Favourite Folk Singers ?

Subject: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 06:55 PM

I feel sure this must have been done before, but I just looked at my screen and none of the threads at the top were about music so here goes.
Who are your favourite folk singers? Mine are
Billy Bragg
Ewan McColl
June Tabor
Bert Jansch
Bob Dylan
Runrig
The Dubliners
The Spinners
Kate Rusby
Michelle Shocked
Would you say Sheryl Crow was folk? How do you define folk anyway.(I think she sounds like Michelle Shocked & she is folk).john

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Angie
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 07:14 PM

I't's got to be my dad, Ian Raymond, formerly of Beggars Row now going solo, Heather Heywood, Dick Gaughan,The Battlefield Band, Christie Moore and many, many more fabulous talented people.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 07:30 PM

I like Christy Moore as well, I havent heard anything by the others you mention yet, but I will look out for them.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Suffet
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 12:01 AM

List subject to change at any time without prior notice.

1. Ellen Stekert singing "Songs of a New York State Lumberjack" (Folkways LP).

2. My late mom, Marion Schoenberg Suffet who went by the name Marion Shaw. A jazz singer by preference, she nevertheless gave into my childhood taste and sang "The Wabash Cannon Ball" and "Sixteen Tons" to me while accompanying herself on her Martin uke.

3. Some woman named Betty whom I heard recently. She's a school security officer in New York City.

4. Alison Kelley of both The Johnson Girls and The Next Tradition.

5. Some woman whose name I either forget or else never knew, who got up and sang some songs in a pub in Sligo 14 years ago. She was really good.

6. Ellen Moslin, someone I went out with once in high school.

7. Bonnie Dobson, whom Ellen Moslin and I went to hear once in Greenwich Village.

8. Pete Seeger.

9. Woody Guthrie.

10. Sis Cunningham.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 12:25 AM

Thanks Suffet, I have just recently got interested in folk music, I have aout 20 CDs up to now.Are there any CDs you think every folk fan should own?

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 01:09 AM

Good lord, if you just take the 'Catters alone who are well known in the folk world, you'd be on your way. Sandy and Caroline Paton, singers and collectors and the owners of Folk-Legacy Records......as a matter of fact, buy anything Folk-Legacy has!

Jean Ritchie is a member here and that's about as folk as you get, a legend and the "Mother of the Mountain Dulcimer."

Then there's Art Thieme......try his compilation, "The Older I Get The Better I Was" and you'll hear what it was to be a real folksinger and a few tall tales as well.

Or Dan Milner, who's new CD (with Bob Conroy, his partner), "Irish in America" is a classic piece of work!!!

Seamus Kennedy does it all! A great folk/trad singer and knows how to deliver a song.....and how to work an audience.

Rick Fielding.........A real student of folk and an absolutely fantastic picker and singer....multi-talented and simply fantastic.

Dave Swan of "Oak, Ash, and Thorn" who are a great trio in the style of the Copper Family but with a sense of humor unmatched anywhere to go along with the talent!

Kendall Morse, a great Maine storyteller and singer who can really deliver the goods.

Jed Marum, both a folkie and singer/songwriter with a great old time flavor to his newer work.

Plus at least a dozen more as well as those who don't yet have CD's to buy....like Musicman, Big Mick, alison, Jeri, and a hundred others in that category.

Sorry if I left out a name or thirty gang.......This is one VERY talented and folkie place!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 01:14 AM

Well, six others just came to mind, but I'm not going to embarass myself further by posting them and then coming back with a dozen more.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 02:03 AM

Thanks Spaw, Im sure I have heard of Seamus Kennedy somewhere else, is he famous? (this is a serious question I am not trying to be sarcastic or someting like that).

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Amergin
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 02:08 AM

he is pretty well known...and very deservedly so...

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Benjamin
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 02:10 AM

John, you're not talking about the Spinners from Detroit are you? Are we going to have to define and redefine folk yet again?

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 02:13 AM

Benjamin- I mean the Spinners from Liverpool UK. No I just wondered if you thought Sheryl Crow was folk.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Amergin
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 02:18 AM

oh and you can get seamus kennedy and jed marum from www.cdbaby.com

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: pavane
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 04:27 AM

How about Nic Jones, Tony Rose

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: nutty
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:01 AM

Jez Lowe
Heather Heywood
Keith Kendrick

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Aidan Crossey
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:49 AM

Jaysus ... where to start?

