The field holler or field call is mostly a historical type of vocal work song sung by field slaves in the United States (and later by African American forced laborers accused of violating vagrancy laws) to accompany their tasked work, to communicate usefully, or to vent feelings.[1] It differs from the collective work song in that it was sung solo, though early observers noted that a holler, or ‘cry’, might be echoed by other workers. Though commonly associated with cotton cultivation, the field holler was also sung by levee workers, and field hands in rice and sugar plantations. Field hollers are also known as corn-field hollers, water calls, and whoops. An early description is from 1853 and the first recordings are from the 1930s. The holler is closely related to the call and response of work songs and arhoolies. The Afro-American music form ultimately influenced strands of African American music, such as the blues and thereby rhythm and blues, as well as negro spirituals.[2]
There had also been some instances where some white oat farmers in close proximity to black people in the southern United States adopted and employed the field holler.[3]
^Maultsby, Portia. "A History of African American Music". Carnegie Hall. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
^Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm & Blues (First ed.). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 3. ISBN 0-02-061740-2.
^Browne, Ray B. (1954). "Some Notes on the Southern "Holler"". The Journal of American Folklore. 67 (263): 73–77. doi:10.2307/536810. JSTOR 536810. Archived from the original on 2020-10-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
The fieldholler or field call is mostly a historical type of vocal work song sung by field slaves in the United States (and later by African American...
Holler Blues refers to blues songs that are sung in the holler style, or the fieldholler style. Fieldhollers are also referred to as whoopings, arhoolies...
Rhineland-Palatinate Holler, Luxembourg, a village in Weiswampach Höller, a German surname Holler (surname) Fieldholler, a song form Goofy holler, a stock sound...
Fieldholler music, also known as levee camp holler music, was an early form of African American music, described in the 19th century. Fieldhollers laid...
Fieldholler music, also known as Levee Camp Holler music, was an early form of African American music, described in the 19th century. Fieldhollers laid...
usually repeats its basic melody line without change." Also evident were fieldhollers, shouts, and moans, which may have been originally designed for different...
only make a meal from their rations and anything else they could find. Fieldholler House negro Treatment of the enslaved in the United States "Slavery and...
Group of enslaved people in a chain-gang for overland shipment on foot. Fieldholler: African-American work songs with roots in the plantation era Gang system:...
blues, a form of folk music which arose in part from the work songs and fieldhollers of African-American slaves on plantations. These work songs were commonly...
pitch and low pitch simultaneously. The two-tone sound is related to fieldholler, overtone singing, and yodeling the music. Kazoo The Hum – an apparently...
singer Sia at a kulning workshop in Sweden. Keening Lilting Yodeling Fieldholler Chanting in general, and the variant associated with Germanic and Norse...
2014: Rebel Blue [compilation] (Up 2 Zero Entertainment) 2015: Electric FieldHoller (Up 2 Zero Entertainment 1121) 2018: Peace, Love & Loud Guitars (Up 2...
States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, fieldhollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American...
of Negro Affairs Federation of Black Cowboys Fela! Festival Sundiata Fieldholler Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fighting Temptations...
from African-American enslaved people who sang fieldhollers and work songs. Work songs and fieldhollers provided a mode of expression for enslaved people...
much longer "negro corn-shucking song," also called a working song or fieldholler; published 1859 I never knew a slave-trader that did not seem to think...
songs. "When he spoke he was soft-spoken, but when he sang he became a fieldholler shouter. Koerner was an exciting singer, and we began playing a lot together"...
blues/psychedelia". He adds: "Gypsy Eyes" is based on a standard, ancient blues fieldholler, with Jimi Hendrix creating some great synergy between his vocal and...
Law portal Convict assignment (Australia) Federal Prison Industries FieldhollerField slaves in the United States History of unfree labor in the United...
Weekly gave the album an A− grade, writing that Henderson's "enthusiastic fieldholler and his guitar's riveting twang give off enough sparks to ignite [the...
the exception. As the blues appears to have derived from a cappella fieldhollers of African slaves, it would be expected that its notes would be of just...
through music". The first slaves in the United States sang work songs, fieldhollers and, following Christianization, hymns. In the 19th century, a Great...