American folk music, also known as roots music, is a broad category of music including
Bluegrass,
country music,
gospel,
old time music,
jug bands,
Appalachian folk,
blues,
Cajun and
Native American music. The music is considered American either because it is native to the
United States or because it developed there, out of foreign origins, to such a degree that it struck
musicologists as something distinctly new. It is considered "roots music" because it served as the basis of music later developed in the United States, including
rock and roll,
rhythm and blues, and
jazz.
Roots music
Many Roots musicians do not consider themselves to be folk musicians; the main difference between the
American folk music revival and American "Roots music" is that Roots music seems to cover a slightly broader range, including blues and country.
Roots musical forms reached their most expressive and varied forms in the first two to three decades of the 20th century. The
Great Depression and the
Dust Bowl were extremely important in disseminating these musical styles to the rest of the country, as
Delta blues masters, itinerant
honky tonk singers and Latino and
Cajun musicians spread to cities like
Chicago,
Los Angeles and
New York. The growth of the
recording industry in the same approximate period was also important; increased possible profits from music placed pressure on artists, songwriters and label executives to replicate previous hit songs. This meant that fads like
Hawaiian
slack-key guitar never died out completely as rhythms or instruments or vocal stylings were incorporated into disparate genres. By the 1950s, all the forms of roots music had led to pop-oriented forms. Folk musicians like the
Kingston Trio, pop-
Tejano and Cuban-American fusions like
boogaloo,
chachacha and
mambo, blues-derived
rock and roll and
rockabilly, pop-gospel,
doo wop and
R&B (later secularized further as
soul music) and the
Nashville sound in country music all modernized and expanded the musical palette of the country.
The roots approach to music emphasizes the diversity of American musical traditions, the genealogy of creative lineages and communities, and the innovative contributions of musicians working in these traditions today. In recent years roots music has been the focus of popular media programs such as
Garrison Keillor's public radio program
A Prairie Home Companion and the feature film by the same name.
Books
In 2004 NPR published the book titled
The NPR Curious Listener's Guide To American folk music,
Linda Ronstadt wrote the
foreword.
Artists and Musicians
Notable roots musicians have included
Jelly Roll Morton,
Blind Lemon Jefferson,
Robert Johnson,
Bessie Smith,
Burl Ives,
Pete Seeger,
Woody Guthrie,
Son House,
Leadbelly,
Hazel Dickens,
Jimmie Rodgers,
Bill Monroe,
Lester Flatt and
Earl Scruggs,
Roy Acuff,
Hank Williams,
Merle Travis,
Townes Van Zandt,
Johnny Cash,
Maggie Simpson,
Mahalia Jackson,
Muddy Waters,
John Lee Hooker,
B.B. King,
Washington Phillips, Fiddlin' John Carson (1868 - 1949), Johnny Richardson (1908-present; children's folk music),
Willie Nelson, and
Jean Ritchie. More recent musicians who occasionally or consistently play roots music include
Keb' Mo',
Ralph Stanley,
Jewel,
John Denver,
Chris Castle,
Ricky Skaggs, and
Jeremy Fisher.
Film and TV
Additionally, the soundtrack to the 2000
film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is exclusively roots music, performed by
Alison Krauss,
The Fairfield Four,
Emmylou Harris,
Norman Blake,
Bob Dylan and others. The 2003 film
A Mighty Wind is a tribute to (and parody of) the folk-pop musicians of the early 1960s.
American roots music was the subject of the 4-part documentary series
American Roots Music on
PBS in 2001.
Nut Hill Productions, Inc., is now in production on a comprehensive documentary entitled "The Music of America: History Through Musical Traditions," with an anticipated release date in winter of 2009.
See also
