Folk Music: The Start of Country

Folks Love Folk Music

The beginning of what we now know as country music and rock and roll. Folk music was the seed that blossomed in to many genres of modern day music. Folk music came from the rich culture of the south and gained popularity in the 1960s. Folk music used instruments like the banjo and djembe that were both made out of gourde. The genre was created by Africans as they sung their struggles in song. It derived from negro spirituals as African Americans evolved the genre when they were freed. Popular African American folk artists included Lead Belly and Odetta who were barely credited for their amazing work because they were Black in a white world. Although, most country artists are white Americans they can thank early African American slaves for creating the foundation for the country genre. 

Photo Of LeadBelly
Photo of Odetta
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