Folk / Singer-Songwriter

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/forest-mn0000740423/biography wrote: The Incredible String Band was nothing more than a cult act in the U.S., so it may come as a surprise to American listeners that the ISB actually spawned imitators on their home turf. Forest was the most faithful of these, releasing a couple albums of medieval-hippie minstrelsy in 1969-1970. Each member of the trio (Martin Welham, Derek Allenby, and Hadrian Welham) was a multi-instrumentalist, playing not just the expected guitars, but harmonium, harpsichord, pipes, whistle, organ, and mandolin. If the group lacked the electricity and drums associated with rock, at the same time they could not be associated with the straight folk scene; their lyrics were too strange, and their approach too eclectic.

Full Circle
Through the recommendation of top British DJ John Peel, Forest found a home on Harvest, the pioneering U.K. progressive rock label. Their first, self-titled LP was an Incredible String Band clone; while it may have been somewhat less grating than the ISB at their most excessive, it also was not as innovative or imaginative as the ISB at their best. Their second and, as it turned out, final effort (Full Circle, 1970) was an improvement, finding their songwriting skills improving substantially, and their arrangements becoming more diverse and original.

http://oscarlush.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-round-so-ill-go-round wrote:It’s not every day you come across a young singer-songwriter as unique and powerful as Oscar Lush. Having drawn comparisons to Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan in the past, his songs are driven by a smooth and deep voice, and further crafted out by his poetic detail to words. It clear that this young musician is heading places; leaving his dark and revealing mark on anyone who listens as he goes.

http://www.marielittle.net/biog.htm wrote:Marie Little is a native of Salford and now lives in the North East of England. She has been around the folk scene for many years and has appeared at clubs and festivals all over the UK and Europe. A well-respected figure on the folk scene, her CV includes a number of albums as well as TV, radio and Festival appearances.

Although Marie has had other commitments over the years; raising her family, running a pub, taking a degree and being involved with community arts and art therapy, she has continued to develop her wide range of music. Her material ranges from industrial and contemporary songs of social significance, through to music hall and country music, all of which have her unique stamp of quality.

Marie has never lost her old Salford chat and earthiness. This, along with her warm personality and choice of good quality songs delivered in a relaxed manner, has made her both popular and a must for folk calendars everywhere.

https://ericchaet.wordpress.com/eric-chaet/ wrote:Born Chicago, USA, 1945, raised on its rough South Side.

Fed hot cardboard into a giant printer-slotter, or caught what would be boxes, when folded, at the other end of machine; removed remaining ink & stripped die from previous job & set up & inked die for next job—just west of Chicago city limits.

Caught 80 pound sacks of parcel post off giant slide, downtown Chicago U.S. post office, nights, & heaved them onto carts or down chutes, per destinations.

Fielded orders from around the world & USA, for transcripts, