LIS635 LibGuide: Your guide to recorded folk music

Fiddler at the Arvin Migratory Labor Camp, California. (The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection. Photo by Robert Hemming, courtesy of the Library of Congress )

Fiddler at the Arvin Migratory Labor Camp, California.
(The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection. Photo by Robert Hemming, courtesy of the Library of Congress )

Folk music (also known as world music, ethnic music, roots music, or international music) is a genre that defines a wide variety of traditional music - often using traditional instruments - from cultures around the world. While the music is oftentimes transmitted orally with unknown composers, the genre is more easy to define by knowing what it isn’t: its composition is rarely commercial (and never academic or classical) and it is largely performance-based.  

Recorded folk music is largely based on two different collection styles: 1.) On-location field recordings and 2.) Informal or formal studio recordings.

NOTE: The following LibGuide collects a wide variety of sources to give you helpful starting points for your research or interest into folk music. Searching/browsing tips and tricks are listed in asterisked italics.

Additional questions can be directed to the UW reference department or can be directly emailed to the curator of this LibGuide, Adam Blackbourn: atblackbourn@wisc.edu

✇ Movies and Audio Programs

An eye-opening look into the world of field music recording, featuring extensive interviews and information about song collector Alan Lomax. A highly informative and entertaining film that also includes a useful list of seminal recordings at the end of the film.

Since 2000, BBC3 has produced hundreds of programs dedicated to different musical traditions from around the world, available for free via this resource.

*Recordings are conveniently arranged by date and country of origin.

This resource is an archive of an influential and encyclopedic exploration into international 78rpm folk recordings. While the show is no longer being produced, WFUM offers this free resource for students, researchers, and enthusiasts of folk music.

This program features curated selections form the Lomax Digital Archive (as seen in the “Original Recordings” section of this LibGuide). A good starting point for beginners or enthusiasts.

A highly comprehensive list of high quality, vetted audio programs regarding folk music and ethnomusicology studies, curated by the well-established Society for Ethnomusicology.

Far Off Sounds is “a hybrid of ethnographic documentary, music video, and travelogue.” While the shows are often highly granular or intimate, they offer entry points and suggestions for further listening and research.

🔎 UW Accessible Databases

Based off a 10-volume print encyclopedia, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is a comprehensive resource that has extensive information on musical genres, practices, performances, dances, rituals, and more. Includes images, maps, graphs, and audio recordings that will aid student’s and researcher’s explorations into unique cultures’ musical traditions.

*Browse their helpful categories or use their advanced search option for easy and powerful search filters (incl. “genre,” “composer,” “instrument,” etc.)

This incredible resource is created via a partnership with the legendary Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Dedicated to preservation of a vast culture of world musical traditions, Music Online, is a virtual encyclopedia that features over 45,000 recordings of music.

*Their browsing features are very useful as well as their “genre” and “places” categories. Also uses similar search filters as the Garland Encyclopedia (incl. genre, composer, instrument, etc.)

Thousands of audio field recordings, videos, photographs and field notes are accessible thanks to the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive.

*While their search function is somewhat convoluted, the “search directories” option is a good place to start searching for resources based on geographic locations.

According to this ProQuest database, they have “more than 1.3 million articles…detailed abstracts and full text from 1874 to current, covering the scholarly to the popular.” Abstracts and a complete index of more than 425 int’l music periodicals are browsable and searchable as well as the full text for nearly 140 journals.

*This database has a powerful advanced search feature, yet the filters on the main page (e.g. “source type,” “document type,” "and “language”) are a good place to start to get a sense of their wide offerings

🕮 Books and Publications

Call Number: Mills Library, ML102 W67 W67 2006

A book that features excellent discographies and indexes to a wide variety of folk traditions. Easy to use and comprehensive for the veteran or beginner.

Call Number: Mills Library, ML3545 N54 2005

Similar to a textbook in its coverage, this resource covers numerous folk music styles and is an excellent starting point for the beginner. A classic in its field with a very useful table of contents for easy browsing.

Call Number: Mills Library, ML197 B655 2002

An excellent and short introduction to folk music. Recommended for the beginner who would like to get an overall understanding of the genre. The book also features a significant list of recommended resources in the back of the book. Highly recommended.

In print since 1950, this quarterly journal features both traditional and contemporary folk songs, with articles, sheet music, recording and book lists, reviews, and much more.

*While the print version is available from 1995 through the Mills Library, the UW Collection also has the complete journal run on microfiche.

𝄞 Original Recordings

The Lomax Digital Archive, also known as the Cultural Equity Collections Archive, “provides free access to audio/visual collections compiled across seven decades by folklorist Alan Lomax (1915–2002) and his father John A. Lomax (1867–1948).” Quite possibly one of the most significant archives of recorded folk music in one resource.

*Browsable and searchable by useful fields including “person,” “instrument,” “genre,” “location,” and more. Each recording is also thoroughly cataloged, often times with images and field notes generated at the time of recording.

While the website is somewhat dated, the variety of material offered on American folklife is hard to surpass. This massive archive has audio and visual recordings as well as print publications. Freely accessible thanks to the American taxpayer.

*This archive only covers US folk music. Also, if you are looking for audio recordings, it is recommended you start with the Traditional Music and Spoken Word Archive satellite page.

A massive library of sound that features an incredible collection of historical recordings of folk music (sourced from thousands of pre-1950 78rpm shellac records). Founder Jonathan Ward provides highly informational writings based on his comprehensive research of phenomenal recordings from around the world.

*Metadata and recording information is included with each selection to aid your research and further search into the field. Use the menu to see music categorized based on country of origin.

This is a private label and company founded by Lance Ledbetter in 1999, whose mission is to “Create access to hard-to-find music by producing high-quality books, box sets, CDs, DVDs, and vinyl records.” Music Memory, a Dust to Digital side-project, has digitized over 50,000 historical folk recordings.

*Sign up for their highly informative newsletter for important weekly updates in the field of folk music. Their online shop can be used as a reference for their numerous, encyclopedic releases, the majority which are available via Mills Music Library.

Music collector, Pat Conte, created this encyclopedic collection of early 78rpm recordings of representative examples of world folk music. Highly recommended for its breadth and heavily documented research, which is useful for further research.

This resources features significant collections of audio and visual recordings of music traditions from around the world. The project’s founders refer to the site as a “response to UNESCO’s ongoing call to protect and promote intangible expressions of culture across the globe.”

*Browse the site’s gallery or map for detailed searching. Most entries have audio and video recordings as well as a detailed categorization system that helps organize the level of “vitality” and “endangerment” of the specific tradition.