The origins of wyrd folk   An article taking a concise look at early twentieth century traditional music and its evolution to folk music in Britain and the USA.    We consider the traditional music of both countries and how this gained new appreciation in the nineteen fifties leading to the 'folk revival'

Introduction

In our article on the 'myths of wyrd folk' we considered the very concept of what wyrd is and how it relates to folk music.  It is more than merely meaning 'weird' and instead relates to the evolution of a form towards its fate.  However it would perhaps be too bold to say that as folk explores the condition of the ordinary populace, it will also incorporate the stories of hardship, crime, lost love, wrong doing and folklore.  It is often these that at least initially draw many fans into the music, but over time this interest often grows to the heart of the music itself.

The dark holler of USA traditional music

We can track back USA folk, or more accurately 'traditional' music to audio available to us from the very early part of the twentieth century.  These were captured on wax cylinders and later 78rpms cut either in small studios or especially for those investigating the area of music.  During the 1950s in the USA key figures like Harry Smith, Pete and Mike Seegar and Alan Lomax (accompanied by a young Shirley Collins from Britain) did a similar journey around the USA to the British folklorists of the late Victorian era such as Ralph Vaughn Williams and Cecil Sharp (who himself spent four years collecting USA folk song).   

At a time of rapid commercial growth in the USA economy, they went back and rediscovered the original not commercially intended, traditional music of the people.  This was from the small towns and still remote communities such as in the mountains.  Here they sought the companion music to the more known black and spiritual music of the black population.  The poor white equivalent had been ignored and was even perhaps a source of shame at that time to the USA, derided as hillbilly music.  These musicians had heard blues from black musicians and early gospel and incorporated it in their own fashion into their own localised sound. These musicians played simple folk music with banjos, acoustic guitars and fiddles, songs from the heart with the stories of their condition.

Primary examples of such musicians had played in jug bands, string bands, solo, in duos for families and communities in areas such as Kentucky and North Carolina, playing music that would broadly be given the name of 'Appalachian'.  From these roots many genres sprang, as American folk music commercialised into a popular form elements of it became country, some became the more uptempo bluegrass, some reemerged as new folk led by such as Pete Seegar.    USA folk in its early days music was interwoven with formative country which would incorporate western swing to evolve towards the popular form we know today.   In blues, the acoustic 'folk blues' sound of Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson and many more was defined by such as Robert Johnson and the multiple-murderer blues-folk singer Leadbelly.   Here we focus on the other musicians who unacknowledged at the time, are now pivotal as influential figures for later musicians who sought an authentic USA music using folk forms.  These had grown up hearing black musicians playing blues and spirituals, the folk songs carried by their parents from other countries and the popular songs of the day, all becoming part of these new musicians playlist.

These musicians are such as Dock Boggs, Clarence 'Tom' Ashley and Doc Watson, Roscoe Holcomb, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, John Jacob Nile (who also collected folksong including songs such as 'Black Is The Colour') and of course The Carter Family who went on to be consider 'America's first family of song'.  Compiled on such as the Harry Smith 'American Folk' definitive set, by Alan Lomax, the Seegars or the Congress recordings library,  these artists did so much more than the few tracks captured there.  Often they had recorded a few tracks on labels back in the late 20s for 78s but the depression era and war wiped out any chance of becoming a professional musician.  It wasn't until the late 50s and the re-discovery by the folk song collectors and presenting them to new college audiences that these artists could concentrate on their music and do albums.  However even then, musicians such as Roscoe Holcomb stayed poor and not accepted by his home community.

These singers played singular songs of raw experience, incorporating not only love songs and laments but the dark tales from the poor underbelly of the USA.     We do not wish to denigrate these musicians at all but they were making music of the people, often poor, ill educated, lacking opportunities in harsh economic conditions and extremely local to their upbringing.   They came from physically demanding professions such as coal mining where there was constant industrial unrest and layoffs.  Their families had lived there since settling after immigration and the songs carried forward folk stories interweaving those of the UK and Western Europe with the new stories of the early USA.  They were sometimes highly eccentric by the standards of today, such as Clarence 'Tom' Ashley singing black-faced with his banjo, mixing darkly murderous death ballads with songs of humour.  However these were more innocent times and such moves were probably a homage to the music's roots as they saw it and to liberate the performer.