Some that haven't yet been mentioned ... Luke Kelly, Shane MacGowan, Paul Brady (circa his stint with the Johnstons ands shortly after before he became a "singer songwriter"), The Clancy Brothers (with or without Tommy Makem), Tommy Makem, Sarah Makem, The Pecker Dunne, Margaret Barry, Triona Ni Domhnaill, Paddy Tunney, Kevin Conneff, Great Big Sea, my sister Josie Sinclair (wasted talent, makes me sick), Dermot Maguire, Shay Kennedy (from Achill Island, not Seamus Kennedy of Belfast, who's already got a mention), Deirdre Ni Chinneide of Crumlin (Dublin), Dolores Keane (her version of Galway Bay would crucify you), Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Nick Drake, Dick Hogan, Steve Earle, Doc Watson, aaaaaaarrgghhhhhhh ... can't be done! Each name just throws up more and more associations ... I'll have to stop otherwise I'll be here for days. But have to mention Andy M. Stewart and the GOD-DADDY of all singers (and the fact that he only just popped into my head as I was about to sign off shows how difficult these list exrercises can be) LEN GRAHAM.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: English Jon
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:54 AM

Martin and Norma, Liza + Band. The Wilsons, Young Tradition, Valley folk, Damien Barber, Hedningarna, Nic Jones, Shirley/Dolly Collins, Barry Hunt, Billy Bragg, Sam Larner, Copper Familly, Tim van Eyken, Nancy K and James F (also Scalene), Tarika, etc etc...

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:54 AM

All from Ireland, Paddy Reilly, Liam Clancy, Tommy Makem, Dolores Keane, The early Mary Black, Christy Moore,Frank Harte, Eleanor Shanley, Maura O Connell,Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew, Danny Doyle, Johnny McEvoy,Maggie Barry, Packer Dunne, and to all those I have overlooked, not forgetting the groups. For being such a wee speck on the map we can compete with the best Slan Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Brían
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:58 AM

Seán 'ac Dhonnchadha, Johnny Máirtín Learaí, Colm o'Donnell, Séamus Ennis.

Brían.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: ermintrudeclaire
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:03 AM

Off the top of my head, Simon Nicol, Bob Fox, Jez Lowe, The Spinners (Liverpool) Huw and Tony Williams, The Corries, Burl Ives, Ewan MaColl, Tommy Makem.

really I like most male vocalists that I can sing along with and have a marked preference for the ones with the 'treacley voices' like Simon Nicol!!!

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Suffet
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:54 AM

By the way, the original question was: Who are your favourite* folk singers? It didn't ask who you believe are the most accomplished musicians or who you believe are the most important contributors to folk music as a whole or to any particular folk tradition. It simply asked us to name our favourites. I answered the question truthfully.


*British for favorite.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Aidan Crossey
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:00 AM

I answered truthfully, Steve, although like you I'd have to qualify by saying that any list I would draw up is subject to change at any moment.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Brían
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:37 AM

Ditto.

Brían

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: English Jon
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:45 AM

Ard Mhacha's reminded me: Sarah Makem (Tommy's Mum) Fantastic singer.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GeorgeH
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:16 AM

Martin Simpson . . Going from your original list, try his "Live" (UK recording) or his new Topic release (of mainly English trad. songs) which I've yet to purchase . . For a more Blues bias - it has to be "Smoke and Mirrors".

Martin Carthy (with Swarbrick): the CD of Byker Hill - old, but still possibly his finest album.

Tomas Lynch: The Crux of the Catalogue: The finest ever Irish Folk recording.

Nancy Kerr and James Fagin: The very best of the UK's "young folkies".

Roy Bailey

No, I wouldn't say Ms Crow was even remotely Folk (nor, really that Ms Shocked was) - well, not in the more common UK usages of the term. Not that it matters a fig either way!

G.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 09:30 AM

Mr. Ed.

Also Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Stan Rogers, and yesterday's birthday boy Arlo and his dad.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GUEST,John Hernandez
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 09:30 AM

The late Mississippi John Hurt. Everyone else is a distant runner-up.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 09:58 AM

Frankie Armstrong
Jean Redpath
Ray Fisher
Norma Waterson
Jeannie Robertson
Maggie Peirce
Gill Burns (from Liverpool; is she still around?)
Margaret Barry
Belle Stewart
Heather Wood
June Tabor
Shirley Collins
Anni Fentiman
Helen Schneyer
Maddy Prior
Judy Cook
Jeri

Just a coupla the women who come to mind -- and I like male singers and groups, too! The list goes on...

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Benjamin
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:09 AM

Sheryl Crow? Folk? I don't see the connection. Please explain further!

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:20 AM

So many wonderful singers named here. My personal favourite is Christy Moore.

Jon

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Jeri
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:31 AM

Bat Goddess - ME??!?!?...?

