Traditional Folk / Folk Revival
familyStarted 19th centuryPeak 1930–1965Last big hit still active
This is the recognizable core of Anglo-American and U.S. revival folk: acoustic songs learned in communities or revived from old songs, with narrative ballads, hymns, play songs, work songs, and topical pieces living side by side.
History
The family includes orally transmitted repertory that long predates recording, as well as the 20th-century revival movements that collected, taught, reissued, and reperformed those songs.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Britannica
- Library of Congress
- Smithsonian Folkways. citeturn10search2turn9search2turn0search16