There is so much going on in the world of contemporary folk in terms of reconstructing the familiar into something fresh, yet recognizable. This playlist contains a lot of nu folk, neo folk and folktronica, but also plenty of music with a more traditional sound, some folk rock, as well as a bunch of obscure tracks by lesser known artists.
500 track Soundcloud Playlist. To expand, click on Soundcloud icon.
Conceived in 1993, Pickin’ On is a series of rock and country tribute albums performed in a bluegrass style. Incredibly they have released over 100 full length bluegrass tribute albums covering the biggest names in music. There are hundreds of their videos you can find on Youtube but here are a few that I like.
Image: Light in the Attic Records
New Beginnings failed to propel Larry Jon to even the relatively modest cult acclaim enjoyed by his likeminded contemporaries. And some of the frustration this conjured can be heard on 1976′s Let Me Sing My Song To You. Both the title track and the self-deprecating “Drowning in the Mainstream” speak of Wilson’s hope to inch at least a few steps towards the big time without making too many compromises. Any album containing the likes of the heartfelt, deeply beautiful tribute of “Ballad of Handy Mackey” and the superlative country-gothic funk opus ‘Sheldon Churchyard’ – the lead track from the lauded Country Got Soul compilation – must rank as essential listening. – Be With Records
image: supermassiveshop.com
Will Evans has spent the last decade as the primary songwriter and frontman for the New England based Roots Rock outfit Barefoot Truth. After four albums he embarked on his solo journey – and has since released three additional full-length albums. His most recent album “Rise” features deeply personal topics of humanity, compassion, and a reflection of the current political times. A lifelong surfer and environmentalist, his songs speak to the importance of connecting with and protecting the earth. At a time when many are looking for words of inspiration and reassurance, “Rise” delivers a collection of socially conscious songs filled with messages of love, possibility, and inclusion. In his live performances, Will displays a technical mastery of live-looping skills to showcase his background in percussion mixed with layers of acoustic guitar and soulful vocals. Will has shared the stage with many top artists including Crosby & Nash, Grace Potter, Bruce Hornsby, Rusted Root, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Trevor Hall, Nahko, Xavier Rudd, Donavon Frankenreiter, Ryan Montbleau, Railroad Earth and members of Dispatch.
Will Evans has spent the last decade as the primary songwriter and frontman for the New England based Roots Rock outfit Barefoot Truth. After four albums he embarked on his solo journey – and has since released three additional full-length albums and toured extensively. His most recent album “Rise” features deeply personal topics of humanity, compassion, and a reflection of the current political times. A lifelong surfer and environmentalist, his songs speak to the importance of connecting with and protecting the earth. In his live performances, Will displays a technical mastery of live-looping skills to showcase his background in percussion mixed with layers of acoustic guitar and soulful vocals. Will has shared the stage with many top artists including Crosby & Nash, Grace Potter, Bruce Hornsby, Rusted Root, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Trevor Hall, Nahko, Xavier Rudd, Donavon Frankenreiter, Ryan Montbleau, Railroad Earth and members of Dispatch. - willevans.com/bio/
The Dead South, a gold rush vibing four-piece acoustic set from Saskatchewan, infuse the genre’s traditional trappings with an air of frontier recklessness, whiskey breakfasts and grizzled tin-pan showmanship. Their sound, build on a taut configuration of cello, mandolin, banjo and guitar, speeds like a train past polite definitions of acoustic music into the grittier, rowdier spaces of the bluegrass world. – from: thedeadsouth.com
Orange County, CA native, Madison Cunningham, possesses a keen understanding of song craft that is perplexing for someone who’s just 22 years old. With an ear for melody that is reminiscent of early Joni Mitchell and approach to guitar and vocals that isn’t far off from long past heroes of Jeff Buckley or Nick Drake, Madison exhibits a unique ability to keep the listener on the edge as they explore her debut EP, Love, Lose, Remember. The oldest of five daughters, Madison picked up a guitar at the age of seven and was singing with her sisters and family in church by the age of 12. It was a happenstance meeting with producer Tyler Chester (Blake Mills, Sara Watkins) four years ago that helped Madison start to develop her approach as a songwriter. Released in early 2017, Love, Lose, Remember, showcases Madison’s ability as a songwriter and arranger with the lyrical content of someone who has lived twice the life of this young artist. – Redlight Management
Rising Appalachia is an American folk music group led by multi instrumentalist sisters Leah and Chloe Smith. Leah also performs as a solo artist under the name Leah Song. Based between Southern Appalachia and New Orleans, the sisters work with an array of international musicians and the band incorporates everything from simple harmonics with banjos and fiddles, to a wide variety of drums, kalimbas, beatbox, djembe, baliphone, congas, didgeridoo, tablas, spoons and washboard creating a full mix of world, folk and soul music. Castanea is the moniker for Rising Appalachia’s David Brown: multi-instrumentalist, producer
Remix Album released 20 December, 2018.