I can't honestly name all of my favorites! Some I like for the songs they do, some for how they sound, some for how they present a song. Someone could be my favorite singer at the moment because of one song, others are long-term favorites. Sometimes, in a song circle/session, my favorite is whoever happens to be singing. I'm wimping out of this one!

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GUEST,chrisj
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:36 AM

Irish: Joe Heaney, English: Cyril Tawney, Scottish: Máire Mhór, Welsh: any of the better male voice choirs.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Angie
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:40 AM

I'm sitting here nodding in agreement with everyone elses fave's.....so many wonderfull artists, I could go on and name another dozen or so just off the top of my head but I'll refrain from hogging the space.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: LR Mole
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:56 AM

Phil Ochs.Taj Mahal.Nick Drake.Randy Newman.Leah Kunkel.The Band. Robert Johnson. Buddy Holly. Tom Paxton. and OXO WHITNEY!

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: TamthebamfraeScotland
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 11:09 AM

My favourite folk singers are: The Spinners, The Dubliners, The Corries, Eric Bogle, Pete Seeger, Ewan McColl etc. The list of my favourite folksingers is endless, I just like these Folksingers who either give you a chance to siing along. However I don't like the ones who do a concert and end up just playing for themseleves and to hell with the audiance.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 12:39 PM

Any and all of the above and many more too. I would have to say though that my Wife is my favourite folk singer. The only trouble is she would tell you I am lying, it's Maddy Prior really. JohnB

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 01:12 PM

Thank you very much Spaw, I wont even attempt to list all of mine.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Big Tim
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 03:33 PM

American - Woody, Cisco Houston, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Peggy seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez.

Canadian - Leonard Cohen, Kate and Anna McGarrigle.

Irish - McPeake Family,Luke Kelly, Christy Moore, Andy Irvine, Dolores Keane, Margaret Barry, Mary O'Hara, Sean O Se.

Scottish - Dick Gaughan, Bobby Eaglesham, Norman Kennedy, Enoch Kent, Josh McCrae, Donny Monro (Runrig), Rory Macdonald (Runrig).

English - Ewan MacColl, Johnny Jones (Oysterband) Sandy Denny, Maddy prior, June Tabor.

Of the pure folkies Luke Kelly is tops, of the singersongwriters, Dylan. And no arguments please!

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:11 PM

Allan Taylor Ralph McTell Joni Mitchell [ early ] Paul Simon Tom Paxton Big Bill Broonzy said said all the songs he ever heard were folk songs "I aint heard no hosses singing". So on that basis Tom Lehrer for writing some of the funniest songs ever.

Jock

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:30 PM

Thanks everbody, I'm going to write these down and buy some of these CDs.john

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GUEST,AKRick
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:15 PM

To paraphrase Big Bill Broonzy ... it's all folk music 'till I hear a horse sing. Anyway, I have a long list but I'll just mention Archie Fisher, Norma Waterson and Anne Briggs. Rick

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:17 PM

Sure, Dylan wrote a handful of good songs, but, Utah Phillips and Tom Paxton have written scores of them. (IMO)

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: DougR
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:49 PM

I, like Kendall, won't attempt to name them all (which include many I did not know prior to the Mudcat ...including Kendall, Rick, and Jed) so I'll just list my all time favorite, who introduced me to folk music ...Burl Ives.

DougR

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:51 PM

Mickey McConnell (Chordstrangler here on the 'Cat), every one of his songs is a polished diamond, and he's probably the most articulately lyrical Irish songwriter/singer in many a year, Tommy Makem, Bill Staines, Priscilla Herdman, Luke Kelly, Andy M. Stewart, Doc Watson, Kendall Morse and many others. MY definition of 'favorite' is the the performer whose tapes I listen to in the car on a regular basis.

seamus

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: CET
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:54 PM

Well, this could go on forever. However, it's a great way to waste a few minutes. Since I joined the Mudcat a few months ago I have learned more about traditional musicians than I did in the past twenty years, so my list is expanding exponentially. I'll limit my picks to those who I think are truly great singers. There are plenty of famous folk musicians who have interesting personalities or who write good songs, but frankly have forgettable voices. For that reason Bob Dylan would never be on my list of great folk singers. I like listening to some of his recordings, but it's inspite of his voice.

So, for female singers I would have to start with Odetta. I am also wild about Janet Russell's voice. I was mildly chastised for saying on a previous thread that I thought she had done the definitive version of The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow. In retrospect, that probably was a silly thing to say, but she does have a stunning, powerful mezzo voice that rings clear as a bell even in the lower register. Her phrasing is among the best I've ever heard.

