Looking for folk music recommendations - please help!

daddyjt
daddyjt Posts: 3,055
in Music & Movies
My son has a birthday coming up, and I’d like to get him some new (to him) folk music. He loves the likes of Burt Yanch, Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, and even Bob Dylan. Preferably not tilting too heavily towards country, and since he’s a budding audio enthusiast, quality recording is pretty important (digital, not vinyl).

I would greatly appreciate any of you sharing personal experience with great sounding folk music, in order that I may be able to surprise him on his birthday…

Thanks in advance!
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Comments

  • Osarion
    Osarion Posts: 192
    The Wailin Jenny's album 40 days is good, and after Cara Luft went solo, two albums of hers I would recommend are Tempting the Storm and Darlingford. They each have other albums but these are the only ones I'm familiar with.
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  • Tony M
    Tony M Posts: 11,599
    edited December 26
    <3

    Janis Ian
    https://youtu.be/66pLa89UnEQ

    https://youtu.be/A5OcI2Z-Vk8



    Harry Chapin
    He sang some of my alltime favorites!
    Post edited by Tony M on
    Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.

    “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
    --Mark Twain.

    “If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.” - Steven Wright
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 34,955
    edited December 26
    well, I couldn't find the group I was looking for, but while I was searching, I turned up these from the late Robert Resnik's All the Traditions.
    https://youtu.be/jk14ju7hDNw?si=VSbQNIL5nlHBrn1p
    https://youtu.be/Bwp0Skuin5Q?si=tsI3dCAHVXyILOzF
    https://youtu.be/SW9VxWFj1Ns?si=ynjnX6iLDluyQA6v
    https://youtu.be/D9z2QtqHMvI?si=ifDpRlm2odQJkH8X
    https://youtu.be/owl6pZc0zlI?si=9bOhy9V_dmA-xWFN
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 34,955
    edited December 26
    oh! I found what I was looking for! :)
    @daddyjt, do you or your son know "The Goldebriars"?
    I'd never heard of, nor heard, them until quite recently.
    Here's a taste:
    https://youtu.be/g51u0Nuc7fk?si=VOxaaGVRMERqli65
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  • agingboomer
    agingboomer Posts: 261
    Pentangle
    John Renbourn
    Fairport Convention
    Ian Matthews (also Matthews Southern Comfort and Plainsong)
    Kate and Ann McGarrigle
    Ian and Sylvia
    John Prine
    Loudon Wainwright III
    Joni Mitchell
    Townes Van Zandt
    Steeleye Span
    John Martyn
    John Hartford
    John Fahey
    The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.—Martin Luther King Jr.
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  • Tony M
    Tony M Posts: 11,599
    edited December 26
    Harry Chapin Performs "Taxi": Remastered & Long Unseen Underground News Broadcast 4/26/72

    https://youtu.be/lm-gasyPEQw


    Harry Chapin - Cat's In The Cradle (1974)
    https://youtu.be/RWdTWuZAA7A
    Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.

    “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
    --Mark Twain.

    “If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.” - Steven Wright
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  • jdjohn
    jdjohn Posts: 3,336
    edited December 27
    I find 'folk' music somewhat difficult to define, but I do like most music that seems to fall into the overall genre. Lots of good suggestions already given, but I'll add a few more for consideration.

    Classic folk:
    - Joan Baez
    - Woody Guthrie
    - Arlo Guthrie
    - Simon & Garfunkel
    - The Mamas & The Papas
    - Peter, Paul and Mary
    - America
    - The Band
    - Fairport Convention
    - Donovan (a British contemporary of Dylan)
    - Cat Stevens (in later years, both he and Donovan delved heavily into Eastern religion/thought)
    - Dan Fogelberg (crosses a bit over into pop, but very similar to James Taylor IMO)

    Modern folk (which can crossover into 'Americana' and/or 'Indie' and/or 'Roots'):
    - Brandi Carlile (perhaps the best female folk vocalist in recent years this century)
    - Nickel Creek (neuvo bluegrass)
    - Alison Kraus & Union Station (also new bluegrass)
    - Avett Brothers
    - Bon Iver
    - Cowboy Junkies (in a very mellow sense)
    - Crooked Still (again, in a new bluegrass sense)
    - The Duhks
    - Gregory Alan Isakov (he really does a tight-rope between folk, and just indie music)
    - Jason Isbell
    - Larkin Poe (similar to The Wailin' Jennys, but with a serious rock/blues slant)
    - The Tragically Hip
    - The Wood Brothers (last, but CERTAINLY not least IMO; a modern, simple, three-man band with a lot of soul; give a listen to "Luckiest Man", and see if you like them)

    P.S. Chris Stapleton has been a bit of an enigma for music genres. Country Music didn't initially embrace him, but when he blew-up in popularity, they took him in. I consider his music Americana/Roots, with a definite Blues accent. Also, the duet group of The Civil Wars also deserves recognition in the folk genre IMO.
    Post edited by jdjohn on
    "This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
    "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
    Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon
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  • jdjohn
    jdjohn Posts: 3,336
    Sorry, not sorry, but need to add Watchhouse to the list of artists here. "Daylight" is their most popular song, but "Wildfire" speaks to me more.
    "This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
    "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
    Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon
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  • daddyjt
    daddyjt Posts: 3,055
    Thanks for all the great recommendations folks - you really came through. I have a half dozen CDs that will be delivered in time for his birthday next weekend. I took a broad selection from what you all threw out there.

    “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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