Songs are frequently used to tell stories and histories. Nowhere is this practice more evident than with folk ballads. Professor McAllister walks you through the history of this practice as he introduces singers and songwriters who have used music to tell the story of themselves and the country they inhabited. Get to know early western songs by folklorists such as John Lomax and dig into the resurrection of folk ballads with 1960s music festivals featuring Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and others.