Revival Folk Blues
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Revival Folk Blues is the blues repertoire rediscovered, reissued, toured and reinterpreted during the folk revival. It includes older musicians who found new audiences and younger performers who learned country blues, Piedmont picking, slide guitar and songster material. The style can be reverent, scholarly, political or deeply personal, but its defining context is the revival audience that treated blues as American folk art.
History
Reissues, collectors, festivals and university circuits brought artists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Skip James and Reverend Gary Davis to new listeners. Younger interpreters including Dave Van Ronk, John Hammond, Taj Mahal, Rory Block and Bonnie Raitt learned directly from records and elder musicians. The revival changed blues history by preserving repertoire, but it also shifted context from Black community entertainment to mixed folk institutions.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- folk revival histories
- blues rediscovery references
- artist discographies
- streaming/video checks