Folk Music
Burl Ives, hailing from downstate Illinois, helped popularize folk music, with releases beginning in the 1940s.
Chicago was a focal point for the folk music boom of the 1960s and early 1970s. A center of activity was the Old Town School of Folk Music which opened in the late 1950s and helped launch the careers of many folk musicians associated with the city, including John Prine, Steve Goodman, and Bonnie Koloc.
A large influx of Polish immigrants into Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought Polka music with them; this music evolved into several local styles. The Polka Hall of Fame is located in Chicago, and is home to the International Polka Association which hosts a yearly convention.
There is a thriving indie folk scene across the state, most notably from Chicago south to Bloomington. Artists such as Chicago Farmer, Jaik Willis, and 2nd Timothy are prime examples of the limitations of folk music being broadened in the state of Illinois.
Read more about this topic: Music Of Illinois
Famous quotes containing the words folk and/or music:
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“O I shall hear skull skull,
Hear your lame music,
Believe music rejects undertaking,
Limps back.”
—Owen Dodson (b. 1914)