27 Why Is American Folk Music Still Important Today?

This essay was composed in December 2024 and uses MLA documentation.

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I want to take you back for a second. Let’s go back to a simpler time when all we had to worry about was who we were going to play with and what games we were going to play at recess. I’m thinking now of my 6^th-grade classroom. I see the small desks, and I can smell the crafts and the art projects. It feels warm, bright, cozy and, most importantly, safe. I hope you can imagine something similar. It was this setting where I was first introduced to the famous Woody Guthrie. Guthrie is pictured holding his famous guitar, which is inscribed with “This Machine Kills Fascists.” The Fascist Killing Machine was not how he was introduced to me. I first heard his all-American ballad known as “This Land Is Your Land.” I’m sure you’ve heard of it.

This land is your land, and this land is my land

From California to the New York Island,

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters;

This land was made for you and me. (Guthrie)

This was taught to me during a U.S. history unit designed to inspire patriotism and a love for our country in our young impressionable minds. It worked! “This Land Is Your Land” is one of the most famous American folk songs of all time. It is a powerful reminder of the American ideology of inclusion, equality and the beauty that we are blessed with here in the United States. It’s hard to listen to this moving ballad without tearing up. What makes this folk song even more powerful is its much less-talked-about hidden verses that are critical of the United States:

As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me? (Guthrie, verses 5 and 6)

These much less common verses are a great example of why American folk music is still important. It is proof that life is full of mostly gray areas and that nuance is not only important but also necessary! Folk music is a medium that gives voice to the voiceless; it enables us to celebrate being a part of something while still recognizing inequality and the need for change in another part.

Before we go any further, I think it’s important to make sure we are on the same page. Let’s talk about American folk music, what it is, where it comes from and why it’s still important today. Kim Ruehl, an editor for NoDepression.com, a music journal that specializes in folk music, wrote an article about the history of American folk music. She describes and purposes and variety of folk songs.

From its origins, folk music has been the music of the working class. It is community-focused and has rarely enjoyed commercial success. By definition, it is something anyone can understand and in which everyone is welcome to participate. Folk songs range in subject matter from war, work, civil rights and economic hardship to nonsense, satire and, of course, love songs. (Ruehl)

Folk songs tell stories, and they capture the feelings of the people who wrote them and are an opportunity for the people who sing them to express themselves and their feelings. Folk music is a way to preserve these stories, ideas and other important lessons that might be lost if we aren’t careful. Folk music is a great way to address social and political issues; it is a medium of self-expression. Folk music is inclusive: anyone can join in. You don’t have to be a classically trained musician to enjoy folk music. All you need is your voice to get started, but a simple instrument like a guitar, banjo, fiddle, piano, cow bones or a harmonica can add to the soulful feeling of the music.

The melodies of folk songs are frequently borrowed and seldom original. This allows the folk artist to take a song and turn it into something new. A great example of this is Steve Goodman’s “Ballad of Penny Evans.” “The Ballad of Penny Evans” is the heartbreaking story about a woman with two young children who was left widowed from the war in Vietnam. The tune was originally from an old folk song called “The Flying Cloud.” “The Flying Cloud” tells the story of a man working on a slaving ship. Goodman repurposed the tune and gave it a new life, sharing a completely different story than what it was originally written for. Willi Carlisle, a Grammy-nominated American folk musician who’s performed at the Grand Ole Opry, says, “Folk songs are proof we can use the ashes of old things to fertilize new gardens” (0:10).

