Many traditional singers shied away from commercial music in favor of performing at folk festivals, college campuses, and coffeehouses; Josh White is an example of someone who combined acoustic music with pro-justice politics, which brought him great renown.
Pete Seeger brought folk music to an entirely new audience. His admirers included musicians of every origin – Jews as well as African-American artists among them.
The Roots of the Revival
Folk music revival 1960s began when several artists started making records again. Coinciding with an increased interest in square dance, revivalists found greater recognition. The Kingston Trio’s recording of “Tom Dooley” by in 1958 provided many groups a boost and made folk more visible; furthermore, with Rock and Roll becoming so successful during that year it transformed what had once been an aggressive youth movement into something lighthearted, clever, and harmless compared to its earlier self.
The Weavers were the first group to become widely popular, emerging in 1948. Composed of Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Ronnie Gilbert (all former members of People’s Songs a clearing house for labor movement songs established in 1942), these singers immersed themselves in traditional folk musician culture by imitating traditional folk musicians while writing original compositions that captured progressive sentiment on college campuses and coffee houses alike.
Joan Baez and Woody Guthrie played a vital role in mainstreaming the folk revival. Both performed extensively on college tours with Weavers before going solo, amassing an enormous following.
These performers were notable for including songs in languages other than English in their repertoires, particularly Spanish and Yiddish. Furthermore, many also displayed social conscience through singing songs supporting causes like Civil Rights activism or antiwar demonstrations.
The revival also gave birth to an audience for folk-influenced rock, with groups like New Lost City Ramblers, Dave Van Ronk, and Mississippi John Hurt benefiting from this trend. Some groups took advantage of keeping elements of folk idiom alive such as using traditional instruments like banjos while adding guitars and drums into their soundscapes.
Other groups such as the Smothers Brothers and Glenn Campbell also crossed over from Country and Western, eschewing yet subverting its conventions while simultaneously poking fun at them. Perhaps most significantly was when Bob Dylan made an electrified leap at Newport Folk Festival in 1965 despite other performers already using electric instruments – this change caused much animosity from fans as it marked an important turning point in folk-rock’s evolution.
The Early Years
Folk music revival in the 1960s is widely credited with providing a new forum for political protest and building an American identity for younger people. Folk singers during this era provided platforms for voter registration drives, freedom rides, lunch counter sit-ins that helped advance civil rights. Furthermore, its popularity gave boost to peace movements such as Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament demonstrations during tumultuous Cold War/Vietnam War years.
In the early ’60s, four types of performers emerged from the revival: traditional performers Sarah Ogan Gunning and Mississippi John Hurt were content to remain outside mainstream society; touring regionally or singing at coffeehouses was their livelihood. Meanwhile Pete Seeger and his Weavers made money popularizing acoustic music commercially while adhering to folk musical traditions from their home communities for performances with which they performed at commercial venues.
Thirdly, singers adapted traditional text and music for urban audiences by adapting traditional folk and classical texts with pop-folk sounds that incorporated folk, classical jazz, popular, and pop styles such as the Kingston Trio or Peter, Paul, and Mary; others used their popularity and acoustic musical instrumentation to promote topical political messages often related to poverty or peace. Joan Baez used such methods effectively when advocating social justice issues through song.
As the movement developed, appreciation for musical traditions outside the urban folk-music scene also began to expand. Bluegrass musicians embraced banjo as their primary instrument and published tablature for songs like “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”
Additionally, the revival brought with it an appreciation for older recordings by early folk artists, including old-time traditional blues singers like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Clarence Ashley, country blues players like Jimmie Rodgers and Reverend Gary Davis, as well as Gospel performers from days gone by. All these old traditions found a new platform through this revival in folk music which gave popular bands like Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul, Mary & Joan Baez national followings that continues today.
The 1960s
By the 1960s, folk music had grown increasingly popular and become associated with the Civil Rights Movement. These songs, often bearing political messages that reached wide audiences and helped influence society. This trend continued into the 1970s.
The 1960s witnessed many pioneers of the folk revival flourish, introducing traditional folk music to new generations through Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and others. Harry Smith’s compilations of forgotten or obscure commercial 78rpm “race” and hillbilly” recordings from 1920s-30s played an essential part in shaping its development as part of its revival movement.
Other performers were able to adapt traditional text and musical arrangements from folk traditions into appealing urban music markets – examples being Peter, Paul & Mary and Joan Baez as popular groups who managed this without diluting its social commentary.
Other performers adapted their style in order to better appeal directly to youth audiences, such as groups like the Lovin’ Spoonful who combined elements of rock and folk in their music. Also, with the rise of counterculture during the late 1960s came renewed life for folk music as many young people, now commonly referred to as “hippies”, began growing their hair long and practicing free love as an attempt at rebelling against mainstream society’s restrictions.
Many musicians involved in the folk revival also performed songs written in languages other than their native tongue. Weavers and other singers often sang material written in German, Spanish and Italian alongside Yiddish and Afrikaans songs in their repertoires.
Pete Seeger and the Weavers were well known artists for being politically active, supporting civil rights and other liberal causes such as equal pay for women. Unfortunately, this often led to trouble with HUAC witch hunts of the 1950s; consequently they weren’t on TV until 1963. Odetta, introduced to Martin Luther King at a march on Washington where she sang her famous tune “We Shall Overcome”, was another highly visible folk music activist during this era.
The 1970s
As the folk movement reached its zenith in the ’60s, singer-songwriters began producing more rock-influenced music than traditional folk. Some notable examples are “Hey Joe,” written by Billy Roberts for folk artist Billy Roberts but made popular by Jimi Hendrix just prior to his meteoric rise in 1967 and covered by Crosby Stills Nash & Young as full rock version that became an instant classic in 1968.
The 1960s witnessed both Civil Rights Movement and peace activism ignite the folk scene. Many singers and bands made their living as acoustic musicians during this decade, often performing political songs with a message. Guy Carawan’s “We Shall Overcome”, later revived by Peter, Paul & Mary and Dylan to serve as civil rights volunteers’ marching song, became iconic while Joan Baez and Bob Dylan sang about war in Vietnam, racism and feminism respectively.
Folk artists of this era were celebrated for being both talented and versatile, such as The Kingston Trio (whose success in the early ’60s was unprecedented for this style of music) consisting of singers Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers recorded both traditional folk tunes as well as original compositions.
The Trio’s popularity, along with that of other 1960s folk-rock acts such as Limeliters and Highwaymen, helped expose a wider audience to folk-style music. Many traditionalists view this development as watering down its essence while revivalists view it as simply another step in its development.
After The Kingston Trio’s hit song Tom Dooley went gold in 1958, more and more popular artists began using electric instruments and rock-band rhythm sections when recording. As a result, folk-rock styles that had developed began replacing more acoustic music of the ’60s folk revival movement.
Folk music had a substantial effect on rock and roll that came after it, while also shaping other genres as time progressed. In particular, during the ’60s Country and Western became more influenced by Folk when bands like Lovin’ Spoonful, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Cat Stevens utilized folk styles, idioms, instruments and singers from that genre into their songs – even singers like Cat Stevens who later went acoustic as part of Crosby, Stills Nash and Young did this long after Revival had peaked.