Listen to a curated playlist of TN's heritages and traditions, stories, melodies and rhythms that were the seedbed for its people's song.
FOLK
TN Folk History
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Tennessee’s music trailhead begins with Folk music. Folk literally means “people,” so at the heart, music was by the people for the people.
Our nation has been a melting pot from the beginning: of heritages, traditions, sounds and instruments, from around the world. Folk music is aptly nicknamed roots music, since it is literally the root from which all other branches of music stem. It's music at its simplest, often carried
carried a cappella with just someone’s voice. As a tradition, it was passed down orally and was something people could take with them, anywhere—in the field, on the railroad, by a crib, in a horse carriage buggy. It came out of who people were, where they lived, and what they did. Songs were sung for games between children. Songs preserved history and identity, expressed values and worship. Songs gave strength through hardship, made work days bearable, and provided comfort in mourning. Jubilees scored times of celebration and breakthroughs in freedom, when soldiers returned from battle, new laws passed and wars ended. Songs were a way of sharing experiences and news of the day, of eliciting compassion and protesting change. Playing and singing together united groups and communities. It documented history or told dreams for the future. It affected
literally every sphere people were a part of: homelife, education, agriculture, revolutions, industry; technological, social and political progress; and entertainment, serving both as the impetus and the chronicler of how America and the state of Tennessee have taken shape over 250 years.
Many folk songs were brought over from the nations where people who had settled in the United States had immigrated from. Even before the Revolutionary War and America’s independence, Tennessee was home for many people from Africa, England, Scotland and Ireland. As people adjusted to their new lives, the melodies from their heritages were fit with new lyrics that described the new world they lived in: its rituals and chores, its dangers and dreams. When early Americans put new lyrics to old tunes this was called a "floating verse" song, meaning singers would sometimes...
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