However obscure these artists seem now, they were even in this invisibility to the mass population the leading exponents of the form.  Often banjo based, these songs have little of the jauntiness we associate with the instrument and instead draw us back to the concept of chilling death ballads often associated with some of UK folk.    Musicians like Tim Renner who later formed Stone Breath with USA musician Prydwyn and UK musicians like Sharron Kraus would adopt the stark, direct intense folk with banjo of these artists. 

The more you investigate this area of music, the more artists you will uncover, there are literally hundreds if not thousands with little genre differentiation.  All recorded on primitive forms but thankfully still existing and available to us in more quantities than UK traditional records of that time.  This was music which came organically from the people, often unrestricted by a specific genre (which was only defined after the event) singing ballads, stepping dance songs, uptempo hollers, spirituals, blues, country, folk stories  and popular songs of the era all by one musician.   It is this music along with blues and early jazz which evokes the formative stages of USA popular music. 

The music had been going for decades before such as John Jacob Nile, Alan Lomax, the Seegars and Harry Smith rediscovered it and gave it a middle class, academic appeal which deemed it worthy of restudy by the listening public.  Although never big sellers in their own right to the public, they would prove pivotal influences to such as Pete Seegar in the USA, Ewan MacColl in the UK and of course Bob Dylan.  Dylan looked back to such as Woody Guthrie, a political folk musician who was obscure back in the 30s with his music captured later in his career thankfully.  This new generation of musician took direct inspiration from these artists and adapted their forms into the new music known as 'folk'. Harry Smith and Alan Lomax started recording these musicians quickly to preserve the music for future generations as by then they were middle aged or becoming elderly.  The young in these states being seduced by popular song and rock and roll with the possibility the forms might be lost in time.

We recommend searching out the records by all the artists highlighted in bold above which will lead you to many many more and such wonderful additional compilation records as:

1.   the absolutely definitive Harry Smith curated 'Folkways' box set

2.   'Down In The Basement: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove Of Vintage 78s 1926-1937

3.   'Roots Music: An American Journey (boxset)

4.   The folk music of North Carolina / Texas (two double sets)

5.   Kentucky Mountain Music (6 CD)

A large selection of music examples may be heard at:

http://www.folkways.si.edu

http://www.boweavilrecordings.com

http://www.oldhatrecords.com

Songs of the British foggy dew

It was not only in the USA that traditional music was finding new appreciation.  Alan Lomax although American lived in the UK during the Fifties and with his young lover, Shirley Collins (who would go to become one of the founding folk musicians and one of the most important of all time in the UK).  Alan and Shirley travelled the USA as mentioned above but came back to the UK full of this new amazing music which fitted with the inspiration of others.  Alan with others would investigate the traditional song of the UK and the wider world.   At the BBC, traditional music was starting a period of reconsideration which would prove highly important in setting the conditions for young people to hear it for the first time in cities on the radio.

Peter Kennedy and Alan Lomax came together to promote the traditional music of the British Isles during the mid fifties, cumulating in a wonderful 1957 Christmas documentary broadcast.    Clearly seeing the link between traditional music and it's communal setting these broadcasts help develop a receptivity to the muisc which others would pick up and develop.   At the time USA musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy and Mama Thornton were playing in the UK with teenagers having some disposable income for the first time to spend on consumer goods and entertainment.  This meant that some could more actively follow up an interest developed in traditional music from listening on the BBC and attending concerts.

