On the evening of February 23rd, 2018, two local Pittsburgh folk bands, the Accidental Ramblers and Smokestack Lightning, took the stage at the Roots Cellar. The seven musicians of the Accidental Ramblers used a wide variety of instruments from the acoustic guitar and mandolin to the electric guitar and electric violin. With this mixture of sounds, the band’s performance embodied both traditional notions of folk and the modernization of the genre. The youngest Rambler, Jessie Hoffmann, lent her voice to vocals but also played a sleek electric violin. An instrument like this may seem out of place in a traditional genre like folk, but the electric violin has long been a part of folk music.
Two Beginnings
There is some uncertainty about the origin of the electric violin, but many attribute the first use of the instrument to Stuff Smith, a famous American jazz violinist, in 1920. Smith used an electric violin that relied on a horn for amplification, making it very different from modern electric violins. Although some artists were using this instrument as early as the 1920s, it wasn’t until the 1930s and 1940s that these violins made their way onto the commercial market. During this time, there were several companies manufacturing these new instruments, such as the Electro Stringed Instrument Company and the Vega Company (Prato). With this increase in availability, the instrument was used within big band music where violins sometimes struggled to be heard among the other instruments (“History and Resources”).
While these first electric violins were hitting markets, an important step in the evolution of the folk genre was also taking place. In the 1930s and 1940s, Greenwich Village was “a haunt for freethinkers” (Dunway 53), making it a perfect setting for America’s first folk revival. Here, many now-famous artists like Woodie Guthrie, Leadbelly, and Pete Seeger emerged onto the scene, often choosing to sing about the issues of the times like war, poverty, and unions. However, as fears of communism spread in the 1950s, the simple act of singing a folk song was seen by some to be communistic. Thus, the American folk scene experienced a lull in activity and popularity as many singers faced scrutiny and investigations (Dunway 75).
Two Booms
Although the electric violin had been on the market for years, it wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that its popularity began to rise as it was incorporated into rock music. While he wasn’t the first rocker to make use of the electric violin, Frank Zappa was instrumental in making the violin popular in rock. In the late 1960s, Zappa employed two talented electric violinists, Don Harris and Jean-Luc Ponty. These violinists played several concerts with Zappa, and Harris was featured on the album Hot Rats in 1969. After this, many other rock groups and artists chose to utilize the sounds of the electric violin in their own music, including Neil Young, The Who, and Kansas. With its integration into the rock genre, electric violin became more mainstream and artists experienced new commercial success as rock violinists (Prato).
As the electric violin gained popularity in the 1960s, the folk genre was having a similar experience as a result of the second folk boom. At this time, the folk genre regained and surpassed its 1930s popularity, and many folk artists were thriving in their new mainstream success. This boom was felt at local levels as well as nationally, so Pittsburgh and many other cities experienced resurgences in their own folk scenes. Part of the reason that Pittsburgh’s folk community thrived at this time was due to the Calliope House. In 1975, George Balderose purchased a 10 room house and turned the home into a concert space where he hosted weekly folk concerts. This venue came to be called the Calliope House and was a hub for folk performance (Balderose). In addition to these concerts, members of the local folk community also took part in jam sessions at people’s houses and apartments. Of course, musicians attended these parties and were important, but it was actually the city’s folk dancers that were the true heart and soul of the community (Smith).
Although it was experiencing huge newfound success both locally and nationally, some aspects of the folk genre remained unchanged by fame, like folk singers’ commitment to politically-oriented songs. One of the many artists that continued this tradition was Odetta Holmes, who was active in the civil rights movement. In 1963, she lent her voice to the cause during a march on Washington where she sang "I'm On My Way," which features lyrics like "Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me and before I'd be a slave I'd be buried in my grave" (Weiner). Because of the content of her music, it became the “soundtrack of the civil rights movement” and gained enough popularity that she performed “Black Woman” on the Johnny Cash show in 1969 (“Odetta on The Johnny Cash Show”). However, the genre did inevitably experience some change during this boom. A group that was instrumental in these changes was the Kingston Trio, who played a unique mix of folk and pop. This group “brought mass audiences to folk music” (Dunway 108) and helped to launch the boom, but their use of pop elements also broadened the definition of the genre. In addition, folk became more commercial as its popularity rose, which created deep tensions within the community. Some traditionalists despised the idea of folk singers making vast sums of money and disliked that newer voices were redefining the genre (Dunway 107).
Two Worlds Collide
Despite the objections by some in the folk community, the expansion of folk into other genres didn’t stop with the Kingston Trio. With the help of artists like Bob Dylan, folk rock was established during the boom. A vital moment in the development of this subgenre was the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 where Bob Dylan took the stage with an electric guitar. Although some fans were not ready for Dylan’s innovation and booed him off of the stage, this moment helped break the already weak definition of folk music. Afterwards, many folk artists began to experiment more with their sounds and folk rock was born (Dunway 140).
The success of folk rock led to modernization and an increased use of electric instruments in the folk genre. By the 1970s, many artists like Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, and even Pete Seeger were regularly using electric instruments and electric backup on stage and in recordings (Dunway 143-144). With this shift towards electric and experimental sounds, it was the perfect time for the electric violin to make its entrance into the folk world. One of the first folk violinists to adapt to the changing genre was Dave Swarbrick. In 1969, he played the electric violin for the first time on an album for the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. On the album, his use of the electric violin transformed a traditional ballad called “A Sailor’s Life” into a modern rock song (Jeffries). Thanks to artists like Swarbrick, the electric violin has become a staple in folk rock music, as well as a part of other genres like pop, metal, country, and hip hop.
From the 1930s to the 1960s, the electric violin and folk music followed parallel paths. They both experienced the spotlight for the first time in the 1930s and 1940s, then gained mainstream popularity in the 1960s. Finally, these two paths collided in the late 1960s and changed the folk genre in a lasting way. Now, many folk bands like the Accidental Ramblers continue the legacy created in the 1960s by utilizing the electric violin in their own folk performances.
Works Cited
Balderose, George. “Calliope House History.” Calliope, calliopehouse.org/calliope-house-history-by-george-balderose.
Dunaway, David King, and Molly Beer. Singing Out: An Oral History of America's Folk Music Revivals, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pitt-ebooks/detail.action?docID=497597.
“History and Resources.” The DBCV™ Electric Violin, www.dbcv.com/history-resources.
Jeffries, Stuart. “Interview: Dave Swarbrick.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 June 2004, www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/jun/15/2.
“Odetta on The Johnny Cash Show.” YouTube, uploaded by PeterRabbit59, 13 November 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QLfG1QvGaE&feature=youtu.be.
Prato, Greg. “The History of the Electric Violin.” Reverb.com, 22 August 2016, reverb.com/news/the-history-of-electric-violin.
Smith, Phil, and Jan Boyd. “In-Class Discussion.” 23 February 2018, The Roots Cellar, Pittsburgh, PA.
Weiner, Tim. "Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies at 77." The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 December 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/arts/music/03odetta.html.