Your favourite American folksingers

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 09:21 AM

Hey Santa! I can think of quite a few specific terms for inhabitants of the USA, most of which are much more offensive than 'Yanks'. (NO, PUT IT DOWN, I'M ONLY KIDDING!) :-)

I still don't understand how a genre of music propagated and generated in the main by the Nashville Machine can be lumped together with Folk. There's a lot of great 'traditional' music in the USA which does fall into the Folk category, but Dolly and Emmylou don't seem, to me at any rate, to be exponents of it (wonderful though they are). Nor do they seem to be of the same ilk as the 'contemporary' North-American (there, that OK?) folk artistes such as the aforementioned Stan and Gordie, Paxton, Bobby The Zee, and many, many more.

As an English lover of Folk AND Country (and any other Quality Music for that matter) I don't need to have the difference explained to me - it's gob-smackingly obvious when you listen to them. I just wonder why Americans don't seem able to hear it?

Just my point of view, I know lots of people will tell me I'm talking out of the back of my neck!

Merry Christmas to all our readers. :-)

Johnny

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: kendall
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 08:48 AM

In that case Jerry, Paul Robeson.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 08:23 AM

Maybe I should start a thread "Who Are Your Favorite Singers of Any Kind Of Music In North And South America." Has everyone forgotten John9?, by the way? Ya Shoulda Been More Specific John-O. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,jim clark london england
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 06:26 AM

If I had to select an all time great of the folk/blues genre, I'd say

Mississippi Big Joe Williams that guy lived for over 50 years the life of the rambling bluesman and nobody I ever heard could speak to me through his songs or guitar with such intense profound elequence about lifes angst as he did.

Of living folk performers I'd select Ritchie Havens,Like Big Joe his songs seem to just spill out his heart. He conjures from commonplace expression and sometimes biblical text the most beautiful passionate musical commentary about lifes realities. His performance just transfixes me..

Regards.

Jim Clark...

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Santa
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 05:59 AM

American is the term used in standard English (and American English, as far as I can tell) to distinguish the inhabitants of the USA from inhabitants of other nations on the North American continent.

If "American" is used in a more general term then we would lack a specific term for the inhabitants of the USA - I'm told that "Yanks" is unacceptable.

Similarly, if Country music is the same as Folk music, then why do we need a specific term to describe it?

I can see how an American could find it difficult to understand why Country, or indeed blues or bluegrass, shouldn't be described as folk music. For a British (ok, English!) folk music enthusiast it seems clear enough. Accepting that all musical boundaries are fuzzy.

I should have added to my earlier post that I have seen Kristina Olsen (some years ago) and Mike Agranoff gave a very entertaining show a few weeks ago. But the US folk singers don't tour the UK they way they used too. (Fings ain't what they used to be! Aaahhh..)

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 03:33 AM

Mary et al - why do you insist on confusing Country with Folk? Seems to be something you USA-folks do a lot, judging by some of the names that have cropped up in this thread. Dolly and Emmylou are superlative Country Artistes, not Folksingers. You'll be telling me next that Meatloaf and Eminem are Folk Singers. (I dare you!):-)

Just to add a perverse comment, and probably damning myself in the process - someone (I reckon it was Martin Carthy - who IS a British FOLKSINGER and guitarist extraordinaire - but I may be wrong) once said that "All songs are sung by folks, therefore all songs are Folk Songs". Perhaps by the same token ALL singers are Folk Singers? Just a thought.

And re the Canada business, the subject of the thread is 'Your favourite American folksingers' - correct me if I'm wrong but isn't America the Continent which encompasses the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile etc. etc. etc.? Therefore Stan Rogers, Gordon Lightfoot and the others mentioned earlier are Americans from Canada. QED. They are also jolly fine singers and writers.

Peace Brothers and Sister
Johnny

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Peace
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 10:58 PM

The Kingston Trio did the same for me. But the capper was Dylan. Made me go folkie instead of regular army.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: squeezeldy
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 10:45 PM

This is probably going to enrage many people, but Peter, Paul and Mary made a huge impact on the revival of folk music in America in the 60's. I realized later in life (being of a certain age) that many of the folk songs I know were learned from my older sister's albums, which I filched and listened to on the sly.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 09:21 PM

Might as well as which one is my favorite child.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 06:00 PM

Geez...forgot Gordon Lightfoot! Talk about a fine songwriter. He's Canadian, which is included in North America. Also Tish Hinojosa, who is Mexican-American.

Favourite British folksingers: Al Stewart and Maddy Prior.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 05:51 PM

Goin' way back...Bob Dylan, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joan Baez.

Movin' forward a little...Emmie Lou Harris and Shawn Colvin.

Best I've seen lately...Chris Smither. He is superb.