One of the absolutely pivotal figures who did more perhaps than any one person to develop and promote the new 'folk' music was the Scottish musician, playwright and left wing polcitical activity, Ewan MacColl (James Miller).   MacColl's achievements were vast, producing an incredible series of documentary / plays on the BBC exploring the social context of traditional song in the communities, these were known as 'Radio Ballads'.  He was close to the equally important USA musician, Pete Seegar and married his half sister, Peggy with whom he would go on to record.   MacColl would ferment the early link between UK traditional music and left wing politics expressed in the high profile anti-nuclear campaign of the time.  MacColl's songs could range from traditional song, love ballads to fierce statements of political defiance.

Another key figure was A.L.Lloyd (aka Bert Lloyd) who did much to rediscover and promote traditional song, considering its social setting and writing extensively about the music as well as making music himself.  One of the key linkages he made was between the traditional music of the UK (and by extension the USA) with the central European traditional 'modal' musics of Bulgaria and Romania.   He also helped mentor the early development of Shirley Collins who was originally a young traditional singer and made the move into folk music.  This was not a given and important traditional singers such as Harry Cox although performing during the sixties to the young appreciative audience, would not make the move to popular song and incorporating instrumentation.

Through this interest in the traditional music of the Isles traditional singers such as Harry Cox, The Copper Family, Phil Tanner, Paddy Tunney and Jack Armstrong gained new audiences beyond their original communities.  These traditional artists inspired a wide range of compilations and the dedication of Topic Records to the form.  New traditional and folk singers emerged such as The Watersons, The Young Tradition (including Peter Bellamy), Cyril Tawney, Archie Fisher, Anne Briggs, Bert Jansch, Davy and Toni Arthur and Dick Gaughn.  By the mid-sixties the form started to evolve with some singers moving into popular music which developed psychedelic folk and folk-rock.    Artists such as The Watersons and The Copper Family stayed devoutly traditional and have done a phenomenal amount across the decades to promote the music continuing the music through generations of their family.

UK traditional music accompanying customs such as Morris dance, pace egging, Wassailing and other rites covered in our folklore article, became appreciated by traditional / folk music fans.   These customs and a proportion of traditional song within a modern society seem strange, archaic possibly even arcane (certainly some of the origins and sources are lost).  This was bound to create an air of mystery and married to some of the more dark folk songs, which in truth were only a small part of the wider range of subjects, would attract the young who often seek our the ghoulish and macabre at that age.  However once accepting of an aspect of traditional song and music for folk customs, they often go on to explore the music more broadly and to search backwards into the origins of the form.

Examples of broad ranging compilations of British traditional song and customs music are such as:

1.   ‘You Lazy Lot of Boneshakers’
2.   ‘Voice of the People’
3.   ‘English Customs and Traditions’ (Saydisc)
4.   ‘Alan Lomax Radio Series: Christmas’
5.   ‘England World Library of Folk Song’
6.   ‘A Century of Song’ (EFDSS)
7.   ‘The Seasons Round’

8.   'MayDay to Mistletoe'
 

Further Information

Good internet links to begin exploring this area are:

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/index.html
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/lomax/britain/britain.html
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/
We also recommend searching at the search engine of your choice on the artists we have mentioned.

We do not wish to break copyright so have not included examples of song from these artists but at both http://www.amazon.com and http://www.amazon.co.uk they have licenced streaming music.  Although we do not recommend specific web sites for music purchase we have found that Amazon consistently carry a large range of traditional and folk music.  For a specialised service from someone dedicated to the music we recommend Broad Tradition at http://www.broadtradition.com

Picture Names

Top left - Dock Boggs, USA Traditional Singer

Top Right - Harry Cox, UK Traditional Singer

First USA picture - Roscoe Holcomb

Second USA picture - Clarence 'Tom' Ashley

Third USA picture - Bascom Lamar Lunsford

Fourth USA picture - Doc Watson

First UK picture - Shirley Collins

Second UK picture - Ewan MacColl

Third UK picture - Paddy Tunney

Fourth UK picture - The Watersons

Fifth UK picture - Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers

Continuing Your Reading

We hope that this article has proven useful in establishing the formative stages of the music up to early nineteen sixties.   Please now feel free to read on and consider the evolution of folk music during that decade and later on in our chronological history of wyrd folk.