The Sixties Folk Revival

The Sixties Folk Revival really began in the 1940's and 50's with people like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. During the Red Scare, many political folksingers were driven underground by Senator McCarthy's hunt for communists but they re-emerged with a vengeance, stripped of the political tones but still carrying their implicit message of the power of common working people. Groups such as Peter, Paul and Mary combined children's songs, spirituals, folk songs from various countries and protest songs from a new generation of songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton, who used folk elements to create music deeply rooted in the spirit and landscape of their home.

The folk music scene during these times often had a facet of social concern, with new songs promoting human, civil and labour rights. Joan Baez, however, was astounding audiences with performances of ancient ballads from the British Isles which helped people process the emotions brought on by the deepening Vietnam War and the social upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement.

By 1963, the folk boom that had swept America and the UK had reached Australia where it influenced groups such as The Seekers. When they arrived in London, the UK folk group The Springfields had just broken up so they were able to team up with Tom Springfield and record a lot of his new pop folk hits. Their albums, however, included covers of contemporary folk compositions as well as new arrangements of traditional songs. Later folk groups fused rock with folk and before long, the appetite for the more acoustic music of the Folk Revival began to wane.