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121-419: John Edward Prine ( / p r aɪ n / ; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music . Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, Prine was known for his signature blend of humorous lyrics about love, life, and current events, often with elements of social commentary and satire , as well as sweet songs and melancholy ballads. He

242-644: A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award . The week after his death, Prine hit number one on Billboard ' s Rock Songwriters Chart because his singles ("In Spite Of Ourselves", "Angel from Montgomery", "Hello In There", "When I Get To Heaven", and "That's the Way the World Goes Round") all charted in the top 25 of the Hot Rock Song Chart. On the Billboard 200 , his 1971 debut album re-entered

363-691: A Grammy award for Best Country & Western Performance at the awards' inaugural ceremony in 1959. At the time, no folk-music category existed in the Grammy's scheme. The next year, largely as a result of The Kingston Trio album and "Tom Dooley", the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences instituted a folk category and the Trio won the first Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording for its second studio album At Large . At one point, The Kingston Trio had four records at

484-629: A big hit in 1950 with the single of Lead Belly 's " Goodnight, Irene ". This was number one on the Billboard charts for thirteen weeks. On its flip side was " Tzena, Tzena, Tzena ", an Israeli dance song that concurrently reached number two on the charts. This was followed by a string of Weaver hit singles that sold millions, including " "So Long It's Been Good to Know You" ("Dusty Old Dust") (by Woody Guthrie) and " Kisses Sweeter Than Wine ". The Weavers' career ended abruptly when they were dropped from Decca 's catalog because Pete Seeger had been listed in

605-531: A college club called the Cracked Pot by Frank Werber , who became their manager and secured them a deal with Capitol Records . Their first hit was a rewritten rendition of an old-time folk murder ballad, " Tom Dooley ", which had been sung at Lead Belly 's funeral concert. This went gold in 1958 and sold more than three million copies. The success of the album and the single earned the Kingston Trio

726-479: A cover version of Goodman's "My Old Man". In 1991, Prine released the Grammy -winning The Missing Years , his first collaboration with producer and Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein . The title song records Prine's humorous take on what Jesus did in the unrecorded years between his childhood and ministry . In 1995, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings was released, another collaboration with Epstein. On this album

847-560: A folk rock and indie folk band was formed in 2007 and achieved prominence in 2010. Shenandoah Run formed in 2011 to bring contemporary American folk music of the 1960s to modern listeners. Filk music can be considered folk music stylistically and culturally (though the 'community' it arose from, science fiction fandom , is an unusual and thoroughly modern one). Neofolk began in the 1980s, fusing traditional European folk music with post-industrial music , historical topics, philosophical commentary, traditional songs and paganism . The genre

968-445: A folk/pop blend. The mid to late Sixties saw the development of British folk rock , with a focus on indigenous (European, and, emblematically, English) songs. A key British folk rock moment was the release of Fairport Convention 's album Liege and Lief . Guitarist Richard Thompson declared that the music of the band demanded a corresponding "English Electric" style, while bassist Ashley Hutchings formed Steeleye Span to pursue

1089-552: A follow-up to In Spite of Ourselves . The album features country music covers spotlighting some of the most prominent female voices in the genre, including; Alison Krauss , Kacey Musgraves , and Lee Ann Womack , as well as Iris DeMent, the only guest artist to appear on both compilation albums. On March 15, 2017, the American Currents exhibit opened at the Country Music Hall of Fame . The exhibit featured

1210-420: A genre label is a rather nebulous one, but one that has been employed often at least since the mid-1970s. For dedicated enthusiasts, the category largely includes the works of contemplative post- Dylan singer-songwriters, who were influenced by his and other late 1960s' and 1970s' artists' country rock sounds, but who, recording slightly later, preferred a gentler, more acoustic-dominant sound that allowed focus on

1331-564: A handful of artists releasing records. Barred from mainstream outlets, artists like Seeger were restricted to performing in schools and summer camps, and the folk-music scene became a phenomenon associated with vaguely rebellious bohemianism in places like New York (especially Greenwich Village ) and San Francisco 's North Beach , and in the college and university districts of cities like Chicago , Greater Boston (especially Cambridge, Massachusetts ), Denver , Minneapolis and elsewhere. Ron Eyerman and Scott Baretta speculate that: [I]t

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1452-535: A hobby. Continuing studies at the Old Town School, he performed at a student hang-out, the nearby Fifth Peg. A laudatory review by Roger Ebert put Prine on the map. Singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson heard Prine at Steve Goodman 's insistence, and Kristofferson invited Prine to be his opening act. Prine released his eponymous debut album in 1971. Featuring such songs as "Paradise" , "Sam Stone" and " Angel from Montgomery ", it has been hailed as one of

1573-689: A host of groups that were similar in some respects like the Brothers Four , Peter, Paul and Mary , The Limeliters , The Chad Mitchell Trio , The New Christy Minstrels , and more. As noted by critic Bruce Eder in the All Music Guide , the popularity of the commercialized version of folk music represented by these groups emboldened record companies to sign, record, and promote artists with more traditionalist and political sensibilities. The Kingston Trio's popularity would be followed by that of Joan Baez , whose debut album Joan Baez reached

1694-532: A more traditional repertoire performed in the folk rock style. Following his own departure from the group, Thompson and his wife Linda released six albums as a duo which integrated folk rock and art rock . Fairport Convention, Pentangle , Alan Stivell and Mr. Fox 's work included electrification of traditional musical forms. Starting in the 1970s, folk music was fueled by new singer-songwriters such as Steve Goodman , John Prine , Emmylou Harris , Joni Mitchell , John Denver , Harry Chapin , and many more. In

1815-654: A pair of cowboy boots and jacket that Prine often wore on stage, his personal guitar, and the original handwritten lyric to his hit, "Angel From Montgomery". The American Currents Class of 2016 showcased artists who made a significant impact on country music in 2016, including, Prine. Prine won his second Artist of the Year award at the 2017 Americana Music Honors & Awards after previously winning in 2005. On February 8, 2018, Prine announced his first new album of original material in 13 years, titled The Tree of Forgiveness , would be released on April 13. Produced by Dave Cobb ,

