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Sep 6, 2024 · Beginning in the 1960s, the genre known as folk pop emerged as folk music grew in popularity. While the earliest folk singers and folk bands would never have believed that they'd hit the mainstream. Yet, with catchy songs, big hooks and a carefully crafted persona, pop folk bands started to emerge...
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- Bob Dylan. 578 votes. A legend in the folk music scene, Bob Dylan has been a prominent figure for over five decades. With his distinctive voice and poetic lyrics, he has captured the hearts and minds of generations.
- Woody Guthrie. 337 votes. Woody Guthrie is often regarded as the founding father of modern American folk music, with his influence felt through generations of artists who came after him.
- Joni Mitchell. 394 votes. An artist whose immense talent transcends genre constraints, Joni Mitchell is a folk icon who has continually reinvented herself throughout her career.
- Gordon Lightfoot. 354 votes. With his warm baritone voice and storytelling prowess, Gordon Lightfoot has been captivating audiences since the 1960s. Hailing from Canada, Lightfoot's songs are deeply rooted in the experiences of his homeland, with tracks like "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" painting vivid pictures of life up north.
- The Alamanac Singers. The Almanacs were really the first folk music supergroup and spun off into rather successful careers for Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Josh White, Burl Ives, and various other folks who made up the core of the group or who joined them on occasion.
- Ani DiFranco. Ani DiFranco is probably the most prominent Gen-X folksinger. Since the release of her self-titled debut in 1990, DiFranco has built an excessively loyal fanbase around the world, as well as a rather successful independent record label out of her hometown in Buffalo, NY.
- Ben Harper. It's still remarkable that Ben Harper hasn't blown up any bigger than he is. He's managed to maintain a sort of cult following, bringing his soulful folk stylings to rather biting protest songs and incantations about justice and the human experience.
- Bob Dylan. What list of folk music greats would be complete without a nod to Mr. Bob Dylan? He almost doesn't warrant an explanation as to how and why he deserves to be on this list, but I'll give one, anyway.
- Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves. Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves have each pushed folk boundaries in their own separate projects. De Groot has made a name for herself as one of the best clawhammer banjoists in Canada, and Hargreaves is a skilled fiddler who’s toured with the likes of Gillian Welch and Laurie Lewis.
- Emily Fairlight. Emily Fairlight writes both poems and lyrics, and you can tell. The New Zealand singer/songwriter makes music that feels purposefully introspective and intimate, the kind of thing you might listen to alone in the kitchen or with a few friends on the couch, but not too many friends—you’ll want to keep these sounds and words to yourself.
- Jennah Bell. Los Angeles’ Jennah Bell is not just a folk singer. She’s a master picker, yes, but her songs are heartier and brighter than your run-of-the-mill singer/songwriter ditty.
- Kaia Kater. For rising folk star Kaia Kater, embracing her heritage is one of the most important parts of storytelling. On her 2018 album Grenades, the banjo-toting singer/songwriter explores her identities as both a Canadian and Grenadian.
- Woody Guthrie
- Pete Seeger
- Lead Belly
- Bob Dylan
- Gordon Lightfoot
- Phil Ochs
- Joan Baez
- Harry Belafonte
- Tom Paxton
- Joni Mitchell
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie—better known as Woody Guthrie—was one of the most famous folk artists and composers of the American Folk Revival. Guthrie developed a love of traveling during his teenage years and ultimately moved to Texas. When the Great Depression struck the plains states, Guthrie pushed toward the West Coast with music on his mind. He pla...
Another folk singer legend is Pete Seegerinspired some formidable musicians and popularized the 12-string banjo. Much of his music contained themes of peace, equality, and environmentalism. Born in Manhattan in 1919 to a musicologist and concert violinist, Seeger had a strong musical pedigree. His initial dream was journalism, but a job archiving A...
Huddie William Ledbetter, professionally known as Lead Belly, was born in 1888 and performed everything from gospel to folk. His mastery of multiple instruments and fluid transition from one genre to another made Lead Belly a legend. He even sang so well that it got him out of prison twice and led to radio and short film appearances. His theme song...
Robert Allen Zimmerman—or Bob Dylan, as most know him—is from Duluth, Minnesota. During a stint at the University of Minnesota, Dylan tumbled into the Minneapolis bohemian theme and found folk music. The inspired young man changed his last name to Dylan and moved east. Dylan splashed onto the music circuit in New York City, amassed a series of supp...
Famous Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfootwalks the line between folk, rock, and pop. Born in 1938, Lightfoot’s music heavily influenced the industry and earned praise for folk-pop as a genre. Lightfoot initially set out to study jazz. To support himself, he wrote advertisement jingles and took inspiration from prominent folk singers of the time,...
There’s no one quite like Phil Ochs, who was a songwriter and protester in equal measure. Some think him obscure, mostly because he was born in 1940 and died in 1976. Despite just over a decade in the business, Ochs’ unique style left a mark on the genre. Like his fellow folk musicians, Ochs imbued his music with causes, but there was a sharpness a...
Another American folk musician whose passion for activism was well-suited to the early folk revival was Joan Baez. She received her first instrument, a ukulele, as a child. But it was attending a Pete Seeger concert at age 13 that persuaded Baez that she had to become a musician. Despite family concerns about what this life exposed her to, Baez per...
Harold George Belafonte, Jr., better known simply as Harry Belafonte, was born in 1927 in New York City to a Jamaican mother. Belafonte returned to Jamaica with her and lived there for five years. He served in the navy and studied drama in New York City. Belafonte’s career started in the pop genre, thanks to backing from the bebop saxophone legend ...
Born in 1937, Thomas Richard Paxtonis another famous folk singer with an established career. He earned a degree in fine arts and, after a stint with the army, took a job as a typing clerk. To keep things interesting, Paxton began writing songs on the typewriter. And while his typing career didn’t stick, music-making did. Many of Paxton’s songs were...
Next, we have another famous Canadian folk singer, Joni Mitchell. Born Roberta Joan Anderson in Saskatoon in 1943, she demonstrated an early aptitude for music. Mitchell’s vocal range gave her astonishing flexibility, and over the years, she played with a range of styles, including pop, jazz, and classical. However, it was her folk music that took ...
Jul 16, 2024 · The transition from folk to folk pop can be traced to the late 1960s and early 1970s when artists began to experiment with blending folk’s acoustic sound with pop’s accessibility. Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and The Mamas & The Papas’ “California Dreamin'” are prime examples of early folk pop hits.
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Feb 21, 2020 · The masses began taking notice of Mexico’s teen folk wave last year with the emergence of Ed Maverick, the raspy-voiced 19-year old crooner who became a household name with sullen, minimal hits ...
