Samantha Bumgarner, fiddler, banjoist, and guitarist from Asheville, North Carolina, 1937. (Library of Congress) A “music revival” takes place when people who were not born into a tradition choose to adopt it. Often, the music being revived comes from a rural area; but the people [...]

Hog-Eyed Man, composed of Rob McMaken (dulcimer) and Jason Cade (fiddle), play Old-time music at the Kennedy Creek Old Time Music Workshops, organized by the American Musicological Society in partnership with the AMS South-Central Chapter. The phrase “old-time” describes the music played on fiddles and [...]

Illustration of sailors singing sea songs, British National Maritime Museum at Greenwich In December 2020, a Scottish singer named Nathan Evans made a TikTok video of an Australian sailor song called “The Wellerman.” Over the next few weeks, using the TikTok app’s layering function, thousands [...]

University of Michigan Jazz Band members discuss their instruments with interested spectators after a workshop. Photograph courtesy of Lanny Austin. Just as the U.S. government sends diplomats abroad for political negotiations with foreign countries, it also sends musicians abroad to entertain foreign audiences. In 1965, [...]