What is Folk Music?

     This is a website devoted to music the type of music we enjoy playing and listening to.  Sometimes people call it the "singer-songwriter" genre but more often it is called "folk music."  But what is it?  How do you define "folk music"?

     Good Question!  A complete answer probably does not exist.  In the July 7th edition of the New York Times Louis Armstrong was famously quoted as saying "All music is folk music, I ain't never heard no horse sing a song."  Mr. Armstrong was right, in a sense, but his definition of folk music is probably a bit broad for most purposes.  Pete Seeger has been quoted as saying that "folk music" is, to him, "homemade-type music played mainly by ear, arising out of older traditions but with a meaning for today."  But doesn't all music arise, in one way or another, out of older traditions?

     Maybe a good start to defining folk music (as it is traditionally viewed) would be to say that it is music transferred from musician to musician through oral tradition.  April is particularly interested in this approach to folk music as it relates to her field of study - many ancient religious texts originated in oral cultures and how information and stories are passed down orally is of great professional interest to her.  "By ear" is the way that most folk music has been passed down historically, and much of it is still learned that way.  Many modern folk singer/ singer-songwriter artists do not read music and learned their craft from watching and listening to similar artists they respected.  But, on the other hand, some artists do read music and compose songs longhand.  Are they precluded from being called "folk" artists?

     There are numerous "folk music festivals" held around the country every year.  Is folk music what is played at "folk music festivals"?  One would think so, at least in the sense that what is played at these festivals have become what people call "folk music" in common usage.  We have seen traditional bluegrass artists at folk festivals, but we have also seen popular stars like Shawn Colvin.  Basically what we want this site to be about is the music we like to play and listen to which is mostly the type of music played at these festivals.  But how do you define the type of music played at these events?

     Benjamin Filene, in his excellent Romancing the Folk: Public Memory & American Roots Music states that for him "folk music" has ceased "to hve much use as a descriptive term...." He prefers "vernacular music" as a designation.  In large part this is because one thing his book attempts to do is to explore the ways in which people have used to term "folk music" to defend their particular view of what is "pure" music as opposed to (gasp) "commercial" music.  He uses "vernacular music" to mean music which "demands only minimal formal training and material resources to produce it (although extensive formal training and mind-numbing resources certainly can be applied to it)."  That definition ignores the distinction between composed and oral traditions.  "Vernacular music" is a nicely descriptive term, but "Vernacular Tales" is a bit cumbersome to use as a title for our website.  Besides such a definition would include lots of music that would never be played at a folk festival like the music of Britney Spears or Kiss.

      So how do you ultimately differentiate Britney Spears and Ralph Stanley?  To be honest, I don't know.  I can say that I think that folks like Dr. Stanley are more devoted to their music and Ms. Spears seems to me to be an entertainer first and a musician only to the extend that it furthers her goal of being a popular entertainer, but that may say more about me and my opinion of Dr. Stanley and Ms. Spears than it does about music.  The late Supreme Court Justice Stewart once famously said of pornography that he could not precisely define it, but "I know it when I see it." (Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964)).  It may not be a completely satisfying-sounding standard but it will have to do for us for now.  What is this website about?  What is modern "folk music"?  We can't define it, but we know it when we hear it!