1936-455: A previous relationship. Prine had a home, and spent part of the year, in Kinvara , Galway, Ireland. In early 1998, Prine was diagnosed with squamous-cell cancer on the right side of his neck. He had major surgery to remove a substantial amount of diseased tissue, followed by six weeks of radiation therapy . The surgery removed a piece of his neck and severed a few nerves in his tongue, while

2057-420: A protest multigenre, in contrast to the official pop music, to the rock music etc. Since 1967, the "Porta" festival became the centre of this genre, originally defined as a festival of country & western & tramping music. Acoustic guitars were the most typical instrument for them all. American folk music revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in

2178-615: A rich soprano with vibrato. Her popularity (and that of the folk revival itself) would place Baez on the cover of Time magazine in November 1962. Unlike the Kingston Trio, Baez was openly political, and as the civil rights movement gathered steam, she aligned herself with Pete Seeger, Guthrie and others. Baez was one of the singers with Seeger, Josh White , Peter, Paul and Mary , and Bob Dylan who appeared at Martin Luther King's 1963 March on Washington and sang " We Shall Overcome ",

2299-441: A rock-band line-up. Before long, the public appetite for the more acoustic music of the folk revival began to wane. "Crossover" hits ("folk songs" that became rock-music-scene staples) happened now and again. One well-known example is the song " Hey Joe ", copyrighted by folk artist Billy Roberts and recorded by rock singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix just as he was about to burst into stardom in 1967. The anthem " Woodstock ", which

2420-567: A song that had been introduced by People's Songs. Harry Belafonte was also present on that occasion, as was Odetta , whom Martin Luther King introduced as "the queen of folk music" when she sang "Oh, Freedom". ( Odetta Sings Folk Songs was one of 1963's best-selling folk albums). Also on hand were the SNCC Freedom Singers , the personnel of which went on to form Sweet Honey in the Rock . The critical role played by Freedom Songs in

2541-472: A songwriter's credit (stating he was too drunk when the song was written to remember what he had contributed) and Goodman received sole credit. Goodman bought Prine a jukebox as a gift from his publishing royalties. In 1975, Prine toured the U.S. and Canada with a full band featuring guitarist Arlen Roth . Pink Cadillac (1979) features two songs produced by Sun Records founder Sam Phillips , who by this time rarely did any studio work. The song "Saigon"

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2662-491: A subgenre of country is inaccurate, as it is not aimed at a country music audience, in the main. Some of the definitive country folk artists from the early years include Harry McClintock , John Prine , Kate Wolf , and Nanci Griffith —all singer-songwriters with thoughtful lyrics whose arrangements are backed by the aforementioned instruments. By the 1980s, record labels such as Rounder and Sugar Hill specialized in recording country folk artists The category does overlap with

2783-483: A supporting role in the Billy Bob Thornton movie Daddy & Them (2001). "In Spite of Ourselves" is played during the end credits. Prine recorded a version of Stephen Foster 's " My Old Kentucky Home " in 2004 for the compilation album Beautiful Dreamer , which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. In 2005, Prine released his first all-new offering since Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings ,

2904-650: A tribute album titled Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine . The album features members of the modern folk revival, including My Morning Jacket , The Avett Brothers , Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band , Old Crow Medicine Show , Lambchop , Josh Ritter , Drive-By Truckers , Nickel Creek 's Sara Watkins , Deer Tick featuring Liz Isenberg, Justin Townes Earle , Those Darlins , and Bon Iver 's Justin Vernon . In 2016, Prine

3025-485: A variety of Chicago clubs. He was offered a one-album deal of covers and with a few of his original songs, by Bob Koester from Delmark Records , but decided the project was not right for him. In 1971, Prine was playing regularly at the Earl of Old Town. Steve Goodman, who was performing with Kris Kristofferson at another Chicago club, persuaded Kristofferson to go see Prine late one night. Kristofferson later recalled, "By

3146-404: A wide variety of traditions, including in many cases instruments such as fiddles , tin whistles , accordions and bagpipes . Folk metal often favours pagan -inspired themes. Viking metal is defined in its folk stance, incorporating folk interludes into albums (e.g., Bergtatt and Kveldssanger , the first two albums by once-folk metal, now- experimental band Ulver ). Mumford & Sons

3267-590: Is a Star by Ultramarine is credited as a progenitor of the new music; it featured a pastoral sound and incorporated traditional instruments such as violin and harmonica with techno and house elements. According to The Sunday Times Culture's Encyclopedia of Modern Music , essential albums of the genre are Four Tet 's Pause (2001), Tunng 's Mother's Daughter and Other Songs (2005), and Caribou 's The Milk of Human Kindness (2005). More "worldbeat" influenced electronic folk acts include Bryn Jones with his project Muslimgauze (before his death in 1999),

3388-577: Is a Steve Goodman–produced album that gave listeners songs such as "That's The Way That The World Goes 'Round", "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone", "Fish and Whistle", and the title track. In 1974, singer David Allan Coe achieved considerable success on the country charts with " You Never Even Called Me by My Name ", co-written by Prine and Goodman. The song good-naturedly spoofs stereotypical country music lyrics to create what it calls "the perfect country and western song". Prine refused to take

3509-406: Is about a Vietnam veteran traumatized by the war ("The static in my attic's gettin' ready to blow"). During the recording, one of the guitar amplifiers blew up (which is evident on the album). The other song Phillips produced is "How Lucky", about Prine's hometown. In 1981, rejecting the established model of the recording industry, which Prine felt exploited singers and songwriters, he co-founded

3630-632: Is about the effects of surface mining on his parents' hometown of Paradise, Kentucky . The album also featured " Hello in There ", a song about aging that was later covered by numerous artists, and "Far From Me", a lonely waltz about lost love for a waitress, which Prine later said was his favorite of all his songs. The album received many positive reviews, and some hailed Prine as "the next Dylan". Bob Dylan himself appeared unannounced at one of Prine's first New York City club appearances, anonymously backing him on harmonica. Prine's second album, Diamonds in

