Folk ragtime is a subgenre of ragtime, a distinctly American music. It is thought to have originated with illiterate itinerant African American piano players, who learned the syncopated music not formally, but through their peers. Folk Ragtime as a form stayed active until the early 1920s, when young America shifted its attention to early jazz. It was later revived, starting in 1947 with the 'rediscovery' of Sanford Brunson Campbell (March 20, 1884 - November 23, 1952) who was one of the most noted folk ragtimers as well as a student of Scott Joplin, and then in the early 1960s by the now foremost authority on Folk Ragtime, Trebor Jay Tichenor (1940-2014). Another exponent of folk ragtime was Thomas Shea (November 14, 1931 - March 12, 1982); his music is sometimes referred to as "prairie ragtime."
The writers of folk ragtime often simply mixed together themes of theirs in a random fashion, in structure loosely resembling the typical Classic Rag structure (IntroAABBACCDD.) Good testimony of this are the legendary multiple takes of Folk Rags by Sanford Brunson Campbell, recorded on acetates in 1947. They illustrate a performer who embellishes and improvises on basic themes, at times seeming as if he is making it all up as he goes along.
In terms of melodic and harmonic content, Folk Rags have a distinct blues influence. In addition to themes based on 12-bar patterns, the non blues-structured themes almost incorporate flatted 'blue' notes. Many themes in Folk rags are based on tonic-dominant chord relations with forays into other simple chords. A typical chord progression in B♭ major would go:
At the center of the revival of folk ragtime has been historian, collector, and composer/pianist Trebor Jay Tichenor. His modern interpretations of Folk Ragtime, as well as his original compositions in the style, have set the standard for all folk ragtime pianists today. Some of his noted works are: "Hickory Smoked Rag" (1974), "Days Beyond Recall" (circa. 1960), and "Pierce City Rag" (circa. 1961) among many others.
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Ragtime – also spelled rag-time or rag time – is a musical style that enjoyed its peak popularity between 1895 and 1919. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by ragtime composer Scott Joplin and his school of classical ragtime which was survived by James Scott and Joseph Lamb after Joplin's death in 1917. Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, Fig Leaf Rag, Frog Legs Rag, and Sensation Rag, among others, are among the most popular songs of the genre. Ragtime was an immediate precursor to jazz.
Joseph Russel Robinson was an American ragtime, dixieland, and blues pianist and composer who was a member of the Original Dixieland Jass Band.
Charles Luckyth Roberts, better known as Luckey Roberts, was an American composer and stride pianist who worked in the jazz, ragtime, and blues styles.
George Botsford was an American composer of ragtime and other forms of music.
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Euday Louis Bowman was an American pianist and composer of ragtime and blues who represented the style of Texas Ragtime. He is chiefly remembered as the composer of the highly popular "Twelfth Street Rag", a ragtime composition from 1914 out of a series of rags that Bowman wrote during or after a period in which he worked as a pianist in some bordellos of Kansas City. These pieces, including "Sixth Street Rag", "Tenth Street Rag", "Eleventh Street Rag" and "Twelfth Street Rag," were named after streets of Fort Worth's redlight district.
Classic rag is the style of ragtime composition pioneered by Scott Joplin and the Missouri school of ragtime composers. These compositions were first considered "classic" by Joplin's publisher, John Stark, as a way to distinguish them from what he considered the "common" rags of other publishers. Today, any composition fitting this particular ragtime structural form is considered classic rag.
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"Original Rags" was an early ragtime medley for piano. It was the first of Scott Joplin's rags to appear in print, in early 1899, preceding his "Maple Leaf Rag" by half a year.
"Weeping Willow" is a 1903 classic piano ragtime composition by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's simpler and less famous ragtime scores, written during a transitional period in his life, and one of the few pieces that Joplin cut as a piano roll in a 1916 session.
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"Wall Street Rag" is a ragtime composition by Scott Joplin, first published in 1909. As indicated by the title, the theme is based on Wall Street following the events surrounding the Panic of 1907. This is represented in the musical structure along with its corresponding annotations.
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