diversity of the revival
- In the 1930s, leftist organisations made no differentiations b/w types of music in their public programs thus leaving room for a wide variety of influences
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Term
| Gillian Mitchell on the first wave |
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Definition
- Woody Guthrie's illness led to certain mystique surrounding him and his life
- Seeger made folk music more accessible to a mass audience by considering folk music to be part of the present
- From 1930s academic hold on folk music beginning to falter as the definition of 'folk' began to expand
- Renewed interest in folksong collecting b/c general malaise brought about by rapid social and economic change and unprecedented industrial growth
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Term
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Definition
- Guthrie married fresh topical lyrics with traditional or familiar melodies and a strong emotional core
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Term
| Ronald Cohen on Woody Guthrie |
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Definition
| "Musical godfather of the budding [folk revival]" |
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Term
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Definition
| Seeger's How to Play the Five-String Banjo helped to preserve the instrument's traditional playing styles and inspired a generation of banjo players |
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Term
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Definition
- Pete Seeger's performances inbetween the two waves fo the revival "planted the seeds of the revival to come"
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Term
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Definition
- Certain expectations accompany the role of urban folksinger and Seeger lived up to these expectations and more
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Term
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Definition
- Traditional singers e.g. Johnny Lee Hooker
- Imitators e.g. Pete Seeger
- Utilisers e.g. Albert Grossman
- New aesthetic e.g. James Taylor, Joan Baez
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Term
| To what extent was the baby-boomer obsession with folk music little more than a passing 'fad'? |
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Definition
- Inevitably an element of commercialism in the second wave
- Also a question of identity and belonging
- Duration and evolution of the movement hint at more depth than simply being a 'fad'
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Term
| Gillian Mitchell on the second wave |
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Definition
- The revival was the remedy to the sterility of post-WWII American society for many young people
- The diversity of the movement was reflected in the movement's political goals of inclusiveness
- Second wave not entirely a commercial movement than it was certainly a cult-movement
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Term
| Israel Young in Sing Out! |
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Definition
| "The twenty or so minutes of ethnic music presented at the Festival more than held its own against the fifteen hours of commercial music heard." |
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Term
| Mechanisms of the Second Wave of the Revival |
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Definition
- Coffee houses
- Music magazines e.g. Sing Out! Broadside and The Little Sandy Review
- Folk music festivals e.g. Newport Folk Festival
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Term
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Definition
- Commercialism
- Authenticity
- Exclusive vs. Inclusive
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Term
| Politics of the Second Wave |
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Definition
- 1960s about civil rights, Cold War etc.
- People will no longer tolerate the bare minimum of political reform
- Largely focused on the efforts of white, middle-class students
- Increasingly youth and social focus on changing America for the better
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Term
| Politics of the First Wave |
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Definition
- Focus on the labour movement
- Less about ideology and more about national identity and what it means to be American
- Loose links to Communism but staunchly anti-fascist
- More simplistic in its political message and outlook
- Very masculine focus e.g. Which Side Are You On?
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