Chronicles: Volume One

Interest in defining folk music as a specific art form with connection to folklore and other cultural products of the peasant classes began in the mid-19th century, as Romantic composers turned to traditional melodies as parts of their newfound elevation of the individual, valorization of nature, and exploration of personal emotions as a guiding force for art. There are few defining formal features for what constitutes this kind of traditional music, since its genres and structures vary geographically. Instead, originally, folk music was thought of as part of an oral tradition, consisting of songs with no known composers. Typically, it was also the music of rural communities rather than cities. Finally, in subject matter, folk music was often tied to celebrations, commemorated historical events, or applied to private rituals such as births, weddings, and funerals. 

In the 1940s and 50s, the American folk music revival was sparked by a renewed interest in folk arts like square dancing. Now-iconic folk musicians like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie became popular for recording music drawn from rural musical traditions across the United States, as well as composing new songs in traditional styles. Despite folk music’s rural origins, this revival happened mainly in urban areas like New York City, where dozens of clubs, coffeehouses, and record stores catered to folk musicians and fans.

By the time Bob Dylan appeared on the scene in the early 1960s, Greenwich Village—a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan—was home to a burgeoning folk music scene that hadn’t yet gone mainstream. According to Dylan, folk music was still “considered junky, second rate and only released on small labels” (5). However, this changed as the 1960s progressed. Dylan was signed to a major record label, and folk music soon gained more widespread popularity; songs like Dylan’s own “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’” became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. The decade also saw large folk clubs and concerts devoted to showcasing this kind of music. For instance, the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair (which has become known simply as Woodstock) featured several important folksingers within its roster of rock musicians. By the end of the 1960s, folk music’s explosive popularity was fading, but its place in the mainstream was secure: The Newport Folk Festival, which was started in 1959 in Rhode Island, continues annually to this day.