The power that comes with the ability to take a good tune with bad lyrics and turn it from a song about a slave ship to one of the most harrowing stories of sadness and grief that is brought on by war is one of the many superpowers of folk music. This sharing of melodies is part of the reason American folk music feels so alive. With modern copyright laws and the invention of the internet, it is getting harder and harder for folk musicians to continue the tradition of borrowing tunes, melodies and songs. A journal article that lawyer Asher Mitchell wrote describes the tension between modern copyright laws and American folk music:

Folk music at its essence is a musical and oral vehicle for delivering culturally relevant or significant experiences, a phenomenon that reaches many genres of music but does not rest their bedrocks upon it to the same degree. Folk music historically has used the oral tradition to relay songs from one generation to the next or from one community to the next, creating a sense of a shared culture. (Mitchell 451–452)

The need for communal music that enables the continuation of a story or lesson outweighs the need for copyright. This shared culture is the most important part of American folk music. Shared culture is what gives folk music its ability to inspire and start social change and understanding. Mitchell adds that “[Woody Guthrie] himself found copyright restrictions on music so abhorrent that he regularly provided an ‘anti-copyright’ notice with his songs,” which included that statement that “‘anybody caught singin [this song] without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. …We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do’” (Mitchell 454). The American folk artist understands the benefit of sharing their tunes, melodies and ideas in a way that few others will ever understand. Folk musicians and artists think of folk songs as tools for their tool box. They might learn a new song about sadness and sorrow and sing it that way for a while, but when it’s time for celebration, they turn that same tune into a song of jubilee! American folk music is an oral tradition that is passed down from one generation to the next. This makes the history of American folk music like a loom that will never be finished. The tools, traits, stories and histories will hopefully continue down through the ages, with new additions to the never-ending tree of changes and alterations!

In addition to allowing people to share and adapt tunes, folk music humanizes people who are different than we are and enables empathy and social change. In his first collection of folk songs, Willi Carlisle say, “One of the first things you learn about folk music is that it’s an uphill battle, that history is decided upon by the victor, that for every one voice we hear there are a million voices wailing in the dark” (Carlisle 2). The millions of voices in the dark waiting to be heard are there for us to learn from and to understand. They are there begging us to listen and to avoid the mistakes of the past. Rina Bousalis, a member of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Florida Atlantic University, writes, “Folk music’s persuasive sounds, lyrics, and progressive viewpoints had the ability to influence and spread ideologies, address racial and gender issues, and inspire a wave of diverse folk artists and alternative music” (Bousalis 287). The soothing, simple sounds of folk music act as a buffer from the standard abrasive nature of these issues. Singing about an issue is a great way to help people recognize the emotion they have tied to a certain subject and idea. Folk music is like a bridge to another viewpoint. It enables all participants to hear and understand a different point of view without having to abandon their current ideologies and understandings. As Ruehl describes, folk music also enables people to create that bridge themselves to share their experiences with others.

Today, American folk music has begun to swell again as the working class finds themselves in a position of economic recession and social change is welling up for everyone from the working and middle class to LGBT people, immigrants and others struggling for equality. As concerns have surfaced for civil rights for LGBT workers and unrest across the Middle East, folk singers in New York, Boston, Austin, Seattle, and lower Appalachia have emerged with a new, innovative approach to traditional music. (Ruehl)

As new social challenges are emerging and as times are changing, the world is in need of new folk artists to take the melodies of the past and turn them into fight songs for the future. People today are lonely. Folk music can be an antidote to that! Folk music is meant to be enjoyed in a crowded room with people going through the same things that you are. It was designed to ensure that no matter what you are going through and no matter how hard things are, you know that someone understands your pain and has been through something similar.

Folk music can be hard to digest. One reason for this is because a lot of folk music can be absolutely heartbreaking. In an anthology compiled completely of disaster folk songs, editor David Livingstone, an English professor teaching at the University of Bucharest, says, “Amazingly, almost every song in this collection commemorates (if that’s the right word) something terrible that actually happened,” (Livingstone 84). Folk music tells real stories about people, places and, usually, tragedy. Compared to modern songs about parties, the ease of 21^st-century living and the good life, it’s easy to see why people might not want to listen to music about tragedy, suffering and evil.

