Public Domain Folk
tagStarted 19th centuryPeak 1958–1975Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Public domain folk is the endlessly reusable body of traditional songs whose authorship is communal, lost, or legally expired, making them open terrain for reinterpretation.
History
The folk revival depended heavily on public-domain material, because older songs could be taught, recorded, altered, and repurposed without breaking their communal identity.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Britannica
- Library of Congress
- Smithsonian Folkways. citeturn10search2turn9search2turn0search16