3751-469: Is considered to be a separate genre. One of the earliest figures in this revival was Woody Guthrie, who sang traditional songs in the 1930s and 1940s as well as composing his own. Among Guthrie's friends and followers as a collector, performer, and composer was Pete Seeger . Notable figures of the American folk revival include Elizabeth Cotten and Odetta . Cotten, a guitar and banjo player who developed

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3872-604: Is interesting to consider that had it not been for the explicit political sympathies of the Weavers and other folk singers or, another way of looking at it, the hysterical anti-communism of the Cold War, folk music would very likely have entered mainstream American culture in even greater force in the early 1950s, perhaps making the second wave of the revival nearly a decade later [i.e., in the 1960s] redundant. The media blackout of performers with alleged communist sympathies or ties

3993-536: Is just extraordinarily eloquent music—and he lives on that plane with Neil [Young] and [John] Lennon ." He later named Prine as among the five most important songwriters. Prine's influence is seen in the work of younger artists, whom he often mentored, including Jason Isbell , Amanda Shires , Brandi Carlile , Sturgill Simpson , Kacey Musgraves , Margo Price , Tyler Childers , and Robin Pecknold . Prine won four Grammy Awards out of 13 nominations, as well as

4114-592: Is largely European but it also influences other regions. Pagan Folk music is prominent in Germany, the United Kingdom, Scandinavian countries and Slavic countries with singers like David Smith (Aka Damh the bard) and Bands like Danheim , Faun , Omnia , Wardruna and Arkona . Most bands join the folk genre with other musical genres like metal or electronica . Anti folk began in New York City in

4235-477: Is pure Proustian existentialism . Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. All that stuff about ' Sam Stone ', the soldier junkie daddy, and 'Donald and Lydia', where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that." Johnny Cash , in his autobiography Cash , wrote, "I don't listen to music much at the farm, unless I'm going into songwriting mode and looking for inspiration. Then I'll put on something by

4356-411: Is reflected in her music. Both Cotten and Odetta performed at the first Newport Folk Festival . In the 1930s, Jimmie Rodgers , in the 1940s Burl Ives , in the early 1950s Seeger's group the Weavers and Harry Belafonte , and in the late 1950s the Kingston Trio as well as other professional, commercial groups became popular. Some who defined commercialization as the beginning of this phase consider

4477-639: Is taken to mean all music that is called folk that is not traditional folk music , but rather, a set of genres that began with and then evolved from the folk revival of the mid-20th century. According to musician and singer-songwriter Hugh Blumenfeld , for the American folk scene, "it's not just about the music. The definitions are political, social, and economic as well as aesthetic. But if it can't be defined, we can at least describe what people who consider themselves folk music fans generally listen to." Though he considers folk music to be difficult to define, Blumenfeld lists some observed consistencies: Beginning in

4598-591: Is the long track "Lake Marie", a partly spoken word song interweaving tales over decades centered on themes of "goodbye". Bob Dylan later cited it as perhaps his favorite Prine song. Prine followed it up in 1999 with In Spite of Ourselves , which was unusual for him in that it contained only one original song (the title track); the rest were covers of classic country songs. All of the tracks are duets with well-known female country vocalists, including Lucinda Williams , Emmylou Harris , Patty Loveless , Dolores Keane , Trisha Yearwood , and Iris DeMent . Prine appeared in

4719-405: Is used just for a special modern genre (the traditional folk is called folklore or national music). The Czech folk music is influenced by Czech traditional music an songwriters, "tramping" music , as well as by English-language country and contemporary-folk music, spirituals and traditionals, bluegrass , chanson etc. In the second half of the 20th century, all the similar genres coexisted as

4840-995: The American Civil Rights Movement and anti-war causes associated with the Vietnam War . Songs like Dylan's " Blowin' in the Wind " became an anthem for the civil rights movement, and he sang ballads about many other current issues of the time, such as "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" about the Cuban missile crisis. Dylan is quoted having said "there's other things in this world besides love and sex that're important, too." A number of performers who had begun their careers singing largely traditional material, as typified by Joan Baez and Judy Collins, began to write their own material. The Canadian performers Gordon Lightfoot , Leonard Cohen , Bruce Cockburn and Joni Mitchell represented such fusions and enjoyed great popularity in

4961-580: The Billboard 200 , his highest ranking on the charts. Prine struggled with health issues throughout his life, surviving cancer twice. He died in 2020 from complications caused by COVID-19 . Earlier the same year, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award . Prine was the son of William Mason Prine, a tool-and-die maker, and Verna Valentine (Hamm), a homemaker, both originally from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky . He

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5082-597: The House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955. Despite this, a Christmas Weaver reunion concert organized by Harold Leventhal in 1955 was a smash success and the Vanguard LP album of that concert, issued in 1957, was one of the top sellers of that year, followed by other successful albums. Folk music, which often carried the stigma of left-wing associations during the 1950s Red Scare , was driven underground and carried along by

5203-491: The Reverend Gary Davis , and Bill Monroe came to have something more than a regional or ethnic reputation. The revival turned up a tremendous wealth and diversity of music and put it out through radio shows and record stores . Living representatives of some of the varied regional and ethnic traditions, including younger performers like Southern-traditional singer Jean Ritchie , who had first begun recording in

5324-587: The United Kingdom , the folk revival fostered young artists like the Watersons , Martin Carthy and Roy Bailey and a generation of singer-songwriters such as Bert Jansch , Ralph McTell , Donovan and Roy Harper ; all seven achieved initial prominence in the 1960s. Bob Dylan , Paul Simon and Tom Paxton visited Britain for some time in the early 1960s, the first two especially making later use of

5445-692: The United States Army during the Vietnam War , serving as a vehicle mechanic in West Germany before beginning his musical career in Chicago. In the late 1960s, while Prine was delivering mail, he began to sing his songs (often first written in his head on the mail route) at open mic nights at the Fifth Peg on Armitage Avenue in Chicago. The bar was a gathering spot for nearby Old Town School of Folk Music teachers and students. Prine

5566-498: The "Cotten style" of guitar fingerpicking, released her first album, Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tune, in 1958 with the help of Mike Seeger , which also illuminates the use of guitars tuned to open keys, another common element found in folk music. Odetta, who is known for blending her operatic vocal background with blues and folk songs, was notably active in the Civil Rights Movement , which

