Folk Music History Quiz: Can You Get 8 Out of 10?

Woody Guthrie's guitar carried the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists, and this folk music history quiz follows the songs that carried stories and protest. Meet Alan Lomax's field recordings, Pete Seeger, the Greenwich Village scene, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan going electric at Newport in 1965 and the folk revival of Simon & Garfunkel.

Start Folk Music History Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Guthrie
Which song did Woody Guthrie write as an answer to God Bless America?
Lomax
Who made field recordings for the Library of Congress?
Seeger
Which instrument did Pete Seeger famously play?
Newport
Where did Bob Dylan go electric in 1965?
Baez
Which singer sang at the 1963 March on Washington?
Village
Which New York neighborhood hosted the folk scene?
Anthology
Who compiled the Anthology of American Folk Music?
Simon
Which duo sang The Sound of Silence?
Kingston
Which group's Tom Dooley sparked the 1950s folk boom?
Byrds
Which band's Mr. Tambourine Man launched folk rock?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which song did Woody Guthrie write as an answer to God Bless America?
Answer: This Land Is Your Land
He wrote it in 1940.
Q2: Who made field recordings for the Library of Congress?
Answer: Alan Lomax
He worked with his father John.
Q3: Which instrument did Pete Seeger famously play?
Answer: Banjo
He co-wrote If I Had a Hammer.
Q4: Where did Bob Dylan go electric in 1965?
Answer: Newport Folk Festival
Some fans booed.
Q5: Which singer sang at the 1963 March on Washington?
Answer: Joan Baez
She sang We Shall Overcome.
Q6: Which New York neighborhood hosted the folk scene?
Answer: Greenwich Village
Cafés hosted open mics.
Q7: Who compiled the Anthology of American Folk Music?
Answer: Harry Smith
It was released in 1952.
Q8: Which duo sang The Sound of Silence?
Answer: Simon & Garfunkel
It was remixed with electric backing.
Q9: Which group's Tom Dooley sparked the 1950s folk boom?
Answer: The Kingston Trio
It was a hit in 1958.
Q10: Which band's Mr. Tambourine Man launched folk rock?
Answer: The Byrds
Dylan wrote it.

Folk Music History Quiz – Songs of the People

Folk music passes stories, protest and history from one generation to the next. In the United States, collectors like Alan Lomax recorded traditional songs for the Library of Congress, and Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music inspired a generation.

Woody Guthrie wrote This Land Is Your Land, and Pete Seeger and the Weavers popularized folk songs. The Kingston Trio's Tom Dooley sparked a boom in 1958, and Greenwich Village became the center of the folk revival, where Joan Baez and Bob Dylan rose to fame.

Folk music fueled the civil rights movement, with Baez singing at the March on Washington. In 1965 Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival, the Byrds launched folk rock and Simon & Garfunkel brought folk harmonies to the charts.

What This Quiz Teaches

Music fans and history lovers will enjoy these questions.

Who wrote This Land Is Your Land
Who recorded field songs
Where Dylan went electric
Where the folk scene was
Who launched folk rock

Did You Know?

Lead Belly influenced folk singers.
Joni Mitchell wrote Both Sides Now.
Celtic folk shaped American songs.
Folk festivals continue worldwide.
Odetta was called the voice of civil rights.