For male singers: Bryn Terfel, Liam Clancy, Graham Pirt, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Dick Gaughan when he's really on. I say that because he has an unfortunate tendency to let the ends of his lines fade away into a kind of mumble. However, I heard him do Scots Wha Hae on a TV special about Robert Burns in a way that sent shivers down my spine and made me look at the song as something other than just a piece of Scottish jingoism. I echo what Catspaw says about Kendall. I've only heard him sing a couple of times to my regret. Mickey MacConnell is a great singer too. I heard him at the Ballyshannon Folk Festival in 1993 and bought one of his cassettes. There isn't a dud on it. I would also have to add Waylon Jennings on any list of favourite singers. Not very folkie perhaps, but check out his performance on the companion CD to the Ken Burns Civil War TV series.

Albums that you must have? If you are into traditional music of the British Isles, I would have to say you have to own Fyre and Sworde: Songs of the Border Reivers. That's where I heard Janet Russell and Graham Pirt for the first time. It has IMHO the best singing I have ever heard on a folk music album. (But not definitive!) Every single song is a gem. I would also add Ewan MacColl's Songs of Two Rebellions, and the Tannahill Weavers self titled album. Actually, everything by the Tannahills is great. Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage, and... and... and...

Edmund

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GUEST,Duart
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 12:23 AM

Favourite folk singers? there are just too many, but the ones who have influenced me are: Roy Williamson and Ronnie Brown (The Corries), Ewan McColl,and Peggy Seeger, The Clancy Brothers, Bob Dylan (amazing songs!), and since I came to Australia 30 years ago :- Eric Bogle, Danny Spooner (no one sings better sea songs!) and the late Gordon McIntyre. But as I said, just far too many, but what a tradition.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: toadfrog
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 12:35 AM

The thread reads like the question was, "who is your favorite "contemporary" folk singer or "folk revival" singer. How about

Huddie Ledbetter (whom I think no one has mentioned);

Mance Lipscome (ditto)

Ewan McColl (no argument there)

NLCR collectively,

And (if we are going to include an Irishman) Sean Mac Donchadha

But I would like to hear, sometime, anybody even remotely in a class with Leadbelly. There just aren't any.

Best disks, Leadbelly with the Golden Gate Quarted (remastered); The Lark in the Morning, and American Folk Songs for Children (Pete, Mike, Peggy and Penny Seeger.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: GUEST,Aoife
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 01:35 AM

Joni Mitchell, most definately.. who else combines such style and mood with elements of trad folk roots?

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 01:47 AM

Yes I like Joni Mitchell, My favourite is were she sings "They take all the trees and put the in them in a tree museum, then the charge you 25 bucks just to see them"

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 07:03 AM

OK, but, I will only name the ones who FIRST influenced me. Buryl Ives, The Weavers, Gordon Bok and The Patons.

Subject: RE: Favourite Folk Singers ?
From: Suffet
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 07:33 AM

OK, I'll talk about early influences on me, people who helped me early in life develop into a folksinger.

First, there was my mother, a sometimes jazz singer who appeared in the 1930s under the name Marion Shaw. Musically, she was a Billie Holiday wannabe, and she hated what she called "hillbilly music." But for some weird reason that's the stuff I wanted to hear, so she would sing "The Wabash Cannon Ball" and "Sixteen Tons" for me while accompanying herself on a ukelele. Other songs she would play for me were "Meet Me in Saint Louie, Louie," "Toot-Toot-Tootsie, Goodbye," "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Irene, Goodnight," and "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You." Only later did I learn that some of them were considered folksongs while others weren't. But the reality is I learned them all in a folkloric process.

Next, there was Oscar Brand. That's because he had this really great folk music program on the radio in New York City all the while I was growing up. He still has it.

Then there was Pete Seeger. Again, I first heard him as a child, and he kept on reappearing throughout my life. Most recently he showed up at a Woody Guthrie Song Swap and Jam Sesion I led in Hartford, Connecticut, this past January. Like Oscar Brand, Pete was always there.

Also when I was a child, there was this woman named Charity Bailey on television. She played the piano and got a whole pack of kids around her to sing and make music. I thought she was the coolest lady on TV.

A bit later were the various counselors at Camp Towanda, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, who would teach us all sorts of songs. The one I remember best was a fellow named Bob Seiden who played piano. Bob could get anyone to sing, any time, any place. That really impressed me.

Next were my folksinging friends I used to hang out with as a teenager while other kids our age were into sports and rock-n-roll. I guess today the school guidance counselors would take special notice of us, but back then no one did. Among these friends were Ken Paley, Paul Friedman, Alan Greenfield, Michael Spiegel, and sometimes Ellen Moslin, mentioned in an earlier message.


--- Steve