Folk music and Utah Phillips
Folk music is a collaborative type of music that is not written or practiced by a single professional. It is a tradition shared among a community. The word folk means common people; it is the people's music. Folk music is very much a bonding exercise similar to other types of music. A major difference that separates folk from other types of music is its focus on the problems of the folks. The everyday problems of the American working and middle class. The music is a unifying force and a powerful tool used by people looking for change in a flawed system. Folk music is in itself a record of history that can be studied to know more about the struggles of the ordinary people of the time the music was made. It's
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Where he performed at folk festivals singing meaningful songs and telling thoughtful stories that ranged in tone from funny or sad. These stories and songs always held a moral or a purpose.
Music & folk involvement
Some of Utah Phillips's music starts with an introduction to a story. Then the story transitions to song and every once and awhile it will break the musical tune to continue the story in a storytelling style and then break back into song. Utah Phillips isn't as well know for his voice as he was for his writing. In many cases, he will sing with another folk singer like Ani DiFranco. He is also a storyteller telling stories of his experiences without the help of musical tune
Phillips never wanted to sing to make a profit. Many studios wanted to record his voice with different talents. He, however, asked them if to refrain from doing it. If they did he put all of his cut of the profit into a trust called the buskers fund. The money basically goes to help people who work independently and can't get life insurance.
Political
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Fictional ones like Forest Gump or very real ones like this. I really enjoyed reading about Utah Phillips. I enjoyed a lot of his music. Hallelujah, I’m A Bum had a few pretty amusing stories in it. I also enjoyed listening to the story “moose turd pie” a funny story of when he was working with the railroad company. I like that Utah didn't have any contradictions in his philosophy he preached and lived by “make a living not a killing”(The Golden Voice of The Great Southwest).
Utah Phillips was influenced from a young age to engage in unions and since then he was very passionate about the power people in unison can be. He sang many songs of people coming together in solidarity. He truly believed in the values his songs taught. Utah Phillips was a staple of any folk music festival and he is missed by the many fans he unified throughout his 40-year
The African-American civil rights movement was a cruel time for the African American race to endure due to the harsh discrimination and segregation that they faced. This movement fought for the rights and the equality of African Americans in the United States. With all that was going on, African Americans turned to music for motivation, courage, inspiration and strength to overcome the difficult obstacles that they would soon face. “Non-violence marchers faced beating, hosing, burning, shooting, or jail with no defense other than their courage and songs” (Hast 45). “It's been a long, a long time coming/ But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will” (Cooke, Sam. A Change Is Gonna Come). Music was their greatest hope for change in the near future and is the thing that kept them fighting for what they deserved. They came together with each other due to the lyrics of many different songs that kept the civil rights movement alive and known. Music painted a vision that they could picture and look forward to; it was a dream that they could fight for. “Music empowered African Americans to hold tight to their dream of racial equality” (Jeske). A genre of music that bought society together during this movement was folk.
It was in New York that Dylan would record “Song to Woody”. This song was devoted to his Idol, Woody Guthrie. Shortly after the release of “Song to Woody”, 19-year-old Dylan would meet Joan Baez for the first time. Baez, who was already crowned the “Queen of Folk” (Corbett 1) was not amused when she first heard Dylan. However, by 1963, two years later, Baez was blown away. Dylan had matured as a singer and was developing into quite the songwriter. Dylan had evolved as one of the most prominent singers of his time. The most fascinating thing about Dylan and Baez was how close they became. Through their success on stage, they became known by many as the King and Queen of Folk. They grew so close that they were one of the most talked about couples of the 60’s. As I mentioned earlier, Both Baez and Dylan felt it was their duty to sing and song write to reform different aspects of society. The powerhouse duo teamed up around 1964 and performed a duet together of “With God on Our Side”. This once again highlighted what would become one of the most popular partnerships. Putting all of this into context, none of this would have happened if It wasn’t for Baez giving the young Dylan a
Dylan also was chosen as the recipient of the Tom Paine Award. During the speech, he came out with a very offensive statement. However, he wrote an open letter to apologize for his behavior, which eventually shows that he had developed towards individualistic direction. Clearly his idea somehow contradicts with the folk movement objective.
