Common Misconceptions About Folk Music

By Kim Ruehl, About.com Guide

Ever since Bob Dylan went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, folk artists have been reaching outside the traditions and conventions to experiment with technology. Suzanne Vega recorded an entirely electronic folk album that experimented with synthesized sound (99.9 Fahrenheit Degrees | compare prices). Ani DiFranco has done numerous experiments with pedals, vocoders, and other electronic effects.

It's been argued that the old traditional folksingers of yore didn't use electric instruments simply because they weren't available at the time. Folk music is all about being accessible and using the instruments and tools you have at your disposal—whether they're acoustic or electric instruments, djembes or drum machines.

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• Folksingers aren't great singers or instrumentalists
• Folk music is always acoustic
• Folk music is mostly made by white hippies who eat granola and wear sandals
• Folk music is full of godless leftist propaganda
• Nobody makes folk music anymore

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