Folk Singers
Folk Singers
Just as with the term ‘folk song’, there is also no universal agreement about what a folk singer is. Historically, any person singing the popular songs of their community for their own or others benefit was a folk singer (or just a ‘singer’, before the 19th century).
There are many professional performers whose repertoire is classified as 'English folk song’, who have grown from a small group of singers in the 1950s who set out to explore British traditional music, led by people like Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd. They were influenced by American folk song and the work of people like Alan Lomax.
This period became known as the second folk revival, and many revival singers became well respected performers and experts on traditional songs. These new singers in turn explored and collected songs from those people still singing songs that had been handed down through families and communities orally.
Today, there are still many professional and amateur English folk singers. Some of them are influenced by the collections of the first folk revival and/or the singers and styles of performers from the second folk revival. There are also many folk singers who have come to English folk songs in other ways, who are both innovating how the songs are sung and performed, as well as writing new folk songs.
