OK, I'll take a swing at this. Folk music at it's root development, seemed to be music, played acoustically, that retold a story (usually fact, sometimes parable-like fiction) for the purpose of enlightening the listener, raising a social or moral awareness, and at the same time offering entertainment. Early folk songs were often originally ad-libbed, and lived to be passed along in an oral, non-written tradition. Folk music appears to exist on every continent, among every race and/or nationality, and in almost every time period. It is likely the first 'music' category or type to have ever existed, save the very early percussive music's (?) that were used for basic communication or 'warning' purposes. What the hell folk music is today is anybody's guess. When Dylan plugged in, I guess the definition of what is folk music began to expand exponentially. TIA, Artheo NP - 'Wrecking Ball' by: Emmylou Harris
