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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.
May 2, 2024 · Ranked By. 45.7K votes. 7.9K voters. 13 reranks. Voting Rules. Vote up and add all of your favorite indie and folk bands out there. Latest additions: Laura Marling, Stornoway, Okkervil River. Most divisive: Basia Bulat. Over 7.9K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Indie Folk Bands & Artists.
- 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.
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- Burd Ellen
- Keto
- Stanlæy
- Lau
- Alula Down
- La Salami
- Vashti Bunyan
- Joanna Newsom
- R Loomes
- Richard Dawson
Droning, atmospheric, dark Scottish folk, Burd Ellen is a Glasgow-based project featuring Debbie Armour and Gayle Brogan. Their 2021 release, the chilling ‘High Priestess and the Heirophant,’ is a version of ‘Fair Annie’ which draws on the pair’s fascination with tarot, divination, and their parallels with the interpretation of traditional song. Th...
Hailing from Nottingham, UK, Keto has been described as offering a distinctly millennial take on English folk music. Haunting, melancholic melodies float over delicate arrangements with strings, drums, guitars, and keys. Harmonically complex, and at times discordant, Keto calls to mind the freak folk sounds of Vashti Bunyan, and at moments, even th...
A true hybrid of classical, electronic, and folk, Bristol-based Stanlæy pushes the boundaries of experimental British folk music. Beautifully blending strings, harps, electronics, and childlike ethereal vocals, Stanlæy calls to mind Joanna Newsom – but Stanlæy’s voice is softer, her music more delicate, more alien, more ambient, more transportive. ...
Widely acknowledged as one of the great Scottish folk bands of our time, no list of top folk bands would be complete without mentioning Lau. The trio, named after an Orcadian word meaning ‘natural light,’ are generally loyal to the simple, traditional folk instrumentals of guitar, violin, accordion, and voice, situating them amongst the more ‘class...
Alula Down is an alt folk project of prolific Hereford-based duo Mark Waters and Kate Gathercole, part of the ‘Weirdshire’ alt and psych folk collective. Their 2021 album Godley Moor, Spring 2021, blends field recordings with improvised and semi-improvised acoustic instrumentals on traditional and original songs. While many folk artists sing about ...
Alternative folk maestro LA Salami’s music is characterised by his poetic storytelling, and gently hypnotic folk rock instrumentals. His journeying 2020 album The Cause of Doubt & Reason to Have Faithis decorated with chromatic acoustic guitar fingerstyles and reverberating pianos and harmonicas. At times bordering on the psychedelic, at times gest...
A stalwart of the UK’s underground folk scene, Vashti Bunyan’s distinctive music borders on psychedelic folk and freak folk. Although she is best known for her 1970 album Just Another Diamond Day, her 2014 album Heartleap is one that I can’t recommended highly enough. The record has a beautiful, wintery, melancholic stillness. Built around sparse i...
American folk singer Joanna Newsom draws on elements of Appalachian folk music, Americana, and avant-garde to create mesmerising psychedelic folk. Her 2004 album The Milk-Eyed Mender showcases her eccentric lyricism and meowing voice, accompanied by harp, wurlitzer, and – of all things – harpsichord. The record is, without a doubt, one of the great...
The gloomy sounds of R Loomes meld reverb-saturated droning guitars with pining, melancholic vocal melodies. Her 2020 EP Anomie is a case study in doom folk, with each track as unrelentingly dark and atmospheric as the last. Gloomy it may be, but dreary it is not – the production and delivery make the record shimmer, with Loomes’ vocals glinting as...
Based in the industrial Tyneside region of Northern England, Richard Dawson’s guitar-heavy singer-songwriter folk music has made him something of an underground cult hero in the UK. Recent releases Henki and 2020 have seen Dawson move towards the heavier end of folk rock, with absurd humour and esoteric themes cutting through the general chaos and ...
Jan 1, 2024 · Many of the best folk music artists today are folk legends, like the Dixie Chicks and John Prine, but this collection also features the best new folk bands and artists of 2020. For instance, the recently-formed folk supergroup Bonny Light Horseman only recently released their self-titled debut album, which already is poised to be one of the ...
May 20, 2020 · Here are the 100 Best Indie Folk Albums of All Time: 100. Stornoway: Beachcomber’s Windowsill (2010) With bouncy bass lines and bright vocals, British chamber-pop quartet Stornoway recalls all ...
Dec 28, 2022 · 3. One Leg One Eye – And Take the Black Worm With Me. Folk songs are warped and stretched into convulsing black metal shapes by Ian Lynch, a quarter of Irish band Lankum, on his thrilling solo ...