Another issue that American folk music faces is backlash from governments and oppressors. A great example of this is famous folk artist Pete Seeger. Pete Seeger was a Harvard dropout who, in his own words, “fell” into the profession of folk music. In the 1950s’ anti-communism scare, Seeger and other musicians were targeted. Eventually, Seeger was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee. When asked about his political, social and religious history, he simply responded

I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this. I would be very glad to tell you about my life if you want to hear of it. I feel that in my whole life I have never done anything of any conspiratorial nature and I resent very much and very deeply the implication of being called before this Committee that in some way because my opinions may be different from yours, or yours, Mr. Willis, or yours, Mr. Scherer, that I am any less of an American than anybody else. I love my country very deeply, sir. (Smithsonian Folkways)

For his answer, Seeger was eventually tried for contempt of court and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Lucky for Seeger, things cooled down, and the Court of Appeals decided that the indictment was faulty and threw it out. Governments and other oppressors are scared of folk musicians because of the power for social and societal change that they are able to start, inspire and continue.

American folk music is a great tool to create cultural awareness. Everyone has folk songs. There are folk songs from people who worked slave ships like “The Flying Cloud,” songs from people forced into slavery like “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” and countless other examples of folk music on both sides of any conflict. Folk music transcends all barriers and gives us a way to talk about injustice, inequality and racism. Ian Cicco, an assistant professor of music education at the University of Southern Mississippi, followed elementary music educators’ use of folk songs with racist origins and anti-racist pedagogical practices. Cicco found that

incorporating a variety of music/materials and holding open conversations with students to combat racism bears semblance to how elementary educators have used texts/storybooks to discuss anti-racism in the elementary classrooms…these choices resemble an approach to teaching anti-racism through the use of storybooks and reinforce reports of students’ capability to participate in discussions about racism when teachers use literature to initiate such conversations. (Cicco)

American folk music is full of songs both happy and sad, good and evil. The duality of folk music is one of the reasons it is still important today. As a society, we need to learn how to talk about the bad things along with the good. There is no point in hiding from the past; it will come out eventually. Cicco continues by saying that “many respondents made it clear that they prioritized instruction that allows for students to recognize and understand systemic injustices, racism, and appropriation,” adding that “students [are] able to comprehend how oppression, history, and sociopolitical factors affect culture and music” (Cicco). Folk music is a great tool to discover bias, racism and cultural misunderstanding. The more one’s beliefs and experiences are pointed out to them, the easier it becomes to recognize them and understand that while they might be true and good for you, they are damaging and extremely hurtful to someone else.

Folk music is an anchor to our past and a guide to our future. The stories and histories of the past are repeated today and tomorrow. One of the most common ideas written about is the idea of the human versus machine. Let me paint you a picture: Someone comes up to you explaining that they have a new machine that is more efficient, faster, smarter and better in every way than you are. What do you think of? I would not be surprised if artificial intelligence comes to mind. However, the story I was setting up for you is the classic American folk song “John Henry.” Dan Robinson, who studied music at Western Kentucky University, wrote an article about the folk tradition and the human versus machine problem through “John Henry.” The song “tells the story of a black man who stood up to the new technology of the day, a steam drill. He gets in a contest driving railroad spikes with the drill” (Robinson).

The issues of the past are the issues of the present. We can learn from John Henry’s experience and ensure that as AI enters the mainstream world, we are doing our best to keep ethical guidelines around its use and implementation. Robinson adds that the human versus machine problem “is an old tale that folk music frequently captures. The folk tradition has given us the song ‘John Henry,’ but one wonders what songs will be sung in the future about our struggle to wisely use the technology we’re now inventing” (Robinson). As we look to the future with excitement, it is imperative for us to stay grounded in the past. We can learn from the mistakes we made during other periods of great technological advancement and implement rules and regulations to protect the worker and the less fortunate. New technology is only cool if everyone is benefiting from it. If it only makes one group of people richer or improves one group’s quality of life, that’s probably a sign that something needs to be changed to lift all the boats in the harbor instead of just one!

