U.S & CANADA FOLK MUSIC

The term "folk music" is so very vague; basically it could refer to any music folks from a particular place make, concerning pretty much any topic, created by the "folks" who live there. In America, early "folks" who settled (the already-settled) "New World" came from many places, including European countries such as England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany, and, usually unwillingly, Africa. Life in America was far from easy for any of the colonists, let alone for their African slaves. These folks sang about their struggles as a way to share them. They sang about their struggles as a way to survive.  

In the U.S. the music we call "country" -- another open-ended term -- developed into a national genre in the early 20th century when the mountain/old-time Music of Appalachia and the Southeastern U.S. traveled westward, either in the person of itinerant musicians or due to the migration of music fans. At the time Americans still considered the Southwest (Texas, Oklahoma and states nearby) very much part of a wild frontier. Whether or not there were actually still roaming cowboys, the image of the lone man--and his lone horse--living, and singing about, a rough but honorable life, was a romantic one.  In America "folk music" and "country music" are still close cousins.