American Folk Music - Tumblr Posts
yes. i wish i could eat their music.
Any American Murder Song fans out there?
Introduction
hi! american folk revival is my special interest and i wanted to make a blog dedicated to it. I'm mainly going to talk about american folk music between the years 1940-1979, and im mainly going to talk about music that addressed social injustices or was influential in the civil rights movement or if it was good old union music.
I LOVE DOING RESEARCH ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF FOLK SONGS OR COUNTRY SONGS!! it is like enrichment to me and i say yippee! whenever anyone asks about it, so you should ask me about the origins of folk/country/blues songs 😁 i will make a post about it
genres you can expect to see
-blues
-jazz
-bluegrass
-soul
-gospel
-old country
-traditional folk
-folk
resources
folk history archive list
Roud Folk song index
Smithsonian folkways
Spotify master playlist
YouTube master playlist
ok!! thanks for reading!!
hi! i hope you don't mind the reblog but i have lots of recommendations that i couldn't fit in the comments :]
so i made this playlist for you. It has a lot of character ballads and music from artists you already mentioned. it has tons of artists as well as a mix between old traditional folk and folk from the 60s and 70s.
since you talked about liking tales of bandits and elves, the closest thing i could think of were cowboy ballads that usually featured tales of outlaws and workers and the strife that comes with that (a lot of marty robbins songs are covers of older cowboy work songs). i also think that some of the smithsonian protest folk albums fit this description.
so i recommend these albums!
if you want a more comprehensive playlist of american folk music between 1940 and 1979, check out mine! (its very long though)
i hope this was a little helpful, and feel free to reach out if you want more suggestions
As much as I consider myself a folk music enthusiast most of my playlist is British and the only American folk songs I have are
Hurricane by Bob Dylan
Big Iron by Marty Robbins
John Henry by Pete Seeger
Where Have All The Flowers Gone by The Kingston Trio
The Highwayman by Phill Ochs
Which are sorta the most basic of basic American folk songs. I know I prefer the tales of elves and bandits in. British folk music but I am an American after all I should try to get into more American singers right? Any recommendations?
Song of the day
"Freight train" Elizabeth Cotten, written 1906-1912, recorded 1958 by mike seeger
Elizabeth cotton composed freight train while she was just a teenager, inspired by the trains that ran past her home in north Carolina
hey! do you have a folk song that you want to know the history of? just ask me about it, and I'll make a whole post dedicated to its history, earlier versions, why it was made, why it got popular, etc.
Do you have any thoughts on "Luang Prabang" by Dave van Ronk? It's such a catchy song, but I always want to know more about the wooden medals the song references.
thanks for the work!
Suggested Song
"Luang Prabang" Dave Van Ronk, 1985 "Luang Prabang" was written by Dave Van Ronk sometime before or around 1971, the oldest release I could find is from April 1973, where Patrick Sky and Dave Van Ronk both perform it live on the radio (timestamp 33:05) However, the song was first recorded in 1971 by Patrick Sky, Van Ronk's friend, for his Satirical album "Songs That Made America Famous". Still, it wasn't released until later in 1973 because they had trouble finding a record company due to the edgy and over-the-top nature of the songs featured, to put it lightly. It wouldn't be until later in 1985 when Dave Van Ronk would release a version himself.
"Luang Prabang" is based on a Traditional English tune, "Byker Hill" first published in 1812 in "Rhymes of Northern Bards", and collected around 1810. It was first recorded in 1958-9 by Sandy Paton. Byker Hill and Walker Shore, the places featured in the song, were coal mines and quarries near Newcastle, making this song a coal miners song.
Here's a modern rendition of the song for example. "Luang Prabang" is specifically an anti-Vietnam-war song. Luang Prabang is a real city in Laos. the U.S.A. also dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos through the 1960s and 1970s, "the bombs fell like rain." The Song details, sardonically, the physical toll on the American soldiers. The Wooden medal reference is another joke like this. It's basically saying the medal is worthless, not even a bronze medal. The joke is there to contrast the other repeated lyrics like "Now I'm a fucking hero". The only things the character singing got from the song are physical mutilation, the death of everyone else around him, and a wooden medal. It's grim and funny like most songs protesting the war in Vietnam.
Song of the day
do you want to know the history of a folk song? submit an ask or dm me and I'll cover it
"The Falcon" Mimi & Richard Fariña, 1965
originally based on a traditional English folk song "The Cuckoo Bird", first published between 1780-1812 in London,
later captured by alan lomax in 1942
Mimi & Richard changed the traditional folk song to a hauntingly beautiful anti-war song, describing the predatory nature of fascism and the falcons longing for peace and whimsy.
a acoustic cover of Queen Jane 🧡 a lot of times when the littles feel overwhelmed playing the guitar helps them calm down 💚 so though we share that comfort 🌱
Four Strong Winds an Acoustic Cover 📻 thought to do more covers. Recently this is Our go to Song for comfort so thought to share it 🌱