5687-516: The 1920s and 1930s were published by major record labels. The expanding market in LP records increased the availability of folk-music field recordings originally made by John and Alan Lomax , Kenneth S. Goldstein , and other collectors during the New Deal era of the 1930s and 40s. Small record labels, such as Yazoo Records , grew up to distribute reissued older recordings and to make new recordings of

5808-496: The 1940s to the early 1960s included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger , Phil Ochs , Joan Baez , and Bob Dylan . The mid-1960s through the early 1970s was associated with large musical, political, lifestyle, and counterculture changes. Folk music underwent a related rapid evolution, expansion and diversification at that same time. Major changes occurred through the evolution of established performers such as Bob Dylan , Joan Baez , Judy Collins , and Peter, Paul and Mary , and also through

5929-538: The 1940s, also enjoyed a resurgence of popularity through enthusiasts' widening discovery of this music and appeared regularly at folk festivals. Ethnic folk music from other countries also had a boom during the American folk revival. The most successful ethnic performers of the revival were the Greenwich Village folksingers, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem , whom Billboard magazine listed as

6050-670: The 1963 and 64 Newport Folk Festivals . For example, traditionalist Clarence Ashley introduced folk revivalists to the music of friends of his who still actively played the older music, such as Doc Watson and The Stanley Brothers . During the 1950s, the growing folk-music crowd that had developed in the United States began to buy records by older, traditional musicians from the Southeastern hill country and from urban inner-cities. New LP compilations of commercial 78-rpm race and hillbilly studio recordings stretching back to

6171-474: The 1970s include Sweet Revenge (1973), containing such fan favorites as "Dear Abby", "Grandpa Was a Carpenter", and "Christmas in Prison", and Common Sense (1975), with "Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard". The latter album was Prine's first to chart on the U.S. Top 100 by Billboard and reflected his growing commercial success. It was produced by Steve Cropper. Bruised Orange (1978)

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6292-489: The 1980s, the Washington Squares played "throwback" folk music. Suzanne Vega performed folk and protest folk-oriented music. The Knitters promulgated cowpunk or folk punk , which eventually evolved into alt country . More recently the same spirit has been embraced and expanded on by artists such as Miranda Stone and Steve Earle . In the second half of the 1990s, once more, folk music made an impact on

6413-1124: The 1980s. Folk punk , known in its early days as rogue folk, is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was pioneered by the London-based Irish band the Pogues in the 1980s. Industrial folk music is a characterization of folk music normally referred to under other genres, and covers music of or about industrial environments and topics, including related protest music. Other subgenres include indie folk , progressive folk , folktronica , freak folk and Americana and fusion genres such as folk metal , psychedelic folk , and neofolk . Music mixing elements of folk and electronic music , or " folktronica ", (or "ethnic electronica") that features uses of acoustic instruments with variable influences and choice of sounds. The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology describes folktronica as "a catch-all [term] for all manner of artists who have combined mechanical dance beats with elements of acoustic rock or folk." The 1993 album Every Man and Woman

6534-577: The British Isles, the Pogues in the early 1980s and Ireland's the Corrs in the 1990s brought traditional tunes back into the album charts. The Corrs were active from 1990 to 2006 and performed Celtic and pop music, and created a blend of the two. Carrie Newcomer emerged with Stone Soup in 1984 and has been performing individually since 1991. Brandi Carlile , Patty Griffin , and Rising Appalachia are popular folk artists c.  2019 . In

6655-713: The Circle (1964–1975) showcased the traditional Irish- and English-derived music of Newfoundland, for example. But by far the most important of these was Don Messer's Jubilee (1957–1973), which helped to bridge the gap between rural country-folk and the folk revival that was emerging from urban coffee shops and folk clubs. The show helped to launch the careers of country-folk singers Stompin' Tom Connors and Catherine McKinnon . The folk revival spawned Canada's first folk wave of internationally successful artists such as Gordon Lightfoot , Leonard Cohen , Ian & Sylvia , Neil Young , Joni Mitchell , and Buffy Sainte-Marie . At

6776-469: The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, The Chad Mitchell Trio , The Limeliters , The Brothers Four , The Highwaymen , and others, featured songs in Spanish (often from Mexico), Polynesian languages, Russian, French, and other languages in their recordings and performances. These groups also sang many English-language songs of foreign origin. The British Invasion of the mid-1960s helped bring an end to

6897-831: The Mamas & the Papas created new, hard-to-classify music that was folk-inflected and often included in discussions of folk rock. During this period, the term "protest music" was often used to characterize folk music with topical political themes. The convergence of the civil rights movement and folk music on the college campus led to the popularity of artists like Bob Dylan and his brand of protest music. As Folk singers and songwriters such as Phil Ochs , Buffy Sainte-Marie , Arlo Guthrie and Tom Paxton followed in Woody Guthrie's footsteps, writing " protest music " and topical songs and expressing support for various causes including

7018-588: The North American folk revival tended to use "acoustic guitar, harmonica, banjo, mandolin, autoharp, violin, and accordion". While the Romantic nationalism of the folk revival had its greatest influence on art-music, the "second folk revival" of the later 20th century brought a new genre of popular music with artists marketed through concerts, recordings and broadcasting. This is the genre that remains as "contemporary folk music" even when traditional music

7139-528: The Rough (1972), was a surprise for many after the critical success of his first LP; it was an uncommercial, stripped-down affair that reflected Prine's fondness for bluegrass music and features songs reminiscent of Hank Williams . Highlights of the compilation include the allegorical " The Great Compromise ", which includes a recitation and addresses the Vietnam War , and the ballad "Souvenirs", which Prine later recorded with Goodman. His subsequent albums from

7260-541: The Shoulder and Native American), and other country rock inflected recordings ( Tom Rush 's Tom Rush and Merrimack County and Gordon Lightfoot and Jimmy Buffett 's 1970s catalog). None of these were specifically marketed or received as "country folk", however. Still, later low-key, acoustic-dominant country-inflected recordings by these and many other earlier artists have at times loosely, but not inaccurately, been defined as country folk by some sources. More recently,

