Folk music! Who you like? (1 Viewer)

[sfidc3]

I don't think I saw Neil Young mentioned but he has a lot of what I would consider great folk songs.....throw in Joni Mitchell and that's my all star lineup....I like Dylan, the Guthries and all the others mentioned as well, but those are my favorites...

 

[Yatman]

joni

 

[FLEA]

John Prine

 

[faceman]

Tim Hardin. Bob Dylan once called him the greatest living songwriter.

 

[Nisey55]

While I am of the era of Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and the rest, and love all of it I really enjoy the newer folk, indie, Americana or whatever they call it. Bon Iver, the Lumineers, I don't know most of the names. I love the banjo in Mumford and sons. I think I got tired of classic rock, except for a few bands. Maybe it's old age, I just find it soothing.

 

[zatsnzapps]

But also maybe Tracey Chapman is folk

Even she has a fast car...probably knows how to change the sparkplugs herself.

 

[sonicboom]

Off the top of my head, Jim Croce, James Taylor, Bread, America, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle, Carli Simon, Cat Stevens, Joan Baez, Gordon Lightfoot, Don McClean, Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills and Nash (and for a time Young), Harry Chapin, and John Denver. A few were borderline pop bands/artists but it seemed to be folk to me, at least.

I really like John Denver, great song writer.

Andrus, if you had to pick your favorite artist from the list above, who would it be?

 

[sonicboom]

I love Joan Armatrading, though I don't think I'd ever categorize her music as folk. While she tends to defy categorization, I'd probably most agree with calling her jazz fusion.


For my money, the Guthries (both father and son) and Pete Seeger are pretty much the definition and height of folk music. Dylan follows very closely. None of those guys were very good singers, but they were fantastic poets, story tellers, and song writers, which is what really counts when it comes to folk music.
There are many great folk artists I love like PP&M, Joan Baez, Joanie Mitchell (who, like Armatrading, tends to defy categorization as she does more than folk music), Jim Croce, Don McClain, CSNY, etc., but IMHO Woody, Arlo, Pete, and Bob are the "Mount Rushmore" of the genre, at least in the era of recorded music.

I like folk music, just haven't spent a ton of time listening to folk songs.

What would be your top 10 folk song list?

 

[sonicboom]

I had a seasoned co-worker who grew up in the late 50s early 60s when Dylan was getting started. He said that Dylan wasn’t as much a musician as he was a marketing genius.

I don’t know, or care about how Dylan got so big, all I know is he has put out great music.

It’s still so interesting to me how folks like Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and other Jewish musicians had to change their names in order for record companies to produce their music

John Denver had to change his name also, to sell music, or should I say, Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. had to change his name to John Denver?!?!

Entertainment business is messed up, but I'm not allowed to talk about it. lol

 

[sonicboom]

I'd say it's pretty clear from the first several years of Dylan recording that he wasn't much of a musician - but he was a great lyricist. He was out to emulate Woody Guthrie as best he could and Guthrie, as most all folk I suppose, wrote commentary on life as he saw it . . . how the songwriter, with a touch of everyman, fits into the world and the challenges he faces. I suppose that's the essence of folk and Dylan embraced it, it's exactly what he wanted to be.

Oddly enough, I think his distinctive vocals (often disliked by many to this day) made him different and that helped him. I don't really know what makes a folk singer in the early 60s good (or not good) at marketing but he certainly was the right person at the right time. But his lyrics are just outstanding and think that's really hard to dispute.

Well said, I think punk music and folk music have many similarities.

 

[Andrus]

I really like John Denver, great song writer.

Andrus, if you had to pick your favorite artist from the list above, who would it be?

That's tough, because at some point back then they were all my favorites. I would probably go with Jim Croce. My high school girlfriend introduced me to his music way back then. I still listen to his music at times. I often wonder what he might have done later had it not been for his passing tragically in a plain crash at 30 yrs old.

Live film of Jim Croce with Maury Muehliesen, who was also lost in the crash:

 

[tenordas]

I like folk music, just haven't spent a ton of time listening to folk songs.

What would be your top 10 folk song list?

Wow, that's a tough question! There can't help but be personal bias in any answer, but I'll give it my best shot, thinking about the ones I think are the most influential to popular social culture and/or popular music in general:

1. This Land is Your Land - Woody Guthrie
2. Turn! Turn! Turn! - Pete Seeger
3. The Times They Are a-Changin' - Bob Dylan
4. Where Have All the Flowers Gone? - Pete Seeger
5. We Shall Overcome - Charles Albert Tindley (originally "I'll Overcome Some Day" words changed by Pete Seeger)
6. The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel
7. If I Had a Hammer - Pete Seeger
8. Blowin' in the Wind - Bob Dylan
9. Ohio - Neil Young
10. Alice's Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie

That was extremely difficult! I feel wrong leaving out "The House of the Rising Sun (Woody Guthrie)," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Robbie Robertson)," "Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)," "Goodnight Irene (Huddie Ledbetter)," "Tom Dooley (traditional song from Carolina)," "City of New Orleans (Steve Goodman),""Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Dylan)," "Scarborough Fair (traditional Irish air)," "Mr. Tambourine Man (Dylan)," "Big Yellow Taxi (Mitchell),' "Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire),' "Puff the Magic Dragon (Peter Yarrow)," "Like a Rolling Stone (Dylan)," "Time in a Bottle (Jim Croce)," and "Man of Constant Sorrow (Ralph Stanley).

So that's like 25 songs already I feel like ought to be in the top ten. Even then, I've barely scratched the surface!

John Denver had to change his name also, to sell music, or should I say, Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. had to change his name to John Denver?!?!

Entertainment business is messed up, but I'm not allowed to talk about it. lol

My teacher was Jerome Hines who sang leading roles for 41 seasons for The Met and at every major opera house in the world. However, he made his debut with San Francisco Opera in 1938 and his agent made him change the spelling of his name in 1941 (originally Heinz) because the anti-German feelings during WWII. The list of people in the entertainment industry who felt the need to change their names or were talked into it by an agent is almost endless.

 

[El Caliente]

Man, Eve of Destruction is such a good song, I prefer Barry McGuire version to the Turtles version. I think that of that song every time someone comes on the news and says something to the extent that this is the most serious thing yet.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Well said, I think punk music and folk music have many similarities.

That is a sentence I never thought I’d read

 

[El Caliente]

Well said, I think punk music and folk music have many similarities.

Isn’t that what Old Crow Medicine Show is? And they are considered blue grass, right?