Going Down the Valley: Vocal and Instrumental Styles in Folk Music from the South

Going Down the Valley: Vocal and Instrumental Styles in Folk Music from the South New World 80236 The history of vernacular music in the United States is the chronicle of successive encounters between the various diverse cultural elements of this so-called melting pot. In particular, it is the story of the encounters between the Anglo-American tradition and the Afro-American. Almost every new musical form since the Civil War—vaudeville, ragtime, jazz, rock and roll—owes a debt to both heritages, with the Afro-American legacy generally the predominant one. Music thus achieves more peaceably what other manifestations of culture have struggled over violently: integration. But while the music may play to a beat insensitive to the drums of conflict, the musicians themselves, alas, do not always do the same. Some hillbilly musicians openly acknowledged their debts to black musicians; others denied vehemently any possible influence, even when the musical evidence for it was ineluctable. Throu