Folk music is here to stay. Folk music is fluid enough to allow for the good times when folk music is not important and for the bad times when folk music is needed to rally the people to overcome a joint enemy. Ruehl says that

[f]rom the onset of American history, folk music has shown up at times when the people needed it most. The earliest folk songs rose from slave fields as spirituals such as “Down by the Riverside” and “We Shall Overcome.” These are songs about struggle and hardship but are also full of hope. They sprang from the need of the worker to go to a place in her brain where she knew there was more to the world than the hardships she was facing at the time. (Ruehl)

The country needs honest, open, hard conversations. In today’s day and age of endless social media echo chambers and never-ending confirmation bias confirming news articles, it has never been easier to hate the opposition. When we as a country look at ideologies, dollar signs and convenience instead of people, things start to go south quickly. We’ve stopped communicating with each other because we don’t have to any more. With social media groups and online friends replacing the need for local connection, neighbors and even family, you don’t have to be nice anymore. If you never need anything from your neighbor, odds are if they are different from you, you probably won’t even end up talking to them, creating an even bigger divide in our already divided house. As heartbreaking as it sounds, if we as a society keep ignoring each other, soon enough we will stop viewing each other as human, as dystopian as that sounds. The only answer to our problem is empathy. If we start looking at issues from the opposite point of view, if we try to understand where they are coming from or why they feel the way that they feel, hopefully we can go from a society that is asking “What can society do for me?” to “What can I do for society?”

I want to leave you with one final Willi Carlisle quote to keep in mind when you hear the twang of a banjo or the slightly off-key ballad sung with love:

The ones who decide upon what voices get heard, tell me there’s “no money in folk music,” that oral culture moves too slow to keep up with the newest trends. But I’ve got a counterpoint: Woody Guthrie said something along the lines of “folk music is who is poor and where the money is.” And here we are. We continue because of that. We claim a little space, a little more freedom. In a world of inhuman scale (climate disaster, pop blaring in the Starbucks, hundreds of millions of samey-same clips) we can sing the songs we know together. …To quote another great folksinger, Utah Phillips said “a song about freedom is any song you choose to sing yourself.” (Carlisle 2)

It is my desire that you will find a song to sing for yourself. I hope that this song you choose for yourself will open your mind to new possibilities, that it will help you feel for and empathize with someone else.

Works Cited

Bousalis, Rina. “Exploring the Use of Digitally Archived Folk Music to Teach Southern United States History.” The Social Studies, vol. 114, no. 6, 2023, pp. 282–296. Education Source.

Carlisle, Willi. Willi Carlisle Song Book. 2023.

Carlisle, Willi. The Ballad of Penny Evans. 2020.

Cicco, Ian. “Elementary Music Educators’ Use of Folk Songs with Racist Origins and Anti-Racist Pedagogical Practices.” Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 72, no. 1, 2024, pp. 28–47. Research EBSCO, https://research-ebsco-com.dist.lib.usu.edu/c/gla6va/viewer/html/vn3c3ajggb.

Guthrie, Woody. This Land Is Your Land. 1956. https://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/This_Land.htm.

Livingstone, David. “Calling Out to the Heavens for Aid: Disaster Songs in American Folk Music.” University of Bucharest Review. Literary and Cultural Studies Series, vol. 12, no. 2, 2022, pp. 83–96.

Mitchell, Asher. “Cause We Don’t Give a Dern: The Fundamental Tension between Modern Copyright Law and American Folk Music.” Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, vol. 67, 2022, pp. 443–466. Heinonline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/wajlp67&i=465. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Robinson, Dan. “Classic Folk Song Explores Anxiety Of Humans Vs. Technology.” WPR, 27 September 2019, https://www.wpr.org/music/classic-folk-song-explores-anxiety-humans-vs-technology. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Ruehl, Kim. “The History of American Folk Music.” Live About, 2018, https://www.liveabout.com/the-history-of-american-folk-music-1322572. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Smithsonian Folkways. “A Tribute to Pete Seeger.” The Smithsonian, 2022, https://folkways.si.edu/peteseeger. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.