American Folk

tagStarted 19th centuryPeak 1930–1965Last big hit still activeFrom United States

Located in 1 route

Folk / Americana / Roots → Traditional Folk / Folk Revival

American folk is the broad U.S. vernacular canon as heard through singers who made regional, labor, prison, gospel, children’s, and mountain songs legible to national audiences.

History

The style is less a narrow sonic formula than a national repertoire shaped by migration, oral transmission, recording, and revival.

Defining artists

Woody GuthrieSpotify YouTube
Pete SeegerSpotify YouTube
Lead BellySpotify YouTube
OdettaSpotify YouTube
Joan BaezSpotify YouTube
The Carter FamilySpotify YouTube

Essential listening

This Land Is Your Land — Woody GuthrieSpotify YouTube
Where Have All the Flowers Gone — Pete SeegerSpotify YouTube
Midnight Special — Lead BellySpotify YouTube
Take This Hammer — OdettaSpotify YouTube
Silver Dagger — Joan BaezSpotify YouTube
Keep on the Sunny Side — The Carter FamilySpotify YouTube

← Explore Folk / Americana / Roots

Sources

Britannica
Library of Congress
Smithsonian Folkways. citeturn10search2turn9search2turn0search16