POPULAR MUSIC: Folk and Folk Rock as Green Cultural Production

Abstract

Popular music’s distinct circuit of “organic” folk culture, subculture, and the audience reach of the music industry is (theoretically) well placed to activate environmental awareness. Folk music encompasses traditions of organic local culture, political critique, and a broadly ecological vision and increasingly intersects with mainstream, commercial music. Here, I’ll argue that hybrid subgenres – “folk rock,” “indie folk,” etc – are well placed to bring ecological ideas to a larger audience. After outlining some parameters for “green popular music,” my case study will be the “experimental folk” of Ani DiFranco. DiFranco’s mixing of folk with other genres – including rock, punk, hip hop, jazz, and electronic and environmental sound – corresponds with equally diverse “green” themes such as climate change, pollution, plastic waste, and animal cruelty. Gauging popular culture’s effectiveness at nurturing environmental awareness will ultimately require large scale, longitudinal analysis of fan literature and/or social media. Rectifying an absence of audience research in ecomedia studies remains a future challenge. Nonetheless, contemporary forms of folk music do indicate that an accelerating ecological crisis – posing complex questions of lifestyle, policy, and politics – could be addressed by evolving equally complex forms of popular culture.