Please expand my music knowledge again this time - Folk Music

To my wonderful friends on Du the last time I asked you this question you guys stepped up to the plate and knocked one out of the park. I asked you all for advice on Blues Music and you greatly increased my knowledge. I can't believe I didn't know that I was living in a world without hearring the likes of James Cotton, Mamma Thorton, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, and yes even Muddy. This time I was wondering if you can tweak my interest in folk music.

I know very little folk musicians. Woodie Guthrie, Dylan of course, and Stephan Smith and Johnny Horton and that's about it. Oh and Doc Watson. So if you could point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.
Oh if it helps narrow down the genere I am interested in tunes that I can learn to play with my harmonica thanks. All you guys :rock:

and the Weavers.

Peter,Paul and Mary, Tim Buckley, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Tim Buckley

Not as well known as some, but better than most.

It's broadcast in the US on on NPR/PBS stations & on others worldwide! It's out of Lexington, KY and it is wonderful They showcase a variety of roots music! From the modern to the traditional, they have it all! The host is Michael Jonathon.

My mama was the cold North wind,
My daddy was the son, of a railroad man from west of hell,
Where the trains don’t even run……

Never heard the whistle of a southbound freight,
Or the singing of it’s driving wheel,
No I, never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’ after all

They say they highways just one big road,
And it goes from here to there,
And they say you carry a heavy load,
When you’re rolling down the line somewhere…..

Never seen the dance of the telephone poles,
As they go whizzin’ by,
No I, never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’ after all



Never did no wanderin’…..high!
Never did no wanderin’…..low!

Now a sailor’s life is a life for him,
But it never was for me,
And I never soared where they hawk may soar,
Or see what the hawk might see,

Never hiked to heaven on a mountain trail,
Never rode on a river’s rage….
No I, never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’ after all

Never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’
Never did not wanderin’ after all

Never did no wanderin’…after……all

Check 'em out.

Contrary to popular belief, there are a few really good things that have come out of Alabama in recent years!!

:thumbsup:

I Ain't Marchin' Anymore (Live): Phil Ochs
banks of the nile: Richard Thompson
Leather Zippo(Tm) Holster: Spider Robinson
Zydeco La Louisianne: Buckwheat Zydeco
Imagine: Joan Baez
Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven Anymore: John Prine
Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby: Laura Nyro
Yuppies in the Sky: Tom Paxton
Castles Made of Sand/Little Wing: Tuck & Patti
Matty Groves: Fairport Convention
Perfect World: Indigo Girls
Red Palace: "Spider" John Koerner - Willie Murphy
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy: Pete Seeger
We Can't Make It Here: James McMurtry
Let's Pretend: John McCutcheon
:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

Hey, let's back up a sec; for blues you *must* investigate Louis Jordan. He was second in sales during the '40s only to Nat King Cole. I think he was more popular than Bing Crosby. He had a small group playing mostly dance music called jump blues that'll just *make you happy*. You can get his best stuff on one mid-priced cd called The Best of LJ, MCAD-4079. You will *not* be disappointed. I guarantee it.

As for folk music, I've been playing, collecting, writing about it and playing it on the radio since I started in the early '60s. If you like Woody Guthrie, you must pick up one cd by his running mate, Cisco Houston called Cisco Houston sings the songs of Woody Guthrie, Vanguard VMD-2131, a wonderful tribute album. He had a smooth baritone voice and is my favorite singer of that period. If you like Dylan, pick up one or two Phil Ochs sides. He was to the anti-war movement what Dylan was to the counterculture. His two best early sides are I Ain't Marchin' Anymore, Hannibal 4422 and All the News That's Fit to Sing, Hannibal 4427. Another '60s folk singer of great note was Fred Neil who wrote Everybody's Talking at Me. Electra reissued his first two lps on one cd, Tear Down the Walls/ Bleeker and MacDougal, #8122735632, a mid-price cd. Archie Fisher's The Man with the Rhyme, Folk Legacy CD-61, is a disc of mostly quiet, reflective tunes I come back to frequently. Dick Gaughan is a national treasure in Scotland where his versions of traditional songs and songs that celebrate hard working men and women continue winning him awards. His disc Handful of Earth, Topic TSCD- 419, was named by Folk Roots magazine, the quintessential folk/world/roots music magazine in the world, as the best folk music album of the '80s. A great disc. For stunningly beautiful Hawaiian guitar instrumentals, you can't do better than Keola Beamer's Moe'uhane Kika, Tales from the Dream Guitar, Dancing Cat 38006. He has others but none of them are near that one in any way. No home is complete without a couple of Incredible String Band discs. Their first three are generally regarded as their best. The first, ISB, Hannibal 4437, is more folk influenced and shows them coming into their own. Their second, The 5,000 Spirits, Electra 60913 (although this may be a Japanese number and otherwise domestically available from Hannibal, and their third, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, Hannibal 4421 are astoundingly wonderful. They grew in great orders of magnitude during these three.

