ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that in a cultural sense, the folk tradition is an outlaw tradition. Even though it serves as a foundation for national character and spirit, folk tradition exists as an uncanny undercurrent of mainstream American society. The cultural force of folk performance results from its outlaw status. J. Lomax's Cowboy Songs, Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, and Carl Sandburg's American Songbag provide a collective representation of the American folk voice. These anthologies demonstrate three distinct impulses: to present and preserve a vanishing cultural voice; to celebrate and encourage the performative aspect of folk culture as American identity, thereby keeping this culture and tradition alive and open to everyone; and to serve as a representative cross section of an American pattern of experience and performative expression. These collections accomplish that which Carl Engel was wary of: presenting the less ideal, repudiated, and uncanny vision of the blossoming "Spirit of America".
