This week we’re going to focus on some of the earliest American folk music — folk/blues, folk/country and old time. The term “folk music” is so very vague; basically it could refer to any music folks from a particular place make, concerning pretty much any topic, created by the “folks” who live there. In America, early “folks” who settled (the already-settled) “New World” came from many places, including European countries such as England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany, and, usually unwillingly, Africa. Life in America was far from easy for any of the colonists, let alone for their African slaves. These folks sang about their struggles as a way to share them. They sang about their struggles as a way to survive.
