roots music
Traditional American sounds
Roots music is a loose category for American musical styles with origins in folk, blues, country, gospel, and related traditions.
The term emphasizes authenticity and connection to earlier forms, often in contrast to polished commercial pop.
Artists playing roots music typically favor acoustic instruments and draw on regional or ethnic musical heritage: The festival featured three days of roots music from Appalachian fiddle tunes to Delta blues.
Disconnected from power
- guitarFretted stringed instrument
- banjoFretted drum-stringed instrument
- mandolinPlucked eight-string lute descendant
- fiddleAdjust restlessly; folk violin
harmonica · upright bass · dobro · autoharp · fingerpicking · flatpicking · unamplified · resonator
Narrative poem or song
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
- AmericanaHeritage artifacts or music
- old-timeOf a past era
- AppalachianEastern U.S. mountain region
singer-songwriter · troubadour · protest song · sea shanty · broadside · murder ballad · folk revival · lament
Acoustic Appalachian folk music
- zydecoCreole roots music
- CajunLouisiana's French descendants
- conjuntoRegional Mexican music group
- TejanoTexas-Mexican musical style
gospel · spirituals · jug band · string band · honky-tonk · Creole · Celtic · old-time
Family line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- legacyWhat's passed down
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- ethnomusicologyMusic studied culturally
preservation · oral tradition · cultural memory · forebears · handed down · generational · archive · field recording
Alluvial formation at mouth
- slide guitarStringed instrument with gliding bar
- shuffleRandomize by mixing
- boogie-woogieDriving bass, freewheeling treble
- call-and-responseAlternating musical exchange
juke joint · Mississippi · Chicago blues · Piedmont · country blues · bottleneck · moaning · work song
In original state
- soulfulExpressing deep emotion
- genuineTruly what it claims
- earthyCoarse and unpretentious
- heartfeltDeeply and sincerely meant
sincere · unpolished · organic · honest · real · grassroots · homespun · unvarnished
unplugged
Disconnected from power
- guitarFretted stringed instrument
- banjoFretted drum-stringed instrument
- mandolinPlucked eight-string lute descendant
fiddle · harmonica · upright bass · dobro · autoharp · fingerpicking · flatpicking · unamplified · resonator · strings
ballad
Narrative poem or song
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
- AmericanaHeritage artifacts or music
- old-timeOf a past era
Appalachian · singer-songwriter · troubadour · protest song · sea shanty · broadside · murder ballad · folk revival · lament · narrative
bluegrass
Acoustic Appalachian folk music
Tejano · gospel · spirituals · jug band · string band · honky-tonk · Creole · Celtic · old-time · Piedmont
ancestry
Family line of descent
ethnomusicology · preservation · oral tradition · cultural memory · forebears · handed down · generational · archive · field recording · revival
Delta
Alluvial formation at mouth
- slide guitarStringed instrument with gliding bar
- shuffleRandomize by mixing
- boogie-woogieDriving bass, freewheeling treble
call-and-response · juke joint · Mississippi · Chicago blues · Piedmont · country blues · bottleneck · moaning · work song · blue notes
raw
In original state
heartfelt · sincere · unpolished · organic · honest · real · grassroots · homespun · unvarnished · down-home
- AmericanaAmerican flag, Fourth of July, bald eagle, Thanksgiving, apple pie
- folk musicfolk, folk songs, folk ballads, folk ballad, folk singers
- American Rootsblues, bluegrass, country, folk, jazz
- world musicreggae, samba, bossa nova, flamenco, fado
- folk festivalsBeltane, Samhain, maypole, Midsummer, Harvest Festival
- recordingsaudio recording, albums, studio albums, video recording, live albums
roots musicelectronic dance music
Synthesizer-based club genre
synth-pop · EDM · techno · electronica · house music
roots musicpop music
Catchy, commercial song genre
Top 40 · chart music · bubblegum pop · Nashville sound · arena rock
root, music, roots, musical, rooted, uproot, rooting, musically, uprooting