Folk music fans have many record labels to choose from when it comes to folk music recordings. From major labels like Atlantic Records to smaller imprints like Navan Records specializing in certain subgenres of folk, here are just a few options for your consideration.
Folk-Legacy Records is an amazing label dedicated to preserving traditional folk music. They share its history and traditions while imparting valuable cultural knowledge through its liner notes and booklets.
Bob Dylan
As soon as his self-titled debut album was released in 1962, Dylan immediately found himself immersed in New York City’s political culture and started writing folk songs reflecting its time period, eventually declaring his presence among counterculture with “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
His lyrical style began to mature over time, drawing influence from poets like Arthur Rimbaud and John Keats. In 1964, Dylan released the groundbreaking album The Times They Are A-Changin’; this release demonstrated a different aspect to his music using rock and R&B elements instead of the more traditional acoustic sound present on earlier albums. Rock audiences welcomed Dylan into their fold as one of their foremost singer-songwriters.
Over his long and influential career, Dylan released influential albums such as Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, and Blood on the Tracks. In the 1990s he earned numerous honors and awards – Grammy for Time Out of Mind; presidential medal of freedom award; honorary doctorate from Princeton University New Jersey (NJ); Prince of Asturias Prize awarded by Spain as recognition of cultural contributions; etc.
Dylan continues to influence both contemporary and traditional artists alike through his legacy in folk music and contemporary artists like Jason Isbell, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Mumford & Sons who continue the genre’s relevance today. While some have speculated whether or not folk is dead altogether, it remains to be seen what will replace it; the folk genre boasts many talented musicians with unique voices and stories that need sharing; keeping an open ear may lead to finding someone with potential in this space; it always welcomes newcomers!
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot is one of Canada’s most accomplished singer-songwriters. His music has won international acclaim and been covered by many artists around the world, winning numerous awards and being inducted into multiple halls of fame; additionally he has written multiple books and been nominated for Tony Awards.
Lightfoot first began his musical career in the early 1960s. Beginning as part of a barbershop quartet and eventually becoming part of the folk revival scene at this time, his sensitive yet inventive lyrics became classics among folk fans worldwide.
Lightfoot achieved widespread renown as a folk singer during the 1970s, garnering him several honours such as being named an Officer of the Order of Canada and winning Juno awards for Male Vocalist and Composer of the Year respectively. His first international hit “If You Could Read My Mind” became No.1 on both RPM charts in Canada and America.
Through his career, Lightfoot has played in various bands and toured internationally. He was honored with various accolades – such as SOCAN’s William Harold Moon Award – given for international musical recognition by Canada. Additionally, he is known for being an outspoken activist who strives to preserve forests and Native cultures across North and South America.
In 2009, Lightfoot was victim of a hoax regarding his death. Luckily, Lightfoot was at a dental appointment at the time and managed to disprove these rumors by calling up radio stations that reported on it. Since then he has continued touring and performing to sold-out audiences worldwide – an icon among Canadian musicians like Anne Murray.
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie was an American folk music pioneer who helped elevate it as an effective form of social protest and observation. He composed hundreds of songs that often addressed everyday struggle for his fellow citizens – many with simple arrangements and emotive lyrics that have come to define the folk genre today with bands like The Lumineers and Bright Eyes keeping folk alive through mainstream audiences. His legacy continues today thanks to acts like The Lumineers and Bright Eyes carrying forward this genre into modern music culture.
Woody was born into a wealthy family, yet this quickly dissipated after the death of his father. After setting out in search of work with only a guitar and song in hand, wandering across America in search of employment with socialist beliefs at heart – as evidenced by songs that addressed working class suffering and socialist ideology – an influence which would later influence Bob Dylan and other folk music legends.
In 1940, he met Pete Seeger, another pioneer in folk music who belonged to the Almanac Singers group that traveled around sharing its music. Over time, this became one of the most acclaimed folk groups during the early 1950s: Weavers.
Woody of The Weavers helped popularize folk music commercially and was its most renowned member. He became well known for his songs about migrant workers and Dust Bowl life; additionally, his lyrics often changed according to traditional folk styles – something not uncommon among folk musicians.
His death occurred at 47 and remains a source of worldwide inspiration, with musicians from diverse genres like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, The Klezmatics and Danish musician Esben all citing him as an influence. His songs continue to express thoughts, ideas and feelings that remain timely even decades after they were written.
Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt was an incredible singer-songwriter, and one of the key figures in American folk, Western, and country storytelling traditions. Between 1968 and 1994 he produced 12 studio albums; perhaps best-known today for the timeless song Pancho and Lefty which Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson covered together as part of their 1983 show and is considered an enduring classic today. Unfortunately he spent most of his career performing to small audiences with minimal royalties from their efforts.
Van Zandt was heavily influenced by many Texas songwriters and developed a close friendship with Mickey Newbury who took him to Nashville to record his initial albums. Newbury saw Van Zandt’s potential and encouraged him to cultivate it further; Van Zandt proved an accomplished pianist, guitarist and singer bringing country and folk music’s raw emotion into his recordings.
Van Zandt’s music continues to influence folk and country music today despite his difficult life and untimely death, being covered by numerous artists such as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash; additionally his songs have also been used in several television shows and movies.
Townes Van Zandt’s songs are both beautiful and haunting, evoking emotions from poetic wonder to drunken confusion in equal measure. His rich lyrics make them must-listens for anyone interested in folk music. There are several books dedicated to Van Zandt available. Kathleen Hudson’s Telling Stories, Writing Songs: Portraits of Texas Songwriters (1999) is among them, as is Paul Zollo’s Songwriters on Songwriting (2006) which contains interviews with over fifty famous songwriters like Van Zandt among them.
Jewel
Singer-songwriter Jewel is a four-time Grammy nominee who has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Her career started modestly enough, playing local coffee shops and bars until she earned enough to purchase both a guitar and van. Even as she became internationally acclaimed, Jewel never allowed fame to corrupt her values or compromise her humble roots.
She used her success to form the Inspiring Children Foundation, offering mental health programming to youth who might otherwise not have access to it – providing sports, mentoring and mental health counseling services for them as well as being featured in Alaska: The Last Frontier as well as having Kase Townes Murray with former husband Ty Murray.
ARC Records has successfully expanded beyond traditional folk music to encompass pop, club dance and country genres with #1 hits across each. Their artists represent some of the biggest names in each of these genres as well as emerging talent; their commitment to finding talent unrivalled within the industry.
Folk music, in essence, refers to any traditional form that relies on broad audience participation for support and dissemination. Urban popular music on the other hand tends to be supported by small social, economic and intellectual elites and relies heavily on mass media such as recordings, radio broadcasts and television broadcasts for dissemination. Traditional folk music was more participatory in nature, audiences sang along and played instruments with performers while simultaneously feeling part of an experience – something which makes folk so appealing among its many listeners.