Southern Folk Music
Southern Folk Music and Race Relations
Abstract
Introduction
The growth of the American folk music reservoir is a process that counterparts the historical and cultural development of American society. In the formation of this reservoir, two major streams, British, African, and several smaller branches, e.g., German, French, Cajun Mexican, etc., flowed together over a two-century period (Malone, 1979:4). Alan Lomax, one of folk music 's leading historians, has detected that the merging of these miscellaneous elements has resulted in a cultural product, which is "more British than anything one can find in Britain" (1960:155).
Southern music has been an important part of the folk custom; in many ways. It is identical with American folk music. Its history is well documented,(Malone, 1979, 1985; Carr, 1979; Wolfe, 1977). Southern music has been ignored until recently it is the sociological examination of the relationships. Between this form of popular cultures, important historically, this gave rise to it and expressed by it. (Fine, 1977:381-384; cf. also Albrecht, 1954).1 Country music is a replication of the southern region 's culture, history and social structure at the macro level and of the hopes, fears, beliefs and attitudes of its people at the micro level. (Gritzner, 1978)
In this paper, I think that the history and development of southern folk music may serve as an important role for seeing and growing of the southern race relations. I am not suggesting a causal relationship but an interactional one. Both the southern race relations and southern music are reflections of the social structure of the rural south. In the segregated south, white and black musical customs display the same differences, which have historically characterized white/black relations. This is not a lyrical study. Rather, it is a socio-historical analysis of regional popular culture, which focuses upon the interaction between two important features of that culture, race,
Abstract
Introduction
The growth of the American folk music reservoir is a process that counterparts the historical and cultural development of American society. In the formation of this reservoir, two major streams, British, African, and several smaller branches, e.g., German, French, Cajun Mexican, etc., flowed together over a two-century period (Malone, 1979:4). Alan Lomax, one of folk music 's leading historians, has detected that the merging of these miscellaneous elements has resulted in a cultural product, which is "more British than anything one can find in Britain" (1960:155).
Southern music has been an important part of the folk custom; in many ways. It is identical with American folk music. Its history is well documented,(Malone, 1979, 1985; Carr, 1979; Wolfe, 1977). Southern music has been ignored until recently it is the sociological examination of the relationships. Between this form of popular cultures, important historically, this gave rise to it and expressed by it. (Fine, 1977:381-384; cf. also Albrecht, 1954).1 Country music is a replication of the southern region 's culture, history and social structure at the macro level and of the hopes, fears, beliefs and attitudes of its people at the micro level. (Gritzner, 1978)
In this paper, I think that the history and development of southern folk music may serve as an important role for seeing and growing of the southern race relations. I am not suggesting a causal relationship but an interactional one. Both the southern race relations and southern music are reflections of the social structure of the rural south. In the segregated south, white and black musical customs display the same differences, which have historically characterized white/black relations. This is not a lyrical study. Rather, it is a socio-historical analysis of regional popular culture, which focuses upon the interaction between two important features of that culture, race,
References: 1.Tony Russell suggested some years ago (1970:85) that sociologists might find useful information in this field for the study of attitudes. In recent years, studies of attitudes toward alcohol (Chalfant and Beckley, 1983), sexual behavior (Chandler, et al, 1982), sex roles (Meyer and Vander Wey, 1983), urbanization (Austin, 1983), aging and the elderly (Aday and Austin, 1987), social class (McLaurin, 1986) have employed this approach. 2. While the ideological dimensions of this issue are outside the scope of this chapter, the debate between the Nashville Agrarians and the Chapel Hill Regionalists provides a fascinating context for examining the impact of technology upon the culture and identity of the south. 3. Commenting on Carey McWilliams ' observation that blacks, once they were assured of the sincerity of Jimmy Carter 's beliefs in racial equality, voted for him because he was southern, Rubin says, "...since southern whites and blacks alike have been shaped by the region 's historical experience, they share many qualities of outlook and expectation which make for loyalty to a common community, and which, when the old chasm of race has been bridged, are free to assert themselves as never before."1980:22) 4. Malone cautions is against a view of total isolation in the hill country. Blacks and their music did come into the mountains very early and their influence was felt far in advance of the commercialization of folk music (1985:5). 5An interesting issue which lies outside the scope of this chapter is the question of regional variations in the use of the folk tradition. It may well be that region is as important a variable as race. Delta musicians, black and white, may have had more in common with each other than would musicians in other regions, e.g., Appalachia, the Texas plains, etc. 6One of the best sources of information available is Tony Russell 's Blacks, Whites and Blues, 1970. Though somewhat dated, Russell documents the black/white interchange from slavery days to the 1960s so well that is unnecessary to repeat the effort except in highlight. 7In a fascinating parallel, Rob Tannenbaum finds that the new traditionalists in contemporary country music such as Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakum and Steve Earle are making inroads into the west-coast rock markets (Rolling Stone Magazine, December 18, 1986:109ff). WORKS CITED http://frank.mtsu.edu/~baustin/race.htm http://217.218.200.220/documents/10129/21410/A+way+down+south+A+history+of+southern+identity.pdf