Country Gentlemen and the Folk Music Revival (1957–1966)

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-149
Author(s):  
Kip Lornell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Interest ◽  
The Core ◽  
Folk Music Revival

The Country Gentlemen (perhaps the most nationally acclaimed of the bluegrass genre’s second-generation bands) are at the core of this chapter. During this period record labels across the United States took a greater interest in local bands and more of them appeared on 45 rpm discs and, secondarily, albums. The most important local label, Rebel Records, started the same year (1960) that weekend bluegrass festivals debuted in nearby Berryville, Virginia. An increasing number of local venues were booking live local and regional bluegrass bands as well as national acts. Spurred by the folk music revival, among other factors like increased radio airplay, the general interest in bluegrass was clearly on the rise.

scholarly journals Visions of Diversity: Cultural Pluralism and the Nation in the Folk Music Revival Movement of the United States and Canada, 1958–65

2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
GILLIAN A. M. MITCHELL
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Pluralism ◽  
Folk Revival ◽  
The North ◽  
Folk Music Revival ◽  
Revival Movement ◽  
Excellent Work ◽  
The 1960S

This article focusses on the concept of cultural pluralism in the North American folk music revival of the 1960s. Building on the excellent work of earlier folk revival scholars, the article looks in greater depth at the “vision of diversity” promoted by the folk revival in North America – at the ways in which this vision was constructed, at the reasons for its maintenance and at its ultimate decline and on the consequences of this for anglophone Canadian and American musicians and enthusiasts alike.

I Come for to Sing

2018 ◽  
pp. 96-114
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Greene
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
African American ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Music ◽  
African American Music ◽  
Vernacular Music ◽  
Folk Music Revival ◽  
The Way

From 1930 to 1970, a second folk music revival took hold in the United States and Europe, determined to capture and preserve for posterity US and European vernacular music. Critical to this collection of folklorists, academics, political activists, and entrepreneurs was the history and impact of African American music on folklore and culture. Big Bill, quite familiar with the types of country and Delta blues the folk music revival craved stood happy to oblige. Soon, one of the most sophisticated and urbane performers of the age began performing alone accompanied by his guitar for folk audiences from New York to Chicago. Within this community, Broonzy found a culture and environment willing and able to support his transitioning career from black pop star to folk music darling. Along the way, he would meet more individuals who could aid in his career reinvention and he both accepted and rejected their expectations of him and his music.

Big Bill Broonzy

2018 ◽  
pp. 131-147
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Greene
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
Black Music ◽  
Racial Boundaries ◽  
Folk Music Revival ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Iconic Figure

While touring Europe through the 1950s, Big Bill became a legendary musician whose music and history mesmerized European audiences in the UK and on the continent. Although successful, his tours there added frustrations and created personal relationships that would stay with him until the end of his life. In Holland, he met a young Dutch theatre costume designer with whom he fell in love and produced a son. From the early 1950s to his death in 1958, Big Bill would try to maintain his relationship with Pim van Isveldt while balancing the significant changes in his career and a wife back home in Chicago. Broonzy crafted celebrity in Europe that moved beyond the United States’ racial boundaries, eventually becoming an iconic figure for black music during the decade even if he had been marginalized within the folk music revival and changing music landscape back home.

From the 30s to the 60s: The folk music revival in the United States

1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron Eyerman ◽  
Scott Barretta
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Folk Music Revival
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