A brief introduction to folk music that defines what it is and discusses its history, instruments, and significant individuals.

"Features rare archival performances of songs which energized the spirit of the nation's cultural and political renaissance."--Container.

Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the national songbook in a way that comes from his own vision and yet can feel as if it belongs to anyone who might listen. In Folk Music, Greil Marcus tells Dylan's story through seven of his most transformative songs. Marcus's point of departure is Dylan's ability to "see myself in others." Like Dylan's songs, this book is a work...

"Les Troubadours, a folk music group that Bruno has long supported, go viral with their new number, 'Song for Catalonia,' when the Spanish government suddenly bans the song. The songwriter, Joel Martin, is a local enthusiast for the old Occitan language of Périgord and the medieval troubadours, and he sympathizes with the Catalan bid for independence. The success of his song provokes outrage among extreme Spanish nationalists. Then, in a stolen car...