Hi Jenny,

Greetings from the UK!
Here's a couple of things you might like to try:

(i) Read some of the stuff written by your great countryman, Alan Lomax and, more importantly, listen to some of the recordings he made.

(ii) See if you can find a copy of a film called 'Songcatcher' by Maggie Greenwald. It's the best film about folk song I've ever seen and contains some wonderful singing.

Of course the US has a truly immense store of wonderful music and it's going to take quite a while to even scratch the surface - but if you begin to feel like a change you can always come over to this side of 'The Pond' and listen to some of our stuff.

Best wishes,
DB