American Folk & Popular Music Project Wikia

## Welcome to the American Folk & Popular Music Project Wikia

The American Folk & Popular Music Project is an exploration of the diversity of American folk and popular music from the 17th century to the present day. It is intended to contain information, images, and sound recordings of the composers, performers, and songs which formed the rich tapestry that is American folk and popular music. The wiki is intended to cover all time periods, regions, genres, races, and ethnicities, with pages ranging from the ballads of early New England to the songs of the *Chicano* movement in the early 20th century Southwest. It is a collaborative, open-ended educational project designed for participation from students, teachers, parents, and and anyone else who may be interested American musical history.

## What is folk and popular music? Why is it important?

For the purposes of the project folk music is defined as any non-commercial, non-classical music of unknown origin which had been preserved and transmitted through oral customs and traditions until the time of its collection or commercialization. Popular music refers to non-classical composed and published for commercial purposes. The line between folk and popular music can become blurred, especially in the era between the World Wars where the advance of recording and broadcasting technology and a surge of interest in folk music led to many folk musicians and songs being recorded and published for the first time. Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers, and Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter are all examples of folk musicians who made a partial or complete transition into popular music during this time.

Why study folk and popular music? There are many reasons, depending on your perspective. Any music lover can appreciate folk music for its rich variety of melody and themes. A musicologist might study folk music to learn how folk music has changed over time. A linguist might examine it to see how the meanings of words and the organization of language have transformed - or stayed the same - throughout the past several centuries. But it is the historical perspective that we are primarily concerned with in this project. For the historian, folk and popular music are important *because they are so unimportant*. This may seem like a contradiction. Why would a historian want to study something that isn't important? Think about what you remember most from your history classes. Most likely you will come up with a list of kings, queens, presidents, wars, generals, business tycoons, famous artists, and so on. But what about the people who weren't rich, famous, or powerful? How do we study their lives? Folk and popular music offer a window into the beliefs and concerns of the poor, of women, of minorities, and others who traditional history has overlooked. Furthermore, since music is so often viewed as trivial it has frequently offered a "safe" space where everyday people could voice opinions, beliefs, and emotions that might be unwise or even dangerous for them to voice in other contexts. Slavery, industrialization, capitalism, politics, and many more important and controversial issues have been addressed by folk and popular music.

The ultimate purpose of this project is not just to catalog the diversity of American music, though that is an important goal. It is to explore *what* this music can tell us about the overlooked and the marginalized, and how they were connected to the major currents of history which determined the course of the American nation and its people.

## Eras of Folk & Popular Music

The information in this wiki is categorized into chronological time periods. While this is not ideal, it is necessary to providing an initial framework for the organization of the wiki. As the project develops, more categories will be added including genre, theme, and region.

## Contributing

Though this wiki is primarily intended for use by teachers and students of history, anyone with an interest in folk and popular music may contribute. A contribution may be as simple as editing an existing page, or it may involve creating new articles on songs, performers, or composers. Be sure to look over the guidelines for contribution before creating any new content. Pay special attention to issues of copyright. **For the protection of this project, anyone wishing to upload a sound recording must first show that the recording is either public domain or otherwise free from restrictions.** For ideas on how you may contribute, be sure to look at the list of current stubs.

## Further Reading

USHistory.org is a free resource offering a thorough overview of the major themes and events of United States history.

*Oxford Companion to Music* (Oxford University Press, 2002). Encyclopedic treatment of music, including folk music, in all its aspects.

American Folklife Center is a Library of Congress project covering a wide variety folk life topics, including folk music.

Smithsonian Folkways offers hundreds of online recordings from the Smithsonian Folkways collection along with the original liner notes. Many of the recordings are public domain, but be cautious as many of them are not.

American Popular Music is a booklet created by the U.S. state department to provide basic information on the history of the subject. Heavily focused on the mid-20th century, but this is the case with almost all secondary sources on American popular music.