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AMERICAN FOLK
The cultural and geographical isolation that helped shape the folk music traditions of the British Isles was conspicuously absent on the other side of the Atlantic, as American musicians readily adapted Old World songs for guitar, and the emergence of unique forms — bluegrass and country from the mountains, jazz and blues from the South — profoundly influenced the sound of contemporary American music. From Carter picking to open tuning, modern guitar owes much to the inventions of American folk.