These are discs in my personal collection that I play frequently and that have brought me countless hours of listening pleasure. I haven't even begun to mention the singer/songwriters who began coming forward since the '70s. Tom Rush, Pierce Pettis, Feron, Betty Elders, Leslie Smith, Rod MacDonald, Richard Shindell to name but a few.

You can check out all of the artists I've mentioned at www.allmusic.com. Just punch in their names, read their bios and look over their discography. I'd be happy to discuss any artist or side I mentioned at length for your clarification and edification.

Let us know what you eventually wind up picking up.

Good stuff and politically like us.

Oh, your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven anymore.
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reason's for.
And your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore.

http://www.folkmusic.com/f_music.htm

The following albums are really good:

Water From Another Time (Christmas in the Trenches is the best song on this album)
Greatest Story Never Told
Hail to the Chief
Stand Up: Broadsides for our Time
Mighter Than the Sword

He has a few free MP3 demos on the website I linked above

Also worth checking out is Johnsmith

http://www.johnsmithmusic.com/

Good albums are:
Kickin this Stone
Hole in the Clouds

Also check out Tom Paxton
http://www.tompaxton.com/

Edit for spelling

The late great Dave Van Ronk was one of the most incredible guitarists and singers from the late 50's until his relatively recent death.

Dave considered himself a jazz musician, and in many ways he was, but most often he is thought of as a Folk Singer, mostly because of the way he took Bob Dylan under his wing when Dylan came to New York.

There is probably few things quite as powerful as Dave's studio version of Holiday's "God Bless the Child." He had a powerful holler voice and is guitar playing was, in spite of what seemed like deceptive simplicity, elegant, innovative, and in many ways defining.

http://elijahwald.com/vanronk.html

www.roches.com

Dar Williams
James McMurtry
Emmy Lou Harris
Bruce Cockburn
Alice Demint

and more and more and more...(Some of those folks I listed probably won't be considered 'folk' by some folks, but what they hey, they're still great.

Alt-Folk, for those out there unfamiliar, is a lot like alt-rock. Say the Rolling Stones is to Rock as Nirvana is to Alt-Rock, now apply this to Folk music. It's a nice new category that fits a bit with the other new category, Alt-Country.


Belle and Sebastian

Sun Kil Moon

The Jayhawks (also an alt-country band! Shame they broke up)

Beth Orton

Iron and Wine

Boards of Canada (stretching the alt-folk definition a bit...)

Modest Mouse (another stretch, but they have a lot of folk influence)

The Decemberists

Sufjan Stevens

Bright Eyes
Ani DiFranco
Damien Rice
Elliott Smith
The Lost Patrol (specifically their first two albums, "Songs in the Key of Resistance" and "Songs About Running Away")
Nicola Sarcevic
Simple Kid (maybe)

Bill Monroe

They have an awesome lineup of folk artists, great hosts, and an informative website.

For the links and the sugestions. :toast: Your guys are awesome.

I don't consider him so, but he was amazing! Here are a few links.

http://www.nickdrake.com/

http://www.algonet.se/~iguana/DRAKE/DRAKE.html

http://www.dirtynelson.com/linen/feature/42drake.html

are "must listen" to's

New (Americana/Roots) or traditional? Try going to wdvx.com for a little of both. They stream live out of the mountains of eastern TN. Woodsongs, as someone mentioned earlier is good, as is Mountain Stage on NPR. Also check out Folk Wax Magazine and Dirty Linen Magazine.

www.kpig.com
www.kgsr.com
radioparadise.com (kind of an eclectic mix of everything)

http://www.wumb.org

Good 100% Folk music station.

I'll check it out. Boston has a great community of folk musicians, too, from what I hear.

Anthology of American Folk Music edited by Harry Smith.

Most of this is old stuff from the 20's and 30's, but great stuff non the less.

Some i would recommend from said list would be>

AA Gray and 7'Dilly with Streak of Fat Streak of Lean. A nice old fiddle number.

High Sheriff by the Aiken County String band, another pre or proto blue grass number.

