Classroom Internet Library > The Arts > Music > Folk/Roots/Country Music Classroom Internet Library Folk/Roots/Country Music WUMB Folk Radio Can't wait for a fix of folk music? This radio station at the University of Massachusetts broadcasts online 24 hours a day! Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection Between 1956 and 1976 traveling salesman Max Hunter took his reel-to-reel tape recorder into the hills and recorded the songs and stories of many generations of Ozark history. This online collection from Southwest Missouri State University lets you access songs by title or singer and includes, audio files, lyrics, and in some cases, sheet music. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: N/A Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Mud Cat Cafe If you are looking for lyrics to a folk song, make sure you stop at this site with lyrics over 9000 songs. You will also find audio files for some selections, a special section for kids with instructions on how to make instruments, and online radio broadcasts. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Grand Ole Opry Travel to Nashville and learn about the history of the Grand Ole Opry, view video performances of your favorite singers, or tune into a live audio stream. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No Sugar in the Gourd Listen to traditional country and bluegrass music at this online radio site. Note: You will have to register, but it is free. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No American Roots Music Discover the pioneers of 20th Century American music at this site form PBS that looks at Blues, Country, Bluegrass, Zydeco, Cajun, Tejano, Gospel, and Native American music. You can read oral histories of key artists, learn the origins of songs, and explore key instruments used in roots music. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No California Gold This site from the Library of Congress contains sound recordings, still photographs, drawings, and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in 1930s Northern California. The collection comprises 35 hours of folk music recorded in twelve languages representing numerous ethnic groups and 185 musicians. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes 19th Century California Sheet Music Explore the music of 19th century California at this site with 2,000 pieces of sheet music published in California between 1852 and 1900, together with related materials such as a San Francisco publisher's catalog of 1872, programs, song sheets, advertisements, and photographs. Selections come from a variety of ethnic groups including: African American, Chinese, French, German, Hawaiian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Scottish, and Native American. You'll find audio and video files for some of the selections. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier This ethnographic field collection of traditional fiddle tunes performed by Henry Reed of Glen Lyn, Virginia. Recorded by folklorist Alan Jabbour in 1966-67, when Reed was over eighty years old, the tunes represent the music and evoke the history and spirit of Virginia's Appalachian frontier. You'll find 184 recordings, field notes, musical transcriptions, and an essay about Reed at this site from the Library of Congress. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Voices from the Dust Bowl This site from the Library of Congress documents the everyday life of residents of Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant work camps in central California in 1940 and 1941. The online collection consists of audio recordings, photographs, manuscript materials, publications, and ephemera. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Southern Mosaic In 1939 John and Ruby Lomax traveled throughout the south and recorded over 25 hours of folk music from more than 300 performers. The music spans a wide-variety of styles including: ballads, blues, children's songs, cowboy songs, fiddle tunes, field hollers, lullabies, play-party songs, religious dramas, spirituals, and work songs. This site from the Library of Congress contains photographs and sound recordings and transcriptions from their trip. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande In 1940, Juan Bautista Rael of Stanford University documented alabados (hymns), folk drama, wedding songs, and dance tunes of Spanish-speaking residents of rural Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. This site from the Library of Congress contains those recordings as well as transcriptions. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Lift Every Voice: Music in American Life This site from the University of Virginia explores the role of song in American life with a focus on ballads, hymns and spirituals, and patriotic and protest songs. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No Folk Music of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, & America This site contains folk and traditional music organized by region and genre with lyrics, midi files, tune information and the history behind the folk songs and ballads. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No Woody Guthrie: Correspondence, 1940-1950 This collection of letters at the Library of Congress contains Woody Guthrie's correspondence with the staff of the Archive of American Folk Song. In his letters he reflects on his past, his art, his life in New York City, and World War II. The site also includes a timeline of Guthrie's life and a biographical essay. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes County Music Television Get the latest country music news, read artist profiles, or listen to over 12 specialty country music online radio stations. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes Ethnomusicology, Folk Music, and World Music This directory from the university of Washington contains links to hundreds of world music sites. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No County Music Hall of Fame Trace the history of country music from it roots in Old World folk songs to today's music. The site features an historical timeline, artist bios, oral history interviews, music clips, and video clips. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes The History of County Music This site looks at some of the influential artists and songs of the late 1920's through the year 2000. You can learn about artists like Gene Autry, Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Lefty Frizzell, and Willie Nelson. You will find audio files as well as lyrics and video clips. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No Folk Net This directory contains links to folk, bluegrass, and Celtic resources. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes folkmusic.org This directory contains an online musical events database, links to artist sites, forums, and links to folk media resources. Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes