Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States / Edition 3

by Kip Lornell

Overview

Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States reflects the fascinating diversity of regional and grassroots music in the United States. The book covers the diverse strains of American folk music--Latin, Native American, African, French-Canadian, British, and Cajun--and offers a chronology of the development of folk music in the United States.

The book is divided into discrete chapters covering topics as seemingly disparate as sacred harp singing, conjunto music, the folk revival, blues, and ballad singing. It is among the few textbooks in American music that recognizes the importance and contributions of Native Americans as well as those who live, sing, and perform music along our borderlands, from the French-speaking citizens in northern Vermont to the extensive Hispanic population living north of the Rio Grande River, recognizing and reflecting the increasing importance of the varied Latino traditions that have informed our folk music since the founding of the United States. Another chapter includes detailed information about the roots of hip-hop, and this updated edition of the book features a new chapter on urban folk music, exploring traditions in our cities, with a case study focusing on Washington, D.C. Exploring American Folk Music also introduces you to such important figures in American music as Bob Wills, Lydia Mendoza, Bob Dylan, and Muddy Waters, who helped shape what America sounds like in the twenty-first century. It also features new sections at the end of each chapter with up-to-date recommendations for "Suggested Listening," "Suggested Reading," and "Suggested Viewing."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617032646
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	04/19/2012
Series:	American Made Music Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Kip Lornell teaches at George Washington University. He is coauthor of The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. and coeditor of The Music of Multicultural America: Performance, Identity, and Community in the United States and Shreveport Sounds in Black and White, all published by University Press of Mississippi.

Table of Contents

Exploring American Folk Music

A Preamble to the Third Edition xi

A Prelude to the Second Edition xv

Preface and Acknowledgments xix

1 Start Here! 3

Introduction 3

The Roots of Twenty-first-Century Folk Music 6

Music in Our Daily Lives and in the Academy 9

Denning American Folk Music 12

Cultural Geography and Traditions 16

Folk Culture in the United States 17

Bred in the Bone 21

Listening to American Folk Music 25

Instruments 27

Accordion

Banjo

Dulcimer

Fiddle

Fife

Guitar

Harmonica

Mandolin

Mouth Bow

One-String

Quills

Washboard

Final Thoughts 36

2 Mass Media 42

Introduction 42

Minstrel and Medicine Shows 43

Recording the Blues 47

Record Companies and Folk Music 51

Country Music over the Airwaves 54

Border Radio 58

The Ancestors of MTV and VH-1 61

Uncle Dave Macon and the Electronic Media 62

Final Thoughts 64

3 FieldWork in Twenty-First-Century America 69

Musical Communities and Fieldwork 70

Accomplishing Fieldwork 73

Topic

Focus

Preparation

Questions

Communication

Interview

Ethics

Some Nuts and Bolts of Fieldwork 77

Final Thoughts 80

4 Anglo-American Secular Folk Music 82

British Ballads 83

Broadsides 87

Native American Ballads 89

Singing Cowboys 91

Tin Pan Alley and Country Music Texts 96

Ernest Stoneman's Repertoire 98

The Father of Bluegrass 99

Honky-Tonk 106

Western Swing 107

Final Thoughts 110

5 Anglo-American Sacred Music 118

Psalmody 119

Shape Notes 120

Camp Meetings 125

Shakers 128

Later Hymnody and Gospel Songs 129

Sanctified Styles 133

Southern Gospel Boogie 135

Final Thoughts 138

6 African American Religious Folk Music 143

The Great Awakening and Camp Meetings 144

Spirituals 146

Ring Shouts 150

Gospel 153

Pentecostal Singing and Guitar Evangelists 158

Preachers on Record 162

Gospel Quartets 163

Final Thoughts 166

7 African American Secular Folk Music 171

Work Songs 172

String Bands 176

Fife and Drum Bands 178

Ragtime and Coon Songs 180

Ballads 181

Songsters and Rural Music 186

Down-home Blues 189

Modern Blues 191

Final Thoughts 195

8 Ethnic And Native American Traditions 202

Jewish American: Klezmer 207

Native American 210

Music and Ceremony Today

Musical Characteristics

Instruments

Powwows

Hawaiian American 220

Franco-American 224

Cajun Country

Zydeco

Northeastern States

Scandinavian American 234

Ballads

Instrumental Music

Polka and More Polka!

Norwegian American Folk Music

Final Thoughts 241

9 The Hispanic American Diaspora 251

The Southwest 253

Tex-Mex Music

Corridas

Mariachi

Native American Influences

Florida 270

New York City 274

Final Thoughts 276

10 The Folk Revivals 281

Red Roots 284

The Mass Media and Popular Culture 288

Field Research 291

The 1960s Folk Revival 292

A British Invasion 306

The Blues Boom 307

Back to the Mountains 309

New Entrepreneurs and Frontiers 314

Final Thoughts 318

11 The Folk Roots of Contemporary Popular Music 323

Black Codes from the Underground 324

Improvisation in Black Musical Culture 325

Rhythm and Blues 332

Rockabilly 334

Early Rock 'n' Roll and Rock 337

Motown and Soul 341

Hip-Hop and Rap 342

Country Music Today 344

Final Thoughts 345

12 Urbm Folk Music 350

Introduction 350

Blues and Gospel in Chicago 353

San Antonio's Country and Conjunto Traditions 357

Washington, D.C. 359

Country Music

Bluegrass

Final Thoughts 375

Selected Song Index 379

General Index 382

Editorial Reviews

An authoritative and appealing introduction to the variety, evolution and staying power of vernacular music traditions in the United States.--Jeff Todd Titon, author of Early Downhome Blues, Powerhouse for God, and Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes

In this expanded and updated new edition Kip Lornell leads the reader on a delightful and authoritative journey through some of the diverse local musical traditions of American music and directs them to many wonderful audiovisual resources newly available on the Internet.--Anthony Seeger, director emeritus, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

While this is a revision of an older text, both the format and the content of this volume make it an attractive textbook option for an undergraduate course introducing students to American vernacular music.-- "Louisiana History"

From the Publisher