Josiah Leming (born March 26, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter originally from Morristown, Tennessee. At the age of 17, Leming dropped out of high school and began traveling across the United States to play shows while living out of his car. This eventually caught the eye of executives at Warner Brothers Records who signed him to his first major label record deal in 2008. Leming’s debut album, Come On Kid, from Warner Bros. came out September 13, 2010. His main influences are Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Ryan Adams and The Rolling Stones– Wikipedia. Heres a playlist I made containing a bunch of great live performances and some studio tracks. Click Youtube icon bottom right to expand the list.
Nancy Elizabeth Cunliffe (born 1983) is a folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who releases music with The Leaf Label. She is an active member of Sōka Gakkai. Play and then click Youtube icon bottom right to expand 10 video playlist.
Nick Mulvey (born 1984) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who studied music in Havana, Cuba. He played the Hang as a founder member of 2008 Mercury Prize nominated band Portico Quartet, until 2011 when he left to pursue his career as a singer-songwriter, releasing the EPs The Trellis (2012) and Fever to the Form (2013) and his studio album First Mind in 2014 which received a Mercury Music Prize nomination. His second album, Wake Up Now, was released on the 8th September 2017. Wikipedia
Like Jeff Buckley, Jason Molina was a tormented soul who left this world at a young age. Shades of Neil Young, Eddie Vedder and even Bruce Cockburn can be heard throughout his music. His haunting lyrics, many of which are posted beneath the videos, are works of poetry unto themselves. Though he had prolific engineer Steve Albini work on some of his albums, the critically acclaimed troubadour never achieved mainstream success, and the 15 albums he made only sold 200,000 copies worldwide. He struggled with alcoholism related illness for many years, and unable to pay his medical bills, was working on a farm in West Virginia raising goats and chickens before he died of multiple organ failure at age 39. To see the lyrics, click play, and then open Youtube in the bottom right of the screen. If there are lyrics they will be posted below the video.
Deep Throat Choir is an all-female singing collective formed in 2013 by Luisa Gerstein. Having played in the bands Landshapes and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, the project was driven by the simple desire to bring music making back to a few basic elements: just voices and drums. Bella Union
http://bellaunion.com/artists/deep-throat-choir/
Be Ok- Full Album
Maryland’s Michael Nau is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who crafts psychedelic- and folk-influenced indie pop. With bandmates Whitney McGraw (keyboards), Jasen Reeder (bass), and Clinton Jones (drums), he released three albums as lead singer/guitarist of indie rock’s Page France before forming the style-blending psych-folk project Cotton Jones Basket Ride with McGraw in 2007. The moniker issued three EPs and an LP before the clipped Cotton Jones name put out two more full-lengths (2009’s Paranoid Cocoon and 2010’s Tall Hours in the Glowstream) and an EP (2011’s Sit Beside Your Vegetables) via Suicide Squeeze. The same label released Nau’s first album under his own name, Mowing, in early 2016. Built from a selection of several years’ worth of written material that was never fully realized, it featured McGraw — by then Nau’s wife — among its many guests. Full Time Hobby gave it a European release later in the year, and his second solo effort, Some Twist, followed in June 2017, also on Full Time Hobby and Suicide Squeeze. ~ Marcy Donelson, Apple Music
Cotton Jones – Paranoid Cocoon FULL ALBUM
The Pussywarmers hail from from the Mediterranean district of Switzerland and serve up a scandalous take on vintage music from the chaotic, freewheeling times of the roaring 20’s when gangsters, rum runners and bootleggers were running things. I would have been inside a speakeasy listening to the Upright Bass, Accordion, Banjo and Horns that are all gainly employed in this outfit.
