The Folk Music post by Jordann Ford was a great introduction. The post gives you a great starter foundation to the vocabulary that is generally used when referring to folk music. Some common terms are call and response, djembe, patten juba, banjo, ring shout, work songs, and washboard. I leaned that Folk is a combination of African and American elements. The post then goes into each term individually and explains the backgrounds of each sub genre.

FOLK MUSIC-The Beginning