by Les Pearson
Dylan is Daddy of Original Folk Music Trend!

Folk music used to mean traditional songs. These were tunes that go back so far no one remembers their composers. Today, purists still believe that only these ancient songs comprise the true body of folk music.

Most contemporary folk fans believe this definition is far too narrow. Still, it is good to remember that folk’s brightest lights were turned on by traditional music. Where and when did songwriters leap to original—or “roots”—folk music? And who leaped first?

Anthony DeCurtis, writing for the New York Times (Dec. 5, 1999), recounts a story about Bob Dylan’s interview with Rolling Stone in 1984. Dylan was lamenting the passing of traditional music.

Here is what he said: “Nowadays, you go to see a folk singer—what’s the folk singer doin’? He’s singin’ all his own songs. That ain’t no folk singer. Folk singers sing those old folk songs, ballads.”

Now for the zinger! The interviewer quickly reminded Dylan that the folk singer who had popularized this trend was Dylan himself. Bob agreed. (But then you knew he would….)

In the sixties and even before, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger used re-worked politicized lyrics with traditional tunes to convey powerful social messages about peace and social justice. They used the tunes precisely because many people knew them. They taught these songs to strikers and students alike. Dylan was one such student.

Along the way, both Seeger and Guthrie composed powerful songs of their own. Consider Seeger’s play list for a 1962 record, The Bitter and the Sweet (Columbia CL 1916). There are the traditional songs such as Barbara Ellen, Ram of Darby, and Around and Around Old Joe Clark.

But then there is Seeger’s re-working of Zilphia Horton’s famous We Shall Overcome. It was also Seeger who re-worked lyrics composed by poet Mikhail Sholokov, added his haunting melody, and produced one of the sixties greatest songs, Where Have All the Flowers Gone.

On the same record is another original twist with traditional inspiration. And what an inspiration! Seeger put the words of Ecclesiastes to his original melody. The result? Another classic. Turn! Turn! Turn!

These variations on traditional lyrics and melodies were a permissive green light for the creative mind of Dylan. He moved from variations and blends to pure originality. Early in his career, Dylan hijacked Woody Guthrie’s record collection of traditional folk music. In his student days he even sang those songs.

As Dylan’s career evolved, he began to add completely original music to his folk repertoire. Building on his growing fame as a folk singer—and never one to miss an opportunity for fame and fortune—Dylan eventually crossed to the dark side.

Is his Nashville Skyline (Columbia KCS 9825) new folk—or is it just popular country?
Ask Johnny Cash or Charlie Daniels. But then, Bill DesBarres would say all popular music is music of the people. And that keeps Dylan sheepishly in the folk fold.