7381-535: The U.S.; all four were eventually invested with the Order of Canada . Many of the acid rock bands of San Francisco began by playing acoustic folk and blues. The Smothers Brothers television shows featured many folk performers, including the formerly blacklisted Pete Seeger . Bonnie Koloc is a Chicago-based American folk music singer-songwriter who made her recording debut in 1971. In 1968 Melanie , released her first album in 1968 with several popular songs with

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7502-494: The UK; it closed in 1991. As the 1950s progressed into the 1960s, the folk revival movement gathered momentum in both Britain and America. In much of rural Canada, traditional and country-folk music were the predominant styles of music until the 1950s, ahead even of the globally popular jazz and swing. Traditional folk took this predominance into early Canadian television with many country-themed shows on its early airwaves. All Around

7623-520: The United States and bore little resemblance to its folk origins. After Bob Dylan began to record with a rocking rhythm section and electric instruments in 1965 (see Electric Dylan controversy ), many other still-young folk artists followed suit. Meanwhile, bands like The Lovin' Spoonful and the Byrds , whose individual members often had a background in the folk-revival coffee-house scene, were getting recording contracts with folk-tinged music played with

7744-404: The Wind ". That trio also brought Pete Seeger's and the Weavers' " If I Had a Hammer " to nationwide audiences, as well as covering songs by other artists such as Dylan and John Denver . It was not long before the folk-music category came to include less traditional material and more personal and poetic creations by individual performers, who called themselves "singer-songwriters". As a result of

7865-763: The age of 73. In accordance with Prine's lyrical wishes, expressed in his song " Paradise ", some of his ashes were spread in Kentucky's Green River . Additional ashes were buried next to his parents in Chicago.His remaining ashes were buried by the family at Larkspur Conservation at Taylor Hollow outside Nashville in Westmoreland, TN. Prine is widely regarded as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation. He has been referred to as "the Mark Twain of songwriting". Bob Dylan named Prine one of his favorite songwriters in 2009. He remarked, "Prine's stuff

7986-616: The album Fair & Square , which tended toward a more laid-back, acoustic approach. The album contains songs such as "Safety Joe", about a man who has never taken any risks in his life, and also "Some Humans Ain't Human", Prine's protest piece on the album, which talks about the ugly side of human nature and includes a quick shot at President George W. Bush . Fair & Square won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. The album contains original songs plus two covers: A.P. Carter 's "Bear Creek Blues" and Blaze Foley 's "Clay Pigeons". On June 22, 2010, Oh Boy Records released

8107-401: The album was released on Prine's own Oh Boy Records and features guest artists Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires , Dan Auerbach , and Brandi Carlile . Alongside the announcement, Prine released the track "Summer's End". The album became Prine's highest-charting album on the Billboard 200 . In 2019, he recorded several tracks including "Please Let Me Go 'Round Again"—a song which warmly confronts

8228-418: The artists of Asian underground movement ( Cheb i Sabbah , Asian Dub Foundation , Joi , State of Bengal , Transglobal Underground , Natacha Atlas ), Shpongle , Home Sweet Somewhere, Mavka , Ott , Zavoloka , Linda George , Banco de Gaia , AeTopus , Zingaia , Afro-Celt Sound System , Métisse , A Tribe Called Red , Go_A , and some early work by Yat-Kha (with Ivan Sokolovsky ). Country folk as

8349-492: The audience for folk music in those years were part of the working class, and many of these songs expressed resistance to the social order and an anger towards the government. The large musical, political, lifestyle, and counterculture changes most associated with "the 60s" occurred during the second half of the decade and the first year or two of the 1970s. Folk music underwent a related rapid evolution, expansion and diversification at that same time. Major changes occurred through

8470-652: The audience was Jerry Wexler , who signed Prine to Atlantic Records the next day. The album included Prine's signature songs "Illegal Smile" and "Sam Stone" . "Sam Stone" is about the trauma of a Vietnam veteran. He explained in 2011: I knew there were a lot of GIs out there, who came out of the war and they weren’t quite right. … I knew there were homes where nobody was talking to each other, which became " Angel from Montgomery ". … I knew there were kids who didn’t have fathers, and nobody ever acknowledged it, which became "6 O’Clock News."… I saw all that. I knew, and I couldn’t figure out why no one would say anything. "Paradise"

8591-550: The banjo on their Grammy-nominated 1961 album, A Spontaneous Performance Recording , and Bob Dylan later cited the group as a major influence on him. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem also sparked a folk-music boom in Ireland in the mid-1960s, illustrating the world-wide effects of the American folk-music revival. Books such as the popular best seller, the Fireside Book of Folk Songs (1947), which contributed to

8712-455: The career of The Weavers , formed in November 1948 by Pete Seeger , Lee Hays , Fred Hellerman , and Ronnie Gilbert of People's Songs , of which Seeger had been president and Hays executive secretary. People's Songs, which disbanded in 1948–49, had been a clearing house for labor movement songs (and in particular the CIO , which at the time was one of the few if not the only union federation that

8833-471: The chart at 55, and his last album, 2018's Tree of Forgiveness , re-entered at 109. Country folk While the Romantic nationalism of the first folk revival had its greatest influence on art music , the "second folk revival" of the later 20th century brought a new genre of popular music with artists marketed through concerts, recordings and broadcasting. One of the earliest figures in this revival

8954-643: The commercial hit Tom Dooley by the Kingston Trio in 1958 as marking the beginning of this era. In 1963–1964, the ABC television network aired the Hootenanny television series devoted to this brand of folk music and also published the associated magazine ABC-TV Hootenanny . Starting in 1950, the Sing Out! , Broadside , and The Little Sandy Review magazines helped spread both traditional and composed songs, as did folk-revival-oriented record companies. In

9075-765: The creation of new fusion genres with rock and pop. During this period, the term "protest music" was often used to characterize folk music with topical political themes. The Canadian performers Gordon Lightfoot , Leonard Cohen , Bruce Cockburn and Joni Mitchell represented such fusions and enjoyed great popularity in the U.S. Starting in the 1970s folk music was fueled by new singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell , Neil Young , and Harry Chapin . Other subgenres of folk include anti folk , folk punk , indie folk , folktronica , freak folk and Americana and fusion genres such as folk metal , progressive folk , psychedelic folk , and neofolk . Definitions of "contemporary folk music" are generally vague and variable. Here, it

