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Talk:American folk music

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To do : Link in American folk music revival

I can't see the relationship with some of the stuff in the sidebar. Hiphop? Ozz fest? These are roots music?? Nurg 11:02, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

That's the Music of the United States infobox. There is no roots music box, though there is a footer at the bottom of the page. Tuf-Kat 02:23, Feb 24, 2005 (UTC)

This ought to be at either American folk musicorUnited States folk music. I think folk is a more common term. Tuf-Kat 01:38, Jun 22, 2005 (UTC)

The article is still written as if it was titled "American roots music". The wording should be changed so as to properly reflect it current title. The term "American roots music" as an alternitive term and why it's called that should then be discussed within. --Cab88 23:17, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I did a baby step, changing the lead so as to not exclude other types of american folk music. North8000 (talk) 13:06, 30 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I also added a section that helped a little in that respect. North8000 (talk) 20:14, 16 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do "folk-pop" musicians like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan count as part of American folk music? Is there reason that there's not much mention of popular "folk music" apart from traditional, community sung songs? FireWorks 10:39, 29 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

That type certainly should. But Joni is Canadian. North8000 (talk) 10:30, 1 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And is Canada not part of America? Blackbird5555 (talk) 05:53, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No, the common meaning of "America" by itself is the USA. North8000 (talk) 23:49, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the section " More recent musicians who occasionally or consistently play roots music include Keb' Mo', Ralph Stanley, Pete Seeger, Iron & Wine, and Ricky Skaggs. Additionally, the soundtrack to the 2000 comedy film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is exclusively roots music, performed by Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Emmylou Harris, Norman Blake and others. The 2003 film A Mighty Wind is a tribute to (and parody of) the folk-pop musicians of the early 1960s." because it is unorganized and needs to be rewritten. Ralph Stanley is now an elderly man and has been recording for at least half a century, and doesn't fit in the same category as Iron and Wine. A reexamination of "contemporary" is needed. hi i an bob

• whether you offer an explanation or not, you still can't just go and delete things like this unless you're going to rewrite them yourself. put a cleanup tag on it or something, don't remove information. Gordonjay 14:19, 11 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

He's right that Ralph Stanley doesn't fit the category of "more recent musicians who occasionally or consistently play roots music," though. Although Ralph Stanley is still performing and cranking out albums, he and The Stanley Bothers go way back, and are among the originators of Bluegrass and fathers of old timey recording. ColmCille 09:43, 17 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Didn't radio play a big role in the spread? Kdammers (talk) 11:30, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I think that subject of the article, as defined by it's title, is broader than what the lead says. Much American folk music is excluded. North8000 (talk) 03:03, 29 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I tweaked the lead a little so to not exclude other types of American Folk Music. Of course, this begs the question of coverage of the other types, but that just means that this is just step one. North8000 (talk) 13:08, 30 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

At the other general folk music we decided to sort of split folk music into contemporary folk music and traditional music. Someday we can get all of those organized. As baby steps in that direction I plan to divide this article along those lines. If you prefer otherwise I'll revert myself (or feel free to revert me) while we discuss. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 19:57, 17 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Why is the bulk of the content of this page taken up with roots music when, as stated in the article, many roots musicians don't consider themselves folk musicians? Why are those actually considered folk, like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, The Weavers placed under "Other American folk music" as if they are peripheral to American folk music, when they are central to the genre? Something is seriously askew in this page, the emphasis is completely wrong. Hzh (talk) 11:13, 8 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mostly agree with you. The section which you are indicating underplays those musicians did not even exist until I added a few months ago. I made that title up as a quick initial effort; please feel free to change it.

There are a lot of top-level terminology issues with folk/roots/traditional/world music articles, and also a lot of duplication between top level articles in that area. (and also between this article and the American folk music revival article which others have gotten into excellent shape.) I may be the one doing the most work in this overall area, and I have put 95% of my efforts into the Folk music article, and only a few spotty efforts into the other ones. The real answer may to be to consolidate the top level articles, and to organize and expand the sub articles. But my head spins when I start thinking about that, (and we had a false start, thinking that the term "traditional music" was gaining traction more than it actually was) and so I have mostly just focused on trying to build a substantial (and hopefully good) Folk music article. North8000 (talk) 11:26, 8 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Update on my last post......what I was referring to as the "Folk music" article has been split into two articles, the other being Contemporary folk music.North8000 (talk) 20:42, 23 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'm starting to change my thinking a bit. Possibly this article should focus on styles that are particularly / uniquely American rather than "worldwide" folk musicians/ music where the artists just happen(ed) to live in the USA. North8000 (talk) 17:07, 23 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 August 2022 and 8 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Nicolefrones (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Nicolefrones (talk) 16:48, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I thought about adding a section defining folk music, and the distinction between the terms folk, Americana, roots, old-time, and country, for example. This could also be a part of the opening paragraph. Nicolefrones (talk) 22:15, 13 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Although "blues" is mentioned several times in the article, starting with the lede, there seems to be no discussion of the subject in the article. So I added a more or less empty "Blues" section, but on more serious reflection am inclined to change that to something like "African-American folk music" so that a large amount of black pre-blues stuff could be added. How does this seem to you? Carptrash (talk) 18:23, 2 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It could be an interesting angle if there is coverage as such. If not, then names are what this is about and IMO Blues are Blues. North8000 (talk) 22:12, 2 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@North8000: I'd love to be able to sit down and discuss exactly what "Blues are Blues" means but in place of that I have Eileen Southern's book The Music of Black Americans in which a large variety of slave songs are discussed. These can only be termed "folk music" and include religious or spiritual songs, work songs, including boat songs, cotton songs, corn husking songs, roustabout (gonna have to look that one up) songs, woodcutters songs, then dance songs, play songs, story songs, satirical songs, and field & street cries (think the beginning of Porgy & Bess). And these are just the slave songs. It is a long way, no doubt filled with music, from emancipation until the blues show up. We'll see where, if anywhere, this goes but I don't want to spend a lot, or even a little effort on this just to have it caboshed. Carptrash (talk) 22:56, 2 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Cool. I didn't mean anything heavy duty about IMO "Blues are Blues", it was just a matter of what name is applied to it. I think that it's a pretty cool and interesting concept to consider what you described as folk music. But you're really going to need a source that explores it as such, you and I can't just make up the concept and write about it. If you have a source that does that I'd a support putting it in here and then I think it would be pretty safe from getting caboshed. if not, not. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 00:55, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I rarely go out of my own library for sources, so we'll see what i can dig up, I not sure if Southern uses the term "folk music" or not, but if blues are considered to be folk music I don't see why field hollers would not be since they are a precursor to the blues. Anyway I am not expecting to see anything happen too quickly, but it is on my mind, so . . . . ..... Carptrash (talk) 06:29, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The sentence, ""Sixteen Tons" was written in 1946 by Merle Travis about the plight of coal miners and life in company towns. Travis also penned "Dark as a Dungeon," which was most notably performed by Johnny Cash". is really (opinion) not about folk songs so does t belong in the article? Carptrash (talk) 20:21, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]