Folk Heroes

Folk music is in the Rock Hall. At least several of those acts that perform both folk and folk-rock, as well as those clearly-rock acts that draw heavily from folk.

Those who performed predominantly folk music, though… even some of them are in, even though they don’t necessarily rock that hard.

There are maybe a handful of folk and folk-rock acts that could, and should, still be inducted, though. And especially for those who were part of the Greenwich Village and Laurel Canyon scenes, time is running short for inducting them, um, pre-posthumously (humously?).

Folk had several major influences on rock. One was making rock socially aware. Folk music has always been tied to the news and the needs of the people, and rock can get somewhat self-involved and self-indulgent; folk music, along with blues, helped it grow a conscience.

When you want to "bring it down for a minute," you play one of your rock songs unplugged, on an acoustic guitar (now, who thought of that first?).

Folk, in the global sense, also introduced other cultures, languages, and instruments into rock.

And many rock songs began life as folk songs. Read through the titles of songs of Alan Lomax’s field recordings for the Smithsonian, and Carl Sandburg’s American Songbag book, and you may be surprised at the number of titles you recognize from your classic rock stash.

For the most part, the Rock Hall has done right by folk music, inducting such acts as both Early Influences and more recent ones as Performers (it needs to follow the same pattern with blues.) With the induction of, as I said, perhaps a half-dozen more acts, the Hall can comfortably say it incorporated the acts we could reasonably expect to be included.

I can also think of a few, who, if added, would really show that the Hall knew its stuff. These are the ones that true folk fans and critics know are a big deal, even if they aren’t household names.

http://www.thefolkmusichalloffame.org/

Update: Carole King got in as a performer in 2021, which makes her the first in twice, but in two categories. 2022 saw the induction of Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten as Early Influences. Is Belafonte a "folk" musician, though? Yes, world music is a folk idiom, and he performed (and preserved) traditional songs on acoustic instruments. Just because the folks aren't white doesn't mean the music isn't folk, folks.