Inter-War Era (1919-1941)

The two decades that fell between the First and Second World Wars were years of rapid change in the United States of America. The boom years of the twenties turned into an economic depression in the thirties, a depression so deep that the twin American ideals of capitalism and democracy seemed in jeopardy. In domestic politics the *laissez-faire* Republican administrations of the twenties were replaced by the aggressively interventionist Roosevelt administration in the thirties. These decades also saw the United States withdraw from its brief bout of international prominence following World War I. By refusing to join the League of Nations and by drastically cutting the size of its army and navy America seemed poised to return to its traditional hands-off, trade-centered foreign policy.

The 1920s and 1930s saw important changes in the world of folk and popular music. Advances in recording technology, communication technology, and electrification brought about by the second industrial

revolution meant that more and more Americans, even those in isolated and rural areas, had access to radios and phonographs. Tin Pan Alley and vaudeville fell into steep decline as the mass-produced pianos and live performances that had made them so popular were replaced by these newer, electronic forms of entertainment. The twenties and thirties saw a surge of interest in folk music as collectors and musicologists continued the work of men and women such as Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles, particularly in the southern Appalachians. During the Great Depression the United States government itself became involved in the collection and recording of folk music with the Federal Music Project. The combination of technological proliferation and increasing interest in folk music meant that the music of the poor and marginalized - especially that of poor Southerners, both black and white - became more and more prominent in the world of popular music. The modern genres of blues, country, and jazz were born in this era as a result of this interaction. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family led the way in transforming what had been derisively labeled "hillbilly music" into country. W.C. Handy has been credited with popularizing the blues. However, it is jazz that is most identified with this era, so much so that the 1920s are often labeled the "Jazz Age". What had begun life New Orleans as a distinctly African-American form of music had become, by the 1930s, a widely popular form of music exemplified by white band leaders such as Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw.

But perhaps the most significant change came within folk music itself. Even as politically active folk singers such as Woody Guthrie paved the way for the politically charged folk music genre that came into prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, the advent of modern technology meant that the very existence of folk music as a form of unwritten, oral tradition was itself in jeopardy of disappearing.

## Key Genres

Jazz

Blues

Country

Gospel

Folk

## Categories

Performers & Composers of the Inter-War Era

Songs of the Inter-War Era

## Further Reading

The online history textbook at ushistory.org provides an excellent summary of wider historical context of this period.

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second\_Industrial\_Revolution
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal\_Music\_Project