Here a playlist Ive been working on of contemporary artists and their modern takes on old time music, mainly Appalachian, bluegrass and folk. Click Youtube icon on bottom right corner to see the whole playlist.
Click the bottom right corner to see all the songs on the playlist.
“The Day is Past and Gone” is from House and Lands self titled debut, available now on Thrill Jockey.
Alynda Lee Segarra, the creative force behind Hurray for the Riff Raff, spent her formative years crisscrossing the country on greyhounds and freight trains. She climbed from the streets of New Orleans to the airwaves of NPR with a washboard and a banjo, a Horatio Alger narrative for the Americana set. Her last LP, Small Town Heroes, felt like a thesis presentation from a student of American folk music. She’d spent years studying the form and its practitioners, a product of a community that helped lift her from street corners and coffee shops to international tours and a record contract. While searching for herself, she also imitated others, living inside classic folk, roots, and country songs while shaping her own powerful voice. Pitchfork. Heres a little playlist I made of her music. If you want to expand the list click the top left corner.
Rhiannon Giddens is an American musician best known as the lead singer, violinist, banjo player and a founding member of the Grammy-winning country, blues and old-time music band Carolina Chocolate Drops. She has quite a few Gaelic tracks as well. Heres a 21 song playlist I put together of some of my favourite songs by here. Click on the top left corner to expand the list.
Caoilfhionn (pronounced Keelin) Rose is a singer-songwriter from Manchester studying Music at NewcastleUniversity.
She gigs between her home in Manchester and Newcastle and dreams of travelling round the world with her music.
Caoilfhionn is part of several collaborations and featured on The Durutti Column (Vini Reilly)’s 2014 album ‘Chronicle LX:XL’. SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/keelinmusic/black-is-the-colour
https://soundcloud.com/keelinmusic/sets/the-durutti-column-chronicle
Diane was born in Nevada City, California on April 20, 1983. She grew up singing with her musician parents and performing in the school choir. She taught herself guitar, and began writing songs that blend tense, trance-like arpeggios with warm vocals and meditative lyrics about family and nature. Her first recordings were self-released in 2003 as Forest Parade. Her first solo public appearances were at the invitation of fellow Nevada City native Joanna Newsom. She also did a stint in the Nevada City band Black Bear before continuing with her solo pursuits. – Wikipedia
Lady Lamb is a New Hampshire US artist whose music is an impressive blend of folk, pop and indie rock. Heres a 19 track playlist I made with songs ranging from just her and her banjo to full blown high priestess fuzz rock. Pretty talented young lady.
To scroll through the whole playlist just click the top left corner.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/jack-savoretti-interview-the-former-new-paolo-nutini-on-finding-success-the-hard-way-9982632
I am a refugee now
I am running like mad across a frosty green Poland
My head in a sack
And the blood in my brain screaming
“How did this happen?”
And “Where am I now?”
