Cantwell's description of post-war culture illustrates the problems young people had expressing their independence within the structure of society. The cosmetic society Cantwell describes not only stifled and contradicted traditional American individualism, it also limited meaningful personal community. Young people were not served by their parents over-ripe materialistic aspirations and goals. They looked for something with some vitality, some version of American culture that expressed the individualistic spirit of America but also gave them something substantive in which to believe or belong. In many ways, and for many people, American folk music was the answer.
Folk music is the general term used to evoke the Traditional music of a given culture.
Appalachian people immigrating from the British Isles brought Traditional music with them and adapted it to their new lives. Spirituals and later Blues developed from intense exposure of African traditional music to the slave culture of the American south, and became the traditional music of African-Americans. All of these are forms of American folk music. Ideally, it seems that folk music should be music that is traditional and meaningful to the people it represents. Something of the culture should be preserved in the music.