9196-473: The development of country and western , blues , jazz , and rock and roll music. The folk revival in New York City was rooted in the resurgent interest in square dancing and folk dancing there in the 1940s as espoused by instructors such as Margot Mayo , which gave musicians such as Pete Seeger popular exposure. The folk revival more generally as a popular and commercial phenomenon begins with

9317-494: The early 1960s were perhaps the zenith of non-fusion folk music prominence in the music scene. During the Great Depression , folk music reflected social realities of poverty and disempowerment of common people through vernacularized lyrics expressing the harsh realities of hard times and poverty. Often newly composed songs in traditional style by writers like Guthrie also featured a humorous and satirical tone. Most of

9438-518: The eleventh best-selling folk musicians in the United States. The group, which consisted of Paddy Clancy , Tom Clancy , Liam Clancy , and Tommy Makem , predominantly sang English-language, Irish folk songs, as well as an occasional song in Irish Gaelic . Paddy Clancy also started and ran the folk-music label Tradition Records , which produced Odetta's first solo LP and initially brought Carolyn Hester to national prominence. Pete Seeger played

9559-597: The end of life—with longtime friend and compatriot Swamp Dogg in his final recording session. The last song Prine recorded before he died was "I Remember Everything", released on June 12, 2020, alongside a music video. It was released following the two-hour special tribute show, A Tribute Celebrating John Prine  aired on June 11, 2020, which featured  Sturgill Simpson ,  Vince Gill ,  Jason Isbell ,  Kacey Musgraves ,  Bonnie Raitt ,  Rita Wilson ,  Eric Church ,  Brandi Carlile  and many other country artists and friends. On

9680-454: The end of the first line we knew we were hearing something else. It must've been like stumbling onto Dylan when he first busted onto the Village scene." Prine's eponymous debut album was released in 1971. Kristofferson (who once remarked that Prine wrote songs so good that "we'll have to break his thumbs") invited Prine and Goodman to open for him at The Bitter End in New York City. In

9801-485: The evolution of established performers such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, the Seekers and Peter Paul and Mary, and also through the creation of new fusion genres with rock and pop. Much of this evolution began in the early 1960s and emerged into prominence in the mid and late 1960s. One performance "crucible" for this evolution was Greenwich Village New York. Dylan's use of electric instruments helped inaugurate

9922-630: The financial success of high-profile commercial folk artists, record companies began to produce and distribute records by a new generation of folk revival and singer-songwriters— Phil Ochs , Tom Paxton , Eric von Schmidt , Buffy Sainte-Marie , Dave Van Ronk , Judy Collins , Tom Rush , Fred Neil , Gordon Lightfoot , Billy Ed Wheeler , John Denver , John Stewart , Arlo Guthrie , Harry Chapin , and John Hartford , among others. Some of this wave had emerged from family singing and playing traditions, and some had not. These singers frequently prided themselves on performing traditional material in imitations of

10043-650: The first night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention , Prine singing "I Remember Everything" was the soundtrack to the COVID-19 memorial video. Prine was married three times. His first marriage was to high-school sweetheart Ann Carole in 1966. The marriage lasted until the late 1970s. Prine was married to bassist Rachel Peer from 1984 to 1988. Prine met Fiona Whelan, who later became his manager, in 1988. She moved from Ireland to Nashville in 1993, and they were married in 1996. Prine and Whelan had two sons together, Jack and Tommy , and Prine adopted Whelan's son, Jody, from

10164-405: The folk song revival, featured some material in languages other than English, including German, Spanish, Italian, French, Yiddish, and Russian. The repertoires of Theodore Bikel , Marais and Miranda , and Martha Schlamme also included Hebrew and Jewish material, as well as Afrikaans . The Weavers' first big hit, the flipside of Lead Belly's " Good Night Irene ", and a top seller in its own right,

10285-496: The folk song-like sentimental ballad "Scarlet Ribbons" (composed in 1949). The Kingston Trio , a group originating on the West Coast, were directly inspired by the Weavers in their style and presentation and covered some of the Weavers' material, which was predominantly traditional. The Kingston Trio avoided overtly political or protest songs and cultivated a clean-cut collegiate persona. They were discovered while playing at

10406-500: The genres of folk rock and country rock , particularly by his album John Wesley Harding . These changes represented a further departure from traditional folk music. The Byrds with hits such as Seeger's " Turn! Turn! Turn! " were emblematic of a new term folk rock . Barry McGuire left the New Christy Minstrels and recorded " Eve of Destruction " in 1965. Other performers such as Simon & Garfunkel and

10527-562: The gentler sounds of singers such as Iris DeMent , Kate & Anna McGarrigle , and Gillian Welch . Even during the 1970s, as the acoustic, early country music-inflected sounds of country folk were making it distinct from other styles of post-1960s singer-songwriter music, it had varying degrees of overlaps with the sounds of progressive country music (such as Kris Kristofferson , Townes Van Zandt , Guy Clark ), outlaw country ( Billy Joe Shaver , Waylon Jennings , Willie Nelson , Johnny Cash ), progressive bluegrass ( Tony Rice albums Cold on

10648-433: The greatest of all albums. The acclaim Prine earned from his debut led to three more albums for Atlantic Records . Common Sense (1975) was his first to chart on the Billboard U.S. Top 100. He then recorded three albums with Asylum Records . In 1981, he co-founded Oh Boy Records , an independent label which released all of his music up until his death. His final album, 2018's The Tree of Forgiveness , debuted at #5 on

10769-418: The increasingly unpopular Vietnam War . Young singer-songwriter Bob Dylan , playing acoustic guitar and harmonica, had been signed and recorded for Columbia by producer John Hammond in 1961. Dylan's record enjoyed some popularity among Greenwich Village folk-music enthusiasts, but he was "discovered" by an immensely larger audience when Peter, Paul & Mary had a hit with a cover of his song " Blowin' in