Who is so blue in this freeze
Who is so grey with the history
Rain dancing all on my face without mercy
And the muscles relax
And I just have to laugh
Through the loose teeth and tissue
The symphony builds under your boot
And the horns drool in harmony
Dancers all swoon
This is my bloody tune
My last gasp of the past
My thorn in the side of the violence of time
I won’t scream, I won’t writhe
I am laughing and burning alive
Like a thornbush
That grew in the hot countryside
Now the fire is high
And I am not consumed
Yes, this is the room
This is the old song from memory
This is the sound of the Jew
Who refuses to die
April 4th 1944
I recall my old address no more
I live day to day on the glossy dancefloor
Of a wide countryside full of disappeared people
I sleep in the churches
Eat grass like a goat
The calendar hangs on the wall of my memory
My name is inscribed up the sleeve of my coat
Here I am
Take this document with you
The lines that I wrote as I bled through the night
In a strange rusted land
I have ripped the page out
It is here in my hand
Here I am
Person of the book
But I have lost my page like so many others
I am left to inscribe my own name
On a torn one
We will have a new book scattered far
Across the expanses
The scrapbook of signatures scrawled
In forgotten, lost diaries
Texts to recite when time’s bloody boot
Dances and kicks in the bone of our chest
Like soft earth
And our ancient hoarse voices
Will echo in song
And resound off the curve of a high stony ceiling
The curve of the arch
From our death to our birth
Low Leaf is a L.A. based female producer, singer songwriter who combines harp, guitar and piano with electronic beats. Born to a Filipino family and raised on the west coast of the United States, Low Leaf first appeared in 2011 producing and self-releasing a string of mini albums over the following years. Her 2012 album AKASHAALAY was a spiritual tribute to her Filipino roots. Low Leaf’s upcoming album, Palm Psalms: A Light to Resolve All Darkness, shares the healing energy of music through messages of connectedness and spreading compassion. Heres a 6 song sample of some of her music. Click on the Youtube icon to expand the playlist
Dominique Dillon de Byington, known by her stage name Dillon (born 1988), is a Brazilian-born singer-songwriter and pianist, based in Germany. Her debut album This Silence Kills, released in 2011, was praised by the media and received an average score of 72 on Metacritic based on five reviews. Byington’s second album The Unknown was released on March 31, 2014. Wikipedia
http://https://youtu.be/BDsuR22GQPQ
Interactive video from Craig’s album ‘Wand’, directed by Tim Nackashi. Click and drag to navigate the environment. Open full screen of course. Pretty cool, and great little tune as well. I love the trumpet that comes in at 1:30.
Sonia Montez is New York based a songwriter/musician with a resume stretching from Full Force to The Mountain Goats and whose music has been featured in award winning indie movies and shows like NBC Nightly News w/ Brian Williams. Mutual acquaintances, happenstance, and luck brought Sonia to her new band project and album. The core band, all of whom are accomplished musicians, is comprised of Scott Chasolen (keys/piano), Sean Dixon (drums/percussion), Adam Minkoff (bass/vocals), and Nick Oddy (guitar). Their studio album, Part-Time Musings is available to stream, free, on Soundcloud- Bandpage
Lisbon Sextet Beautify Junkyards play some of the most honest music Ive come across in quite a while. A lot of their songs have a dreamy 60s folk feel to them, with a few sung in Portuguese. Heres a 7 track playlist I put together. Click on the Youtube icon to see the whole playlist.
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez, (born July 10, 1942), is a US-born Mexican musician from Detroit. His career initially proved short lived, but unknown to Rodriguez his albums became extremely successful and influential in South Africa. According to the film-makers of the documentary about him, sales of his records outnumbered those of Elvis in South Africa. He was rumoured there to have committed suicide. In the 1990s, determined South African fans managed to find and contact Rodriguez, which led to an unexpected revival of his musical career. This is told in the 2012 Academy Award–winning documentary film Searching for Sugar Man, which helped give Rodriguez a measure of fame in his home country. On May 9, 2013, Rodriguez received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his alma mater,Wayne State University (WSU), in Detroit. Rodriguez lives in Detroit’s historic Woodbridge neighborhood, through which he is seen walking in Searching for Sugar Man.
https://soundcloud.com/rutabaga/sets/sixto-rodriguez