- LH

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: allanwill
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 05:43 PM

Never see any mention of a 60's duo Dick and Deedee, but as far as "commercial" 60's folk music goes, they were as good as any (IMHO).

Allan

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Midchuck
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 04:43 PM

Canadians are Americans.
United Statesians (?) are Americans.
Mexicans are Americans.

And that's just North America...

Peter.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From:
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 04:06 PM

BLIND WILLIE MCTELL
RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT
NORMAN BLAKE

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,Jaze
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 12:56 PM

Guest James, Barnes and Noble usually has Eric Andersen's "Blue River"

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 12:43 PM

I think I heard once that Sam Hinton was the first person to bill himself as a folk singer. It was when he was on the vaudeville circuit after winning on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour   True?

Chris in Wheaton

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 12:03 PM

If you are a Folk fan and have any doubt that an artist or group is Folk, just accept the people you like. Therefore Dolly Parton, Emmy Lou Harris and The Band are Folk..........works for me.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: mg
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 10:01 AM

why would we say Emmy Lou and Dolly aren't folk singers? Sure sound like it to me. mg

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 09:18 AM

Canadins would prefer not be classed as Americans. Not because we dislike the Americans but because we are Canadian.
What about Gillian Welch.. I love her stuff, or is she country. Sometimes I am very confused.
   I thought the object of the thread was to come up with unfamiliar names, so that people might explore the work of some artists new to them.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 09:13 AM

Oh Mary, come ON!!! Get real - Dolly and Emmylou are great SINGERS, but FOLK-SINGERS they are not!

And IMOH the pillock who said Ponce (oops, sorry I meant Prince or Squiggle or whatever barmy name the conceited, over-sexed little git calls himself nowadays) really is away with the fairies. :-)

The problem with this thread is that there's a lot of names cropping up that us Limeys have never heard of. But I'd have to go with Odetta and Stan The Man (if Canadians can be classed as American).

It's all personal taste really, isn't it?

Johnny

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 09:08 AM

Leonard cohen is not american, I don't think he is a folk singer either.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Beverley Barton
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 08:05 AM

sorry, that post should have been bigger

LEONARD COHEN

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Beverley Barton
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 07:58 AM

LEONARD COHEN !

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Santa
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 07:50 AM

I looked into this thread hoping it would give me a few names to watch out for. Years back I was familiar with the work of Ochs, Paxton, Dylan, Guthrie(s), Farina, Baez etc but the only US act I've seen/heard recently is Pint and Dale. Whom I like very much, but I'm sure there are more around. However, this list seems to have become dedicated to historic rather than contemporary (in time, not necessarily in material) artists, and blues/bluegrass etc which certainly isn't "folk" in the UK. Who should I be looking out for?

I'm not sure about including Canadians either - at least those who stay in Canada rather than moving South - but if you must, I'd add Tanglefoot and Eileen McGann.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Nov 03 - 12:21 AM

John-
CAMSCO takes VISA or MASTERCARD. If you wish, you can send a cheque to Bill Sables, and I'll send you the CDs.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: mg
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 11:24 PM

Iris Dement ...I love her...also Dolly Parton and Emmy Lou Harris..mg

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 11:17 PM

Doc Watson is America's voice. Note the Southern accent.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: richlmo
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 11:10 PM

I don't know if he is American or not, but John Gorka has a great voice. I'm not real sure where the "folk" fades into country and old time/bluegrass and such, but Doc Watson has to be in there somewhere.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 01:57 PM

Couldn'ta said it better myself pdq!!!

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 01:56 PM

The worst thread about music is better than the best thread about politics!

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: mg
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 01:46 PM

I don't find these threads useless at all. I find them interesting. If you find them useless, why read them? Why respond? mg

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 01:20 PM

Great Big Sea???

May as well list Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Fruvous as well then... And then no, it's not that far a stretch to include Grandmaster Flash, Snoop-Doggy-Dog and Prince...

And well, how can you talk about 'Famous Canadians" with out James Keelaghan, Stephen Fearing, Len Wallace, Ian Tamblyn, GARNET Rogers, Connie Caldor, Andrew Cash, Blue Rodeo, Don Ross, The Cowboy Junkies, Rick Deevey, The Skydiggers, Ferron, Tamarack, James Gordon, and on and on and on...

See how useless these kinds of threads are... They just end up being one long list of names that most posters here won't even bother trying to find...

The longer the list, the less it matters...

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 01:07 PM

Natalie MacMaster, Don Messer (RIP) and Buddy MacMaster are fiddlers, not folksingers.