10890-586: The independent record label Oh Boy Records in Nashville, Tennessee . His fans, supporting the project, sent him enough money to cover the costs, in advance, of his next album. Prine continued writing and recording albums throughout the 1980s. His songs continued to be covered by other artists; the country supergroup The Highwaymen recorded "The 20th Century Is Almost Over", written by Prine and Goodman. Steve Goodman died of leukemia in 1984 and Prine contributed four tracks to A Tribute to Steve Goodman , including

11011-411: The lyrics. The significant element that distinguishes "country folk" from the "folk" music on Dylan's contemporaries' recordings in the 1960s was the re-admission of country and bluegrass music instrumentation—mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and resophonic and electric steel guitars—into the mix; country rock's success with urban audiences had paved the way for this hybrid. For aficionados, viewing country folk as

11132-528: The mainstream music via a younger generation of artists such as Eliza Carthy , Kate Rusby and Spiers and Boden . Canada's biggest-selling folk group of the 1990s and 2000s was the Celtic, rock-tinged Great Big Sea from Newfoundland, who have had four albums certified platinum in Canada. Folk metal bands such as Korpiklaani , Skyclad , Waylander , Ensiferum , Ithilien and Finntroll meld elements from

11253-480: The mainstream popularity of American folk music as a wave of British bands overwhelmed most of the American music scene, including folk. Ironically, the roots of the British Invasion were in American folk, specifically a variant known as skiffle as popularized by Lonnie Donegan ; however, most of the British Invasion bands had been extensively influenced by rock and roll by the time their music had reached

11374-410: The majority of artists whose music could be classified as country folk find their home in the americana genre, including Brandi Carlile , Jason Isbell , Parker Millsap , Patty Griffin and Amanda Shires , with several artists being interchangeably described as both folk and americana artists, such as Sarah Jarosz who has received Grammy Awards in both genre categories. In Europe, the term "folk"

11495-455: The mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White , Burl Ives , Woody Guthrie , Lead Belly , Big Bill Broonzy , Richard Dyer-Bennet , Oscar Brand , Jean Ritchie , John Jacob Niles , Susan Reed , Paul Robeson , Bessie Smith , Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to

11616-651: The post World War II era, folk revivals occurred in Europe, Canada, and the United States, and developed through the 1960s, with the subject matter of this music influenced by the political and social climates of the day. According to The North American Folk Music Revival , "the folk music revival began... as a North Eastern American urban phenomenon, and spread from city to city throughout the entire continent and beyond, to Wester Europe", with "enthusiasts" generally being middle-class university students. While instrumentation of folk music varies across countries and regions, music of

11737-521: The post-country rock trajectories of other artists who moved away from the mainstream market as country rock's own fortunes waned at the close of the 1970s. Emmylou Harris moved into neo-traditionalist country, Chris Hillman into progressive bluegrass, brother harmony duo (with Herb Pedersen ), and Bakersfield revival. By the start of the 1990s, these sounds, as well as others, would inspire musical amalgams categorized as alternative country music and americana , yet "country folk" continues to be used for

11858-466: The publication Red Channels as a probable subversive. Radio stations refused to play their records and concert venues canceled their engagements. A former employee of People's Songs, Harvey Matusow , himself a former Communist Party member, had informed the FBI that the Weavers were Communists, too, although Matusow later recanted and admitted he had lied. Pete Seeger and Lee Hays were called to testify before

11979-513: The radiation damaged some salivary glands . A year of recuperation and speech therapy were necessary before he could perform again. The operation altered his vocals and added a gravelly tone to his voice. In 2013, Prine underwent surgery to remove cancer in his left lung . After the surgery, a physical therapist put him through an unusual workout to build stamina: Prine was required to run up and down his house stairs, grab his guitar while still out of breath, and sing two songs. Six months later, he

12100-665: The rise of specialized folk festivals (beginning with the Miramichi Folksong Festival in 1958), increased radio airplay on rock, pop, and easy listening radio stations, the introduction of the Juno Award for Folk Artist of the Year in 1971, and even an academic journal the Canadian Folk Music Journal in 1973. The mid- and late 1960s saw fusion forms of folk (such as folk rock) achieve prominence never before seen by folk music, but

12221-516: The same time among the top 10 selling albums for five consecutive weeks in November and December 1959 according to Billboard magazine's "Top LPs" chart, a record unmatched for more than 50 years and noted at the time by a cover story in Life magazine. The huge commercial success of the Kingston Trio, whose recordings between 1958 and 1961 earned more than $ 25 million for Capitol records or more than $ 250 million in 2024 dollars, spawned

12342-514: The same time, Quebec folk singer-songwriters like Gilles Vigneault and groups such as La Bottine Souriante were doing the same in the French-speaking world. English-speaking Canadian folk artists tended to move the United States to pursue larger audiences until the introduction of so-called " Canadian content " rules for radio and television in the 1970s. At the same time, Canadian folk music became more formalized and commercialized with

12463-626: The so-called beatnik scene, and dedicated singers of folk songs (as well as folk-influenced original material) traveled through what was called "the coffee-house circuit" across the U.S. and Canada, home also to cool jazz and recitations of highly personal beatnik poetry. Two singers of the 1950s who sang folk material but crossed over into the mainstream were Odetta and Harry Belafonte , both of whom sang Lead Belly and Josh White material. Odetta, who had trained as an opera singer, performed traditional blues, spirituals, and songs by Lead Belly . Belafonte had hits with Jamaican calypso material as well as

12584-683: The spotlight. He sings rather quietly, and his guitar work is good, but he doesn't show off. He starts slow. But after a song or two, even the drunks in the room begin to listen to his lyrics. And then he has you....Prine's lyrics work with poetic economy to sketch a character in just a few words. After the review was published, Prine's popularity grew. He became a central figure in the Chicago folk revival , which also included such singer-songwriters as Steve Goodman , Michael Peter Smith , Bonnie Koloc , Jim Post , Tom Dundee , Anne Hills , and Fred Holstein . Joined by such established musicians as Jethro Burns and Bob Gibson , Prine performed frequently at

12705-476: The style of the source singers whom they had discovered, frequently by listening to Harry Smith 's celebrated LP compilation of forgotten or obscure commercial 78rpm "race" and "hillbilly" recordings of the 1920s and 30s, the Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music (1951). A number of the artists who had made these old recordings were still very much alive and had been "rediscovered" and brought to

