This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles, dances, instruments and other related topics. The term folk music can not be easily defined in a precise manner; it is used with widely-varying definitions depending on the author, intended audience and context within a work. Similarly, the term traditions in this context does not connote any strictly-defined criteria. Music scholars, journalists, audiences, record industry individuals, politicians, nationalists and demagogues may often have occasion to address which fields of folk music are distinct traditions based along racial, geographic, linguistic, religious, tribal or ethnic lines, and all such peoples will likely use different criteria to decide what constitutes a "folk music tradition". This list uses the same general categories used by mainstream, primarily English-language, scholarly sources, as determined by relevant statements of fact and the internal structure of works.
These traditions may coincide entirely, partially or not at all with geographic, political, linguistic or cultural boundaries. Very few, if any, music scholars would claim that there are any folk music traditions that can be considered specific to a distinct group of people and with characteristics undiluted by contact with the music of other peoples; thus, the folk music traditions described herein overlap in varying degrees with each other.
| Country | Elements | Dance | Instrumentation | Other topics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aanishanabe | – | – | – | |
| African American | blues - blues-harp - boat song - field holler - fife and drum band - freedom song - funereal music - gospel - lining out - shape-note - Shout - spiritual - work song | blues dance - hambone - juba dance - ring dance - shout | banjo - bones - cowbell - diddley bow - fiddle - harmonica - tambourine - washtub bass | blue note - camp meeting - Election Day celebration - Great Awakening - Pinkster |
| Anglo-American | ballad - folk hymn - protest song - sea shanty - shape note - singing | barn dance - country western two-step - longways - jig - reel - square dance | fiddle - flute - guitar - harpsichord - violin | Caller - Shakers |
| Apache | Apache fiddle - pot drum - water drum | |||
| Appalachian | ballad - Blue Ridge fiddling - bluegrass - Child ballad - close harmony - folk hymn - jug band - lining out - North Georgia fiddling - old-time music - scolding ballad - shape note - singing - string band | clogging | autoharp - banjo - cello - cornstalk fiddle - dulcimer - fiddle - flute - guitar - harmonica - mandolin | folk revival - hillbilly |
| Arapaho | Ghost Dance - peyote song | rabbit dance - round dance - snake dance - Sun Dance - turtle dance | Ghost Dance | |
| Blue Ridge | – | – | – | |
| Cajun | polka - two-step - waltz | accordion - fiddle - guitar - spoons - triangle - washboard | ||
| Cape Breton | – | – | – | |
| Cherokee | stomp dance | rattle | ||
| Chickasaw | stomp dance | |||
| Chippewa | – | – | – | |
| Choctaw | stomp dance | |||
| Cree | fiddle | |||
| Dakota | – | – | – | |
| Dinéh | – | – | – | |
| English-American | – | – | – | |
| Finnish-American | – | – | – | |
| French-American | – | – | – | |
| German- and Moravian-American | collegia musica - cornet band - Moravian funereal music - trombone choir | hautboy - kettle drum - trumpet - viol | Ephrata Cloister - liederkranz - Singstude | |
| Hopi | – | – | – | |
| Illinois | calumet dance | berdache - calumet | ||
| Inuit | ayaya - kattajaq - pisiq - throat-singing | drum dance - jig - kalattuut - reel | accordion - drum | angakkog |
| Irish- and Scottish-Canadian | ballad - Cape Breton fiddling - emigrant ballad - sean nos - shape note | reel - step dance - strathspey | fiddle | ceilidh |
| Irish-American | ballad - emigrant ballad - sean nos | clogging - hornpipe - jig - reel - step dance - square dance | banjo - dulcimer - fiddle - guitar - harmonica - mandolin | |
| Iroquois | Eagle Dance - Quiver Dance - Warrior's Stomp Dance | drum - rattle - water drum | ||
| Italian-American | – | – | – | |
| Japanese-American | – | – | – | |
| Jewish-American | cantorial chant - klezmer | bulgar - doina - freylekh - hora - khosidl - mazurka - nigun - polka - sirba - waltz | cello - clarinet - double bass - flute - tsimbl - violin | badkhn - Freygish - kapelye |
| Lakota | – | – | – | |
| Louisiana Creole | la la - mellows - zydeco | bamboula - ring dance | accordion - fiddle - guitar - washboard | Congo Square - fais-do-do |
| Maritime Canada | Cape Breton fiddling - milling song | jig - reel | accordion - fiddle - piano | |
| Menomini | water drum | |||
| Metis | step dance | fiddle | ||
| Mexican, Mejicano, Hispanic and Tejano | alabado - bravata - California mission music - conjunto - copla - corrido - estribillo - huapango arribeño - jarabe - letra - mariachi - Matachines - Mexican son - pirekua - son huasteco - sones abajeños - sones calentanos - sones de arpa grande - sones istmeños - son jaliscense - son jarocho - topada - vallena - zandunga | chotis - jarabe tapatío - jarana - Matachines - mazurka - polka - raspa - redowa - waltz - xtoles - zandunga - zapateado | accordion - angelus bell - bajo sexto - fiddle - harp - huapanguera - jarana - guitarra quinta - guitarrón - mission bell - requinto - vihuela - violin | trovadore - vaquero |
| Moravian-American | – | – | – | |
| Navajo | gift song - signal song - sway song - Yeibichai | circle dance - Squaw Dance | pot drum - rattle - water drum | Blessingway - Enemyway - Ghostway - hataałii - hózhǫ́ - Nightway - Yeibichai |
| New England | folk hymn - lining out - Old Way of Singing - psalmody - shape note | barn dance | ||
| Newfoundland | ballad - sea shanty - sean nos | hornpipe - jig - reel - step dance - square dance | bodhrán - fiddle - guitar - harmonica - accordion - spoons | |
| Ojibwa | war song | water drum | ||
| Omaha | pipe dance | |||
| Pueblo | Matachines - work song | Matachines | drum - flageolet | Shalako |
| Quebecois | accord de pieds | |||
| San Ildefonso | – | – | – | |
| Santo Domingo | – | – | – | |
| Scottish-Canadian | – | – | – | |
| Sioux | Grass Dance | bell - drum - rattle | ||
| Southern states | ballad - brass band - Delta blues - blues-harp - fife and drum band - folk hymn - jug band - Sacred Harp - shape note - Southern gospel - white spiritual | barn dance - chicken in the breadtray - clogging - fisher's hornpipe - Highland fling - jig - lancer - pigeonwing - polka - quadrille - reel - square dance - waltz | banjo - dulcimer - fiddle - guitar - harmonica - mandolin | singing |
| Taos Pueblo | – | – | – | |
| Tejano | – | – | – | |
| Tex-Mex | – | – | – | |
| Tohono O'odham | chicken scratch (waila) - conjunto | chotis - mazurka - polka - waila | accordion - bass guitar - drum - fiddle - guitar | piest |
| Ukrainian-American and Canadian | – | – | – | |
| Western Canada and the United States | cattle call - cowboy song - frontier ballad - holler - waltz - Western swing - work song | square dance | accordion - banjo - fiddle - guitar - harmonica | Caller - Chisholm Trail - cowboy poetry - medicine show |
| Yaqui | Danza del Venado | |||
| Zuni | – | – | – |
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“the yonge sonne
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