The R. Neuwirth Folk Collection Blog: Introducing Folk Music

“Folk music is where it all starts and in many ways ends. If you don’t have that foundation, or if you’re not knowledgeable about it and you don’t know how to control that, and you don’t feel historically tied to it, then what you’re doing is not going to be as strong as it could be. … What I was most interested in twenty-four hours a day was the rural music. The idea was to be able to master those songs. It wasn’t about writing your own songs. That didn’t even enter anybody’s mind.”

-Bob Dylan, 11/22/2001 issue of Rolling Stone

What do you think about when you hear the term “folk music”? The “old timey” Appalachian music from O Brother Where Art Thou? The coffee shop folk revival songs popularized by Peter, Paul & Mary and Joan Baez in the early 1960s? The Dust Bowl ballads of the dispossessed that Woody Guthrie became famous for? All of these are valid responses, but folk music means so much more. Here at the R. Neuwirth Special Collection of American Roots Music, we love folk music, and this blog is our way of sharing the passion with the world.

The term “folk music”, which originated in the mid 19^th century, is almost impossible to define precisely. Generally, it means music that has been passed down through generations, often without a known writer or composer. It is often looked at in opposition to more formal or classical musical traditions.

Our collection is concerned with the American folk music tradition, which is often called “roots music”. Besides the various ethnic folk traditions that immigrants brought to America, music critic Michael Gray identifies four main strains of American folk music: the African-American tradition of folk music, Cowboy folk music, Southern poor white folk music and Yankee folk music. Music traditions such as Bluegrass, Country, the Blues and Gospel might all be considered forms of folk or roots music, and Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues and Jazz all developed from Roots Music.