12826-567: The survivors among these artists. This was how many urban white American audiences of the 1950s and 60s first heard country blues and especially Delta blues that had been recorded by Mississippi folk artists 30 or 40 years before. In 1952, Folkways Records released the Anthology of American Folk Music , compiled by anthropologist and experimental film maker Harry Smith . The Anthology featured 84 songs by traditional country and blues artists, initially recorded between 1927 and 1932, and

12947-560: The top ten in late 1960 and remained on the Billboard charts for over two years. Baez's early albums contained mostly traditional material, such as the Scottish ballad " Mary Hamilton ", as well as many covers of melancholy tunes that had appeared in Harry Smith 's Anthology of American Folk Music , such as "The Wagoner's Lad" and "The Butcher Boy" . She did not try to imitate the singing style of her source material, however, but used

13068-509: The traditional English material they heard. In 1950, prominent American folklorist and collector of traditional songs Alan Lomax came to Britain and met A. L. 'Bert' Lloyd and Ewan MacColl , a meeting credited as inaugurating the second British folk revival. In London, the colleagues opened the Ballads and Blues Club, eventually renamed the Singers' Club, possibly the first folk club in

13189-707: The voter registration drives, freedom rides, and lunch counter sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950s and early '60s in the South gave folk music tremendous new visibility and prestige. The peace movement was likewise energized by the rise of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK, protesting the British testing of the H-bomb in 1958, as well as by the ever-proliferating arms race and

13310-418: The writers I've admired and used for years— Rodney Crowell , John Prine, Guy Clark , and the late Steve Goodman are my Big Four ..." Roger Waters , when asked by Word Magazine in 2008 if he heard Pink Floyd 's influence in newer British bands such as Radiohead , replied, "I don't really listen to Radiohead. I listened to the albums and they just didn't move me in the way, say, John Prine does. His

13431-500: Was Woody Guthrie , who sang traditional songs in the 1930s and 1940s as well as composing his own. In the UK , the folk revival fostered a generation of singer-songwriters such as Donovan , who achieved initial prominence in the 1960s. The folk revival spawned Canada 's first folk wave of internationally successful artists such as Gordon Lightfoot , Leonard Cohen , Joni Mitchell , and Buffy Sainte-Marie . Major performers who emerged from

13552-485: Was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. Born and raised in Maywood, Illinois , Prine learned to play the guitar at age 14. He attended classes at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music . After serving in West Germany with the U.S. Army , he returned to Chicago in the late 1960s, where he worked as a mailman, writing and singing songs first as

13673-408: Was born and raised in the Chicago suburb of Maywood. In summers, they would go back to visit family near Paradise, Kentucky . Prine started playing guitar at age 14, taught by his brother, David. He attended classes at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music , and graduated from Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois . He was a U.S. Postal Service mailman for five years and was drafted into

13794-572: Was credited with making a large amount of pre-War material accessible to younger musicians. (The Anthology was re-released on CD in 1997, and Smith was belatedly presented with a Grammy Award for his achievement in 1991.) Artists like the Carter Family , Robert Johnson , Blind Lemon Jefferson , Clarence Ashley , Buell Kazee , Uncle Dave Macon , Mississippi John Hurt , and the Stanley Brothers , as well as Jimmie Rodgers ,

13915-485: Was in Hebrew (" Tzena, Tzena, Tzena ") and they, and later Joan Baez, who was of Mexican descent, occasionally included Spanish-language material in their repertoires, as well as songs from Africa, India, and elsewhere. The commercially oriented folk-music revival as it existed in coffee houses, concert halls, radio, and TV was predominantly an English-language phenomenon, though many of the major pop-folk groups, such as

14036-487: Was initially a spectator, reluctant to perform, but eventually did so in response to a "You think you can do better?" comment made to him by another performer. After his first open mic, he was offered paying gigs. In 1970, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert heard Prine by chance at the Fifth Peg and wrote his first printed review, "Singing Mailman Who Delivers A Powerful Message In A Few Words": He appears on stage with such modesty he almost seems to be backing into

14157-600: Was named winner of the PEN/Song Lyrics Award, given to two songwriters every other year by the PEN New England chapter. The 2016 award was shared with Tom Waits and his songwriting collaborator wife Kathleen Brennan . Judges for the award included Peter Wolf , Rosanne Cash , Paul Simon , Elvis Costello , and Bono , as well as literary judges Salman Rushdie , Natasha Tretheway , and Paul Muldoon . In 2016, Prine released For Better, or Worse ,

14278-495: Was racially integrated), and in 1948 had thrown all its resources to the failed presidential campaign of Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace , a folk-music aficionado (his running mate was a country-music singer-guitarist). Hays and Seeger had formerly sung together as the politically activist Almanac Singers , a group which they founded in 1941 and whose personnel often included Woody Guthrie , Josh White , Lead Belly , Cisco Houston , and Bess Lomax Hawes . The Weavers had

14399-595: Was so effective that Israel Young , a chronicler of the 1960s Folk Revival who was drawn into the movement through an interest in folk dancing, communicated to Ron Eyerman that he himself was unaware for many years of the movement's 1930s and early '40s antecedents in left-wing political activism. In the early and mid-1950s, acoustic-guitar-accompanied folk songs were mostly heard in coffee houses , private parties, open-air concerts, and sing-alongs, hootenannies , and at college-campus concerts. Often associated with political dissent, folk music now blended, to some degree, with

14520-470: Was touring again. On March 19, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States , Prine's wife Fiona revealed that she had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and had been quarantined in their home apart from him. He was hospitalized on March 26 after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. On March 30, Fiona tweeted that she had recovered and that John was in stable condition but not improving. Prine died on April 7, 2020, of complications caused by COVID-19 at

14641-513: Was written and first sung by Joni Mitchell while her records were still nearly entirely acoustic and while she was labeled a "folk singer", became a hit single for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young when the group recorded a full-on rock version. By the late 1960s, the scene had returned to being more of a lower-key, aficionado phenomenon, although sizable annual acoustic-music festivals were established in many parts of North America during this period. The acoustic music coffee-house scene survived at

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