Honestly, in order to really understand folk, you've got to get into the right mindset first:
Here are the Facts:
(From wikipedia)
Folk music can have a number of different meanings, but most commonly refers to Traditional music. The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definitions that "Folk music" is now considered to encompass.
Folk music can also describe a particular kind of popular music which is based on traditional music. In contemporary times, this kind of folk music is often performed by professional musicians. Related genres include folk rock, electric folk and progressive folk music.
In American culture, folk music refers to the American folk music revival, music exemplified by such musicians as Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, and Joan Baez, who popularized and encouraged the lyrical style in the 1950s and 1960s. This has its counterpart in the English Folk Revival of the 1960s, exemplified by artists and groups such as Martin Carthy, Donovan, Ralph McTell, Magna Carta, Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.
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In Ireland, The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem (although the members were all Irish-born, the group became famous while based in New York's Greenwich Village), The Dubliners, Clannad, Planxty, The Chieftains, The Pogues, The Irish Rovers, and a variety of other folk bands have done much over recent years to revitalise and re-popularise Irish traditional music. These bands were rooted, to a greater or lesser extent, in a living tradition of Irish music, and they benefited from collection efforts on the part of the likes of Seamus Ennis and Peter Kennedy, among others.
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In the United Kingdom, the folk revival didn’t create any popular stars (although Ewan MacColl's “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” would eventually prove to be a hit for other artists), but it helped raise the profile of the music, and folk clubs sprang up all over, a boon to young artists like Martin Carthy and Roy Bailey who emerged. It also inspired a generation of singer-songwriters, such as Bert Jansch, Ralph McTell (whose “Streets Of London” would become a hit), Donovan, Roy Harper and many others. Bob Dylan came to London to check out the growing folk scene of the early 1960s, Paul Simon spent several months there and Tom Paxton stayed even longer; Simon's version of “Scarborough Fair” owed a lot to Carthy's take on the song.
In the 1980s a group of artists like Phranc and The Knitters propagated a form of folk music also called country punk, cowpunk or folk punk, which eventually evolved into alt country. More recently the same spirit has been embraced and expanded on by performers such as Dave Alvin, Miranda Stone and Steve Earle. At the same time, a line of singers from Joan Baez to Tom Paxton have continued to use traditional forms for original material.
Neofolk music is a modern form of music that began in the 1980s. Fusing traditional European folk music with post-industrial music forms, historical topics, philosophical commentary, traditional songs and paganism, the genre is largely European. Although it is not uncommon for neofolk artists to be entirely acoustic, playing with entirely traditional instruments.
Artists and Musicians:
Notable roots musicians have included
Jelly Roll Morton,
Blind Lemon Jefferson,
Robert Johnson,
Bessie Smith,
Burl Ives,
Pete Seeger,
Woody Guthrie,
Son House,
Leadbelly,
Hazel Dickens,
Jimmie Rodgers,
Bill Monroe,
Odetta,
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs,
Roy Acuff,
Hank Williams,
Merle Travis,
Johnny Cash,
Maggie Simpson,
Mahalia Jackson,
Muddy Waters,
John Lee Hooker,
B.B. King,
Washington Phillips,
Fiddlin' John Carson (1868 - 1949),
Willie Nelson,
Jean Ritchie,
Keb' Mo',
Ralph Stanley,
John Denver,
Chris Castle,
Ricky Skaggs,
Bob Dylan,
Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon,
Phil Ochs,
Peter, Paul and Mary,
and Cat Stevens.
Now that you know, and have been provided with a list of fabulous folk singers, go out and start your obsession right now!
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