Folk-rock

Folk-rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music.

Folk-rock artists

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All of the performers listed here had or have both significant folk elements and significant rock elements in their music.

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Singer-songwriters

A number of singer-songwriters are associated strongly with folk-rock. Among those who started out strongly identified with folk music but later incorporated rock influences in their music are:

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• Leonard Cohen
• Donovan
• Bob Dylan
• Joni Mitchell
• Phil Ochs (arguably a different phenomenon, since his rock music was relatively separate from his folk-influenced music)

In addition, others (usually of at least a slightly younger generation) seem to have mixed both elements from the outset of their careers:

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• Jonatha Brooke
• Jim Croce
• Indigo Girls
• Neil Young

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon, as one half of Simon & Garfunkel, was a transitional figure between a Dylanesque singer-songwriter and the folk-rock vocal sound.

Related Topics:
Paul Simon - Simon & Garfunkel

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Canadian singer-songwriter Nathan Bishop performs both folk and rock instrumentation and leans on both the lyrical and narrative traditions in his songs.

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1960s North American folk-rock vocal groups

These bands were associated with original North American "folk-rock" sound, drawing to some extent on traditional folk music, but to a greater extent on the work of folk-influenced contemporary songwriters, such as Bob Dylan or the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan.

Related Topics:
Scottish - Donovan

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• The Band
• Buffalo Springfield
• The Byrds
• Crosby, Stills & Nash
• The Mamas & the Papas
• Peter, Paul & Mary, transitional between urban folk vocal groups and folk-rock
• The Turtles, whose first hits were in this genre, but who headed off in other musical directions

Other U.S. bands of this era

There were also significant folk influences in the music of several other North American bands of this period who were not generally identified with the folk-rock label.

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• The Grateful Dead
• Jefferson Airplane
• Love
• Moby Grape
• Sonny and Cher
• Dion DiMucci (mid and late 1960s recordings)
• Gene Vincent (mid and late 1960s recordings)

British folk-rock

The British folk-rock (or "electric folk") sound started out as an offshoot of the North American. Fairport Convention, almost certainly the seminal band of this movement, began with a sound very close to that of North American folk-rock, but began deliberately incorporating elements from the folk music of the British Isles. Several bands in Brittany were also closely associated with this musical movement.

Related Topics:
British Isles - Brittany

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Unrelated to this movement would be a few British acts of the mid-1960s whose music was based on or

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paralleled US folk-rock of the time, such as The Searchers or Marianne Faithfull.

Related Topics:
The Searchers - Marianne Faithfull

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• Capercaillie
• Fairport Convention
• Five Hand Reel
• Hedgehog Pie
• Horslips
• Jethro Tull; not all of their music has folk elements, but Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch are clearly of this genre
• Lindisfarne
• Malicorne (Breton)
• Pentangle
• Planxty
• Renaissance
• Steeleye Span
• The Strawbs
• Tricks Upon Travellers

Van Morrison, although not associated with this sound in its heyday, has more recently done some music along these lines, especially in his collaborations with The Chieftains.

Related Topics:
Van Morrison - The Chieftains

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The Incredible String Band began in this mode before heading off in other musical directions. Lead singer Robin Williamson has often returned to this style of music.

Related Topics:
The Incredible String Band - Robin Williamson

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All of the above were active in by the early 1970s. A clearly related sound can be found in Irish music of a slightly later period.

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• The Corrs
• The Waterboys

The Canadian bands Spirit of the West and Great Big Sea are also more associated with this sound that with the earlier North American folk-rock.

Related Topics:
Spirit of the West - Great Big Sea

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The Canadian band Celtae are unique in Celtic Folk Rock because they fuse two folk traditions, that of Cape Breton and Newfoundland with a broad definition of rock that includes elements of hard rock, funk, and jazz while retaining the original flavour of the traditional music.

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A similar impulse (but a very different sound) can be found in bands who mix traditional Irish music with punk rock. The prototype of this approach might be Thin Lizzy's heavy-metal-inspired 1973 version of "Whiskey in the Jar".

Related Topics:
Thin Lizzy - Heavy-metal - Whiskey in the Jar

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• Dropkick Murphys
• The Pogues
• Fathom (band)

A recent book, "Electric Folk" by Britta Sweers (2005) concentrates on Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. Another recent book "Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History" by Colin Harper (2005) covers Horslips, The Pogues, Planxty and others.

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Other

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• The Dukhs (Canada)
• Energy Orchard
• Garmarna (Sweden)
• Gordon Giltrap
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Great Big Sea (Canada)
• Gordon Lightfoot
• Gundula Krause
• Kazuki Tomokawa (Japan)
• Ruby Blue
• Runrig
• Spirit of the West
• Andy White
• World Party