Regional Folk Music
Regional Folk Music
The United States of America is a country filled with many regional cultures. In order to understand a person you have to understand the culture from which they come. Barbara Allen says in her article Regional Studies in American Folklore Scholarship that, "A sense of place, a consciousness of one's physical surroundings, is a fundamental human experience.1"
A person's culture comes from a vast variety of influences. Terry A. Barnhart says in his article Of Wholes and Parts: Local History and the American Experience, "Local, regional, inter-regional, national and global influences connect the parts to the whole in individual lives and to their local communities."2 But although all of these influences impact a persons culture, "Localized history is an invaluable means of interpreting the inner workings of the national experience."3
One of the most important and recognizable folkways of a culture is music. The folk music of a region can provide valuable insight into the past's influences upon that region's culture. To illuminate this valuable relationship, a map of folk music recordings was created. This map is to be used as a research tool in regional culture and trends in regional folk music. The recordings that will be a part of this map are based upon various field study recordings.
Included on this map are recordings of folk song surveys available on the internet. The pins are placed on map based on the location where the recording was made. Included with each pin are:
- Location where it was recorded
- Artist Name
- Song Title
- Catalog Number if available
- Link to the recording
Different colored pins indicate a different field project.
Regional Folk Music Recordings Map
Special Thanks To:
Tarble Arts Center Folk Archives
The Library of Congress
Works Cited
1. Allen, Barbara. "Regional Studies in Folklore Scholarship." In Sense of Place. Lexington Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1990. 1
2.Barnhart, Terry A. "Of Wholes and Parts: Local History and the American Experience." Research and Review Series 7, no. May 2000 (2000): 114. 9
3.Barnhart, Terry A. "Of Wholes and Parts: Local History and the American Experience." Research and Review Series 7, no. May 2000 (2000): 114. 12