Samuel Cornelius Phillips was born in 1923 in Florence, Alabama to a family of tenant farmers (Sam Phillips Obituary. 3) He grew up around the songs of his parent’s, primarily black, coworker’s songs as they were tending to the cotton fields. Phillips said that he “felt an awakening of [his] spirit when [he] heard the singing of African Americans who worked alongside him”. This early exposure to racial equality stuck with him for the rest of his years. When Phillips grew older, he took a job as a disc jockey for an “open format’ radio station (Sam Phillips Bio. 2). He experienced first-hand the reaction of the listeners to black rhythm and blues, and that led him to founding Sun Records. Sam Phillips founded Sun Records in 1952 in the heart of the Memphis black music scene. Sun Records was created in attempt to “develop new and different artists, get freedom in music, and tape people that weren’t getting tapped; despite the boundaries” (Sam Phillips Bio. 5)
In 2002, he released his follow-up album Part II. The album garnered his third No. 1 hit with "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)."
Music is an art that has been in this world for tens of thousands of years and has proven
Woody Guthrie’s music provided a type of comfort to struggling people that couldn’t be provided by anybody else. His own suffering made him able to understand the feelings of people. It was through his good and bad experiences in which he gained the ability to connect with others. He used this ability to help soothe the emotional pain of the everyday people of the dust bowl. Although he stole the lyrics for most of his songs; he put his own
Appalachian Music Appalachee - people on the other side Folk music - What is folk music? Traditional songs existing in countries. Handed down through generations. Passes on by word of mouth, not written in musical notation. Don't know who wrote it. Melody and lyrics change as they are passed on.
Music is an art and a wonderful gift to human race. It soothes, stimulates and makes us feel happy. It affects our moods in many different ways from lullaby to war cry for changes in the society. Music is actually distinct to different people. Above all, it has a transformational importance that is captured in its art and nature. Music draws our emotions and it has an impact of bridging different cultures across the continents. Slave songs were very vital channels through which all kind of information was conveyed both positive and negative.
Folklore is a collection of stories passed down from generation to generation that include Legends, Myths, and Fairy Tales.
"Crude with a tang of the Indian wilderness, strong with the strength of the mountains, yet, in a way, mellowed with the flavor of Chaucer's time--surely this is folk-song of a high order. May it not one day give birth to a music that shall take a high place among the world's great schools of expression?" (47)
Folklore is very important on a culture relating to legends, myths and fairy tales. The generations will keep telling the legends, myths and fairytales to the next
Since the earliest days of human civilization music has been a key tool for communication of stories which carried emotions through them. If we think back to our youngest years of life music has surrounded us whether it was from our parents singing us lullabies or from some sort of toy that played music we can say that musical melodies have helped shape or lives one way or another. Once we start growing up and figuring out who we are our musical preferences change; some people like classical and some like punk. We start to befriend people who like the same music as us and eventually we may attend a musical event. Our lives somewhat revolve around the music that we listen to.
Classical music is known as light and smooth, also it is heavily emphasized on homophonic melodies, meaning that there is a single melody that every instrument plays. Thus, the significant turning point of classical music in humanity’s social and cultural development is that this type of music first heard became very popular in the 18th century. Classical music created energy, rhythm, and harmonic symphony and from these people advanced more and more and made these elements much better. This turning point not just improved classical music, but other music that evolved from classical music. Also, Classical music is known as one of the first music ever in the nation. When people listen to classical music they can identify the soft rhythm and how peaceful it sounds. According to the article Music Genres as Historical Artifacts, “Classical music in general is an important part of the cultural capital that gains access to scarce economic, educational and occupational resources” (Vlegels). It can be shown that just a certain type of music can give so many elements defining music and educational resources as well; which make it a significant turning point in the cultural or social development. People love music that soothes their heart and mind, and that could get their mind off of all the negativity around
Shusterman, Richard. "Moving Truth: Affect and Authenticity in Country Musicals." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57.2 (1999): 221-33. EBSCO Host. Web. 12 May 2014.