The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #113081 Message #2412801
Posted By: Stringsinger
13-Aug-08 - 03:48 PM
Thread Name: Relationship between Folk & Country
Subject: RE: Relationship between Folk & Country
Alan Lomax's "Cantrametrics" did a study of early Twenties country music and later
examples through the Forties, Fifties, Sixties and found very little difference in many
aspects of the singing and playing styles of the performers.
Mostly, the difference are recording company terms which service their demographics
rather than adequately describe the music they sell.
The term "folk" became a way of presenting the earlier revival pop-groups by these
recording companies. Hence, PPandM, Dylan, Weavers,Brothers Four, Brothers Karamosov etc. became "folk" whereas the traditional country musicians of the early Twenties were
not included in this designation.
"Hillbilly" was another recording company term taken from an early country singing group.
The lines of separation between country and folk are cosmetic. They all stem from the
same source.
Frank Hamilton