Traditional Ballad
tagStarted 18th centuryPeak 1800–1930Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Traditional ballad is the narrative spine of folk music: story songs with recurring lines, compact melodies, stark incident, and a delivery that lets plot do the emotional work.
History
Ballads crossed the Atlantic from Britain and Ireland, took root in Appalachia and elsewhere, and survived through oral transmission, local variation, and later collecting.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Britannica
- Library of Congress
- Smithsonian Folkways. citeturn10search2turn9search2turn0search16