C

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 01:04 PM

Perhaps we should do famous Canadians...I see Canadians as having contributed a slightly different type of contemporary folk.
Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot,Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young(sort of), Stan Rogers, John Allan Cameron, The Rankins, Buffy St. Marie, Natalie MacMaster, Don Messer, Laura Smith, Allan Mills, Clary Croft,Buddy MacMaster,Great Big Sea, The Irish Descendants...lots more. I am sure I have forgotten a lot of names.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 01:04 PM

I don't think Peggy Lee or Dinah Washington would have liked being called men.

C

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Grab
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 12:53 PM

Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Dylan as a writer but not as a singer. Leonard Cohen should qualify - he's Canadian, but from the continent of North America.

Lou and Peter Berryman are probably the best writers of funny songs in the US. You need to be in a "funny song mood" to listen to the CDs, but they're great for performing.

And if bluesmen qualify, then Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington, Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong should also be on the list.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 12:21 PM

The singers I listed are all people I heard on albums as I grew up. If I listed folks (sans albums) then I'd have added my father to the list! I should have included Pete Seeger--that was an oversight. I know some of McCurdy's have been hard to find on vinyl or CD--I found that out the hard way after Dad died and I tried to replace some of the holdings in his collection.

SRS

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,James
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 12:08 PM

Does anyone know if Blue River LP by Eric Anderson is available anywhere..it is great. I had forgotten about Eric. Also, what about Tim Hardin, Tom Rush Mike Seeger,Emmy Lou Harris(or is she Country). John Stewart, Jack Eliot, Dave Van Ronk...loads more I guess.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 10:49 AM

Hey, John:

Whenever anyone starts a thread it reflects our own concept of folksinger. I didn't include people like Mississippi John or Robert Johnson, because blues seens to be considered as a separate category from folk (wrongly, as far as I'm concerned.) I also didn't include
Rev. Gary Davis... one of my very favorite singers and guitarists, because most people would just label him gospel. Same with Steve Earle, who I really admire, and would consider a country singer. I would not include Prince (who I think was a genius in his own right, although I never bought any of his music.) If Prince is a folk singer, then I have no idea what a folksinger is. That's not to minimize his genius. And if Prince is a folksinger, the Beatles are one of my favorite folk groups.

Now, if you're talking about what is easily available on CD, that's a different story. I love Cisco Houston as a singer, but I don't know how much is easily avaiable to you in England.

And how could we forget the greatest singer of American folk music ever?

Lonnie Donegan

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Benjamin
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 10:33 AM

There's also Mudcat's own Frank Hamilton. His music has been a favorite of mine for a long time now.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Amos
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 09:17 AM

I enjoy that honor me own self! :>)

A

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 07:08 AM

Does anyone know where I can find lyrics to any of the sixties protest music about women's rights?

please email [e-mail] if you do. I need them for a research paper I'm doing. Thank you!

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,James,
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 07:04 AM

Arlo Guthrie, John Prine , Judy Collins, Barbara Dane, Odetta.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: kendall
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 06:21 AM

Buryl Ives.

John, I was joking for Christ's sake!

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 05:58 AM

When we consider influence on modern musicians, I reckon Alanabit is right on the ball with his Robert johnson nomination....it would be hard to think of an American folksinger who has had more impact on the subsequent direction of music.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 05:03 AM

I like most of the ones I have heard mentioned here - in particular Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt and Woody Guthrie. Pete Seeger has been mentioned less often than I would have expected. If only because of his influence , I would rate him as one of the giants.
Bill Zorn lived in England for several years and I thought he sounded alright. He can play the banjo a bit as well. I thought Robert Johnson was going to get a few more mentions. For me he was the definitive Delta bluesman - although I will probably have to defer to the more knowledgeable Mudcatters on this one!

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: VIN
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 04:41 AM

Joan Baez, Peggy Seeger and Tom Paxton must rank up there with the best of em although he's probably written mostly all his own stuff - i reckon 'Last Thing On My Mind' must rate as a 'folk' song now eh?
(Uh oh, careful vin, let's not start on that thread agin)

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 04:20 AM

There are two, Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie, and then the rest.And the list of the rest goes on for ever. Listening to wonderful American folk music goes on for ever and you still havent scratched the surface.
    I dont normally like ranking people in order, but there's really no contest in this field. Leadbelly has got to be number 1. I am leaving out Bob Dylan, he is number 1 in a different category as far as I am concerned.

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 02:22 AM

heloo dick greenhouse, do axept solo cards or maestro cards fpr your cd shop?
i like to buy some nice americsn cd's and i goive you my crefit card number., i give it to max to buy a mudcat t shirt before
, but nit tak3e that oner, and i don t knoe how toarreange pay pay etc, i wi;ll see about pay-pal,and see waht they say.johhn

Subject: RE: Your favourite american folksingers
From: GUEST,weerover
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 02:20 AM

Loudon Wainwright
Randy Newman
Mississippi John Hurt
PAUL ROBESON
Joan Baez
Bob Dylan
Pat Sky

wr