According to Joseph Wilson, Chairman of the National Council for the Traditional Arts and Wayne Martin, Executive Director of the North Carolina Arts Council, in A Brief History of Blue Ridge Music found on the Blue Ridge Music Trails website, The Kingston Trio borrowed from a rare ballad by Frank Profitt, a singer from western North Carolina, for their 1957 hit, Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley, igniting young people’s interest in folk music. Guthrie, Baez and others drew from the soul- baring ballads of the Appalachians for inspiration. Guthrie, and Joan Baez (Dylan’s former lover and mentor) along with Peter, Paul and Mary are arguably the real royalty of the Folk Revival.

But Dylan’s music quickly morphed to incorporate other genres. Initially a Woody Guthrie wanna-be, Dylan was drawn to the strong emotions expressed in folk music as seen through, Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They Are a Changin’, two generally accepted anthems of the neo-folk and civil rights era. Bob Dylan, the poster child of this movement and the artist most often named by roots bands I have interviewed as an influence, was actually only a part of it for a short time. Revivalists have taken many forms since the mid-1900’s and though most of the sounds coming from today’s “Roots” bands echo mountain music as witnessed through the use of banjos and mandolins, the bridge between them and the sounds that evolved from the immigration of English, German, Irish and African settlers and slaves to the Appalachians in the early to mid 1700’s is the resurrection of folk in the 1950’s - 1970’s. This issue I will investigate the Euro-African influences found in the Appalachians.

My goal is to backtrack from music from bands like Mumford and Sons, Salsa Celtica and David Wax Museum to their collective foundations. In the Fall issue of ART TIMES I contributed a story about the popularity of Roots music in indie, pop and contemporary music. From the Folk Revivalists to the Appalachiansĭavid Holt holding a banjo on Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC.

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