Just a little on the lessons of American folk music

American Culture & SocietySpring-Summer 2012

Glenn Scott

Folk music gives us . . . The real stories of the people. Hopes but more often hardships. Much like enka. Folk music was never for money as

much as for expression:• Celebrate your life.• Share your struggles.

Beginnings Immigrants brought their music styles.

• African slaves• Scottish and Irish farmers• Many others

Old World music was adapted to fit new lives, new traditions.

American folk music is a mix!• Just like American people.

Key idea! Americans were often on the move. They didn’t stay in one village or

farm. Often they moved west. They had a name for this:

• Manifest destiny Going west brought new

adventures, new opportunities.• New land for farms, mines, ranches, towns,

businesses.

We’ll listen to two songs Stepstone by Woody Guthrie

• Sung by Joel Rafael

City of New Orleans by Steve Goodman• Sung by Willie Nelson

• On You Tube (see links), we can see Cheryl Crow joining Willie and also Steve Goodman singing his version.

Stepstone From the Dust Bowl era.

• People were ‘dirt poor.’ Great Depression• Farmers in parts of Oklahoma, North Texas,

and surrounding areas lost their farms when rain didn’t come. Winds blew away the soil and made huge clouds of dust.

• People had to leave – to move! • They packed cars with their belongings and

drove west to California to pick fruit.

Woody Guthrie Loved to sing about rambling.

• Going somewhere new.• Meeting new people.• Joining their struggles to earn a living.

Dust Bowl migrants

City of New Orleans

City of New Orleans Was a train

• On a route from Illinois south to Louisiana. Past houses, farms and fields.

Trains had been important part of U.S. growth.• A train ride revealed real-life side of country.

By the middle of the 1900s, they were replaced by cars and trucks.

Now we move on

The End