Folk Song Favorites Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stan Rogers

Stan Rogers (1949-1983) was a Canadian folksinger noted for his deep, rich voice. Many of his songs are about sailors and fishermen. "Barrett's Privateers" is a song about a fictional Canadian privateer during the American Revolution. Rogers died tragically at the age of 33 when a fire broke out on a plane on which he was traveling. Rogers and 22 other passengers died of burns and smoke inhalation.

In 1997 the Stan Rogers Folk Festival was established in Canso, Nova Scotia in his honor.

Answer: The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio was one of the most popular folk music groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Their version of "Tom Dooley" sold over six million copies and reached the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1958. "Tom Dooley" is based on a traditional song from North Carolina.

In 1866 a man named Tom Dula was charged with killing a woman named Laurie Foster, and was hanged for the crime in 1868. The song was so popular that it inspired a 1959 film, "The Legend of Tom Dooley," starring Michael Landon.

Answer: Peter, Paul, and Mary

Peter, Paul, and Mary were a folk music group that was formed in New York City in 1961; they continued to perform occasionally until Mary Travers' death in 2009. "Puff, the Magic Dragon" was written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow, and was released as a single in 1963; it was an immediate hit, and remains popular today.

The song has been rumored to contain references to marijuana smoking, but both Lipton and Yarrow have denied this repeatedly.

Answer: Joan Baez

"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," is a song about the American Civil War, but it was actually written by a Canadian, Robbie Robertson, and first recorded by his group, The Band, in 1969. But it was Joan Baez's 1971 cover of the song that made it famous. Baez's version reached the number three spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, and also did well in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Joan Baez began performing in her teens, and is noted for her anti-war activities and support of various left-wing causes, as well as her music.

Answer: Burl Ives

"When I was a bachelor, I lived all alone / I worked at the weaver's trade / And the only, only thing that I did that was wrong / Was to woo a fair young maid." "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" is an English (some sources say Irish) folk ballad, one of many popularized by the late Burl Ives. Ives was born in southern Illinois in 1909; he dropped out of college at the age of 20, and spent some time as a hobo during the Great Depression.

In his autobiography, "Wayfaring Stranger," Ives said he was once arrested in Mona, Utah for playing "The Foggy, Foggy Dew' in public when local authorities decided it was a "bawdy song." Ives first recorded the song in 1945, and it became one of his signature tunes.

After a long and successful career as both a musician and an actor, Burl Ives passed away in 1995 at the age of 85.

Answer: Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton first made his mark on the folk music scene by playing in clubs in New York's Greenwich Village. Never a commercially oriented artist, he is better known as a concert performer and songwriter, his songs having been covered by hundreds of artists.

Some of his better known songs are "Bottle of Wine," "Whose Garden Was This?," "Ramblin' Boy," and "Outward Bound." "The Last Thing On My Mind" appeared on Paxton's second studio album; it was covered by Porter Waggoner and Dolly Parton, and reached the top ten on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 1967.

It has since been covered by over 60 other artists, but remains one of Paxton's signature songs. Tom Paxton was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

Answer: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota on May 24, 1941. In the early 1960s he moved to New York City, and began performing at clubs in Greenwich Village, and playing harmonica on albums recorded by better known artists. His breakthrough came when the popular folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary covered his song "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963.

He was active in the anti-war movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and was romantically linked with singer Joan Baez. Much of his early and most popular work was derivative, reworking old folk songs, and there were charges that he actually stole material from other writers.

He wrote the song "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" for the 1972 film, "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," in which he also had a small acting role.

It became one of his most popular and most covered songs. In 2016, to the surprise of many, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Answer: Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot is a Canadian folk singer who was born in Orillia, Ontario. Like many artists, his first success was as a songwriter. He released his first album in 1966. Although popular in his native Canada, Lightfoot did not achieve stardom in the United States until the release of his 1970 single,"If You Could Read My Mind," which sold over a million copies. One of his most famous songs is "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which appeared on his 1976 album, "Summertime Dream." The song was a major hit for Lightfoot in both the United States and Canada, and received a lot of airplay, despite being six minutes long.

The song is based on a true story, the loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975; the sinking claimed the lives of 29 crewmembers.

Answer: Donovan

Donovan Leitch is a Scottish folksinger born in 1946. He achieved success as a singer and songwriter at an early age. His first hit song was "Catch the Wind" in 1965, when he was only 19. He is also well known for the songs "Mellow Yellow," "Sunshine Superman," and "Atlantis." He is the father of actress Ione Skye.

Answer: Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie is sometimes called "America's Troubadour." Guthrie was born in Oklahoma in 1912. He came of age during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, and many of his songs relate to events of that era. He moved to California, and began appearing on a radio show featuring hillbilly music.

In 1939, he moved to New York City, where he became friends with Pete Seeger and other prominent folk singers. He once again found employment with a radio station, and recorded his first album, "Dust Bowl Ballads." During WWII, he served in the Merchant Marine, and later in the U.S. Army.

After the war, his health began to deteriorate, and in 1954 he was diagnosed with Huntington's Chorea, an incurable and fatal degenerative nerve disease. Woody Guthrie died on October 3, 1967.

Although he wrote hundreds of songs during his lifetime, "This Land Is Your Land" may be his most famous. Guthrie said he wrote it in response to Irving Berlin's song, "God Bless America."