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Folk, Folk Rock, and Singer-Songwriters

American Folk Music

Charles Seeger and Alan Lomax

Robert Zimmerman (?)

  • Two musicologists who researched and recorded a large number of Appalachian folk songs and published their work in scholarly studies
  • Charles Seeger's son, Pete Seeger (born 1919), is a musician who sang and played guitar and banjo
  • Performed many of the songs his father had researched and had a lasting influence on a folk resurgence in the 1960's

Bob Dylan: The Icon of Folk

  • Originally from Minnesota
  • 2nd Generation Russian/Jewish Immigrant
  • Young follower of Woody Guthrie
  • Moving to "The Village", NYC
  • Joined the counter-culture underground folk movement
  • Woody Guthrie in hospital in NY, wanted to get to know the man behind the music
  • Won the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature, 2016
  • Bob Dylan (1962)
  • Debut Album
  • Mostly folk ballads
  • "House of the Rising Sun"
  • Folk music=passed down music coming from an oral tradition
  • Rhythms, melodies, and lyrics of folk songs change often as new performers adapt old songs to their own performance style
  • In contrast to art music, where a composer plans and notates all details
  • Folk musical style and traditions vary from one part of the US to another
  • music based on songs settlers of different cultures brought with them from their homelands
  • British-derived folk music from the Appalachian Mtn. region had a strong influence on rock music starting in the 1960's
  • direct links to old songs from Elizabethan English, Irish, and Scottish music:

The Almanac Singers/The Weavers

Woody Guthrie

  • Almanac Singers founded by Pete Seeger in New York, 1941
  • modified traditional folk songs and performed them with new texts that stressed political concerns of their time
  • The Weavers also founded by Pete Seeger in 1948
  • Harmonized group vocals were a new experience for American audiences; they achieved national recognition
  • Investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee for left-wing political songs

Songwriter/Singer/Guitarist

  • Member of the Almanac Singers
  • Sang and Performed "True" Folk
  • But also wrote originals in the folk style!
  • Voice of the Common Man
  • sang songs that supported the war cause
  • "This Machine Kills Fascists"
  • his slogan
  • "This Land is Your Land"
  • A Socialist Anthem!
  • Fiddle, Acoustic guitar, string bass, and recorder

Dylan Cont.

Folk Rock

Style Characteristics: traditional American folk/folk revival

Joan Baez

  • use of primarily acoustic instruments
  • use of traditional folk instruments such as accordian, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica
  • played by technically adept instrumentalists and singers that can carry the stage on their own
  • a lack of slick production, coordinated dance moves or complicated recording studio techniques
  • stripped down, honest, real
  • traditional folk covers or originals in a traditional style
  • small vocal groups or solo artists: not many large bands
  • lyrics/music can be covered or changed often to reflect a new performers version
  • lyrics can reflect current events, politics, or other aspects of the time in which the song was written

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

  • Second Studio Album
  • Mostly Originals
  • Very Socially Conscience
  • "Blowin' in the Wind"
  • Civil Rights Anthem
  • "Don't think twice its Alright"
  • Plugging In (?!?!?)
  • 1964:
  • The Newport Folk Festival
  • Electric Dylan?!?
  • Controversy
  • traditional folk singer
  • great technical guitar chops
  • can carry the stage as a soloist
  • trait common to many folk musicians

A New Dylan:

  • Album "Bringing it All Back Home" (1965)
  • Electric & Acoustic
  • "Mr. Tambourine Man", "All Along the Watchtower", "It's Allright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding", etc.
  • A new, completely original style
  • Folk influenced, electric rock music
  • Alienated traditionalists

More Folk Rock

  • The Byrds vs. Dylan versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man"

Peter, Paul, & Mary

  • The Byrds also cover Pete Seeger with "Turn Turn Turn"
  • The Mamas and the Papas "California Dreamin"

Joni Mitchell

Folk Trio & Activists

  • Songs about Peace, Love, & Harmony
  • Resisted the use of non-acoustic instruments throughout the 60's
  • "If I Had a Hammer"
  • Pete Seeger cover
  • First big hit
  • "Blowing in the Wind"
  • Bob Dylan cover
  • Many folk groups would cover each other's songs
  • Iconic singer/songwriter with a strong folk background and a uniquely creative style
  • Uses unique chromatic motion (motion by half step) in her original music
  • Vocal style changes quality from high to low: sounds like a different singer when singing high
  • Unique vocal range and control
  • Her album "Blue" is fantastic!!
  • "All I Want", "My Old Man"

Simon and Garfunkel

  • Folk influenced rock music but in more creative, out of the box style
  • Excellent vocal partnership

James Taylor

  • "Scarborough Fair"
  • reworking of a traditional English ballad
  • uses classical counterpoint: a style of writing complex interlocking melodic lines.
  • innovative musical arrangment
  • uses exotic instruments like harpsichord and glockenspiel
  • "Sound of Silence"
  • their most famous song

The Singer/Songwriter

Current musicians taking cues from folk/singer-songwriter style

An Emerging Tradition:

  • Artists Who Sing & Compose Their Own Music
  • Moving away from covers
  • Specifically associated with the folk tradition
  • Lyrics tend to lean away from the political and social activism associated with folk music
  • Instead tells stories about very personal experiences and their own lives and relationships
  • sets up a close, intimate communication between the audience and performer

John Mayer

Bon Iver

"Ohio"

Ed Sheeran

Ben Howard

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young:

  • A Folk-Rock Supergroup
  • All from different popular acts
  • The Kent State Shootings
  • Kent State University, 1971
  • Group of student protesting Vietnam
  • Cambodian Campaign
  • May 1 - 3
  • Increasingly tense protests
  • Gov. Rhoades proclaims the protestors "Un-American" and declares martial law
  • May 4 at Noon
  • Attempts at dispersal
  • 13 seconds, 67 rounds
  • 4 Killed, 9 Wounded
  • All un-armed

Who else???

Punch Brothers

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