Storytelling is another vital part of the folk tradition. Ballads have long been the most popular vehicle for retelling stories about unrequited love, war, famine, shipwrecks, and other tragedies. Many folk songs are very practical. Teaching songs explain things while working songs help laborers work. The Woodcutter's Song tells you what type of wood to burn in your fireplace, while Saltpetre Shanty helped sailors maintain their rhythm while hauling up sails on a tall ship.
Folk music is unique because it relies heavily on an aural tradition to keep it alive.
Even today, in spite of the fact that there are hundreds of collections of songs and tunes available, most folk musicians still rely on the tradition of learning songs by ear, from other singers, rather than by reading manuscripts. In the last thirty years, songwriters have begun writing contemporary folk songs about modern issues and using more modern language. Songs like The City of New Orleans and This Land is Your Land have none of the archaic wording of a ballad like The Water is Wide . But just like their older counterparts, modern folk songs reflect the emotions of the person writing the song, and are meant to inspire similar emotions in the listener. Modern folk songs still tell stories, just in a more modern fashion.