The Great American Folk Music Diaspora
Complete Unmaintained
"The Great American Folk Music Diaspora" is an anthology written on the origins, development, and diversification of Appalachian Folk music. Though it bears no relation to my technical engineering skills, it does represent the fulfillment of requirements for my minor in music through an independent study. It was written over the period of a standard course and received an A+. It's structured as a collection of essays, each focused on an individual song or performance, illustrating the breadths and depths the genre has created and built over time.
Artists range from well known pioneers of the genre like Woody Guthrie, to modern day savants such as Charlie Parr, and back to songs which long predate their first documented performers. This project did not only focus on developments of the core genre itself, but also the numerous influences and derivative genres its created. Documentation to this end includes the likes of "For and Old Kentucky Anarchist" by The Orphans, representing folk punk, ranging to Tennessee Whiskey as performed by multiple artists representing country. The project concludes with a discussion of Bob Dylan's performance at the 1965 Newport Folk festival, the first electric performance by one of the most notorious folk musicians to ever do it. It focuses on core themes and tenants of the genre, and how they are preserved and developed by diversification and modernization, if you want to learn more, you'll have to read it yourself.