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The Folk Revivals

to myself. Nobody else was doing this. I didnt have any money. I didnt have any university
affiliation. I was simply on the road in battered old cars that I borrowed. (Personal interview,
Storrs, CT, December 29, 1988)

These men simply reconfirmed what is now abundantly clear: regional folk
music had not expired, it merely (all but) disappeared from the commercial
marketplace. Contra-dances in Vermont never stopped, not all of Montanas
cowboy singers had ridden into their final sunset, nor had the all-day African
American shape note singings in the Deep South entirely ceased. Although they
have been staples of regional American culture, many years would pass before
Tex-Mex cuisine, blackened fish, and Cajun two-step dancing eventually became chic in New York City. Such traditions are submerged from the view of
most Americans, who remain largely ignorant of the regional traditions across
the United States outside of their immediate view or own experience.

The 1960s Folk Revival

The corporate interest in the folk revival really began in 1958 when the Kingston
Trio recorded Tom Dooley, a murder ballad that Frank Warner had collected
in western North Carolina from banjo player and singer Frank Profitt. Their
version sold a million copies and its success motivated others to reexamine folk
music in a more commercial light. Such trends led to an upswing in folk music
gatherings and the development of groups such as the Brothers Four, the Limelighters, and other neofolkies. By the early 1960s the revival was in full swing
and the more enterprising people once more began marketing this music to a
mass audience. This also occurred on college campuses as it gradually became
fashionable to listen to this music and once again study the printed legacy of
James Francis Child and John Lomaxs early work with cowboy singers.
Traditional music suddenly found itself back in demand among the general
public. Younger people, in particular, exposed to this music for the first time
picked up a guitar or banjo and learned their rudiments in order to become a
folk singer. The music was called folk because of its southern background,
its roots in traditional forms, the fact that it was largely played on acoustic instruments, and for lack of any other convenient term. To be a folk singer was in
vogue and trendy, even sexy.
Subscriptions to magazines such as Sing Out! (founded in 1952) increased
dramatically. Broadside, which featured topical and left-wing protest songs, premiered in 1962. Simultaneously the more clean-cut and pop-oriented Hootenanny became a new addition to newsstands across the United States. Not all of
the performers caught up in this movement were white-bread, clean-cut college
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Regional Traditions in the United States
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