Pretty Polly by B.F. Shelton. An early working of the classic from a 1927 recording. Very dark and haunting song.

Bascom Lamar Lunsfords, Mole in the Hole in the Ground, odd rambling diddy which is the likely precursor to such songs as "Tempie", "Darling Where Have You Been So Long",and "I Don't Like No Railroad Man".

How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live, by Blind Alfred Reed. The original recording of this tune from 1929. One of my personal favorites.

Several offering by Country musics 1st super star Charlie Poole and the N.C. Ramblers. I recommend "Whitehouse Blues" and "Shootin' Creek" which is the original of the BlueGrass fave "Cripple Creek"


Dark Hollar, by Clarence Ashley. A great proto Bluegrass number.

Cocaine, by Dick Justice. A wonderfully funny song about cocaine of course.

Cocaine Habit Blues, by the Memphis Jug Band. This is a catchy little number that has been covered by many bands like the Grateful Dead.


Blues in A Bottle, by Prince Albert Hurt's Texas Ramblers. The first known song of what was later termed "Texas Swing"

Country Blues, by Doc Boggs. A great look at country Blues banjo playing from the 20's. Will make you change the way you look at the Banjo.

Avalon Blues, By Mississippi John Hurt. Great guitar player and known for his self accompanying style.


Lots of good stuff there, those are just a few listed. Most are of a very old vintage but thats where my interests lie at this time. There are also some newer things available there as well.

Especially the Kingston Trio for harmonica tunes.
I guess these are mostly "commercial" performers, but they're the ones I grew up with and like to listen to.

Back in the 1980s, public broadcasting aired the wonderful documentary The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time! The film was made in 1982 and chronicled the rise, blacklisting, and eventual return to Carnegie Hall of this particular vocal group (Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Fred Kellerman, Ronnie Gilbert). I defy you to watch it without laughing, crying, and cheering. Lee Hays in particular dominates the film in a particularly touching and humorous way. He's no longer with us, but the rest of them are, if I'm not mistaken.

You should be able to find a video of the film somewhere, or maybe you can ask your local PBS station to run it again.



As for the rest of your question, there are so many wonderful folk musicians, past and present, that it boggles the mind to start listing them. I've recently become a fan of the British singer-songwriter-guitarist Kate Rusby, who does some amazing arrangements of traditional ballads, though she has attitude and humor, which adds a nice touch!



I also enjoy the Irish-American Cathie Ryan, who was with the group Cherish the Ladies. Check out her self-titled album.



John Gorka, a New Jersey singer-songwriter, is another one of my favorites. He's got a husky, mellow voice and a great sense of humor and, inevitably, an interesting take on things.



Don't forget Carrie Newcomer. She's a bit hard to classify (some of what she does straddles the country-rock genre) but can be classified as folk. She has a decidedly spiritual and pro-social justice angle in her material. But it's that honeyed alto of hers that blows me away. Just listen to it once and you're hooked.

http://www.carrienewcomer.com/carrie_flash.html

John McCutcheon definitely shares the pro-social justice angle in music.

http://www.folkmusic.com/t_mp3.htm

Happy listening!

are "The Incredible String Band" - particularly the albums "5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion" & "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter".
http://www.makingtime.co.uk/beglad/

Vashti Bunyan's album "Just another Diamond Day" is beautiful. She's just - about 30 years later - recorded a second album.
http://www.anotherday.co.uk/

There's also a neat leftie group called "Seize the Day" who let you buy mp3's direct from their site. Their song "With My Hammer" is incredible. (lyrics: http://www.seizetheday.org/wordsworth3.htm )
http://www.seizetheday.org/

And I must mention "Fairport Convention". Personally I love "Liege and Lief" but there's a massive catalogue to choose from, but I prefer the early stuff. (It's worth knowing that they have gone through massive changes in musicians).
http://www.fairportconvention.co.uk/

Tom Rush
Youngbloods
Guy Clarke
Townes Van Zandt
Sandy Denny
John Renborn &
Pentangle
Odetta
Patty Griffin
Nanci Griffith

~whew~that should keep you for a bit.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Nanci Griffith
Greg Brown
Allison Krauss
The Indigo Girls
Kate Wolf

Have fun, DanCa!
:hi:

Shine

that were never set to music.

Other artists I would recommend that I have not seen on this thread are Iris DeMint, John Stewart (formerly of the Kingston Trio), Rory Block, and for a more ethnic folk feel, The Klezmetics

Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin..... good stuff

One of the most talented singer-songwriters working today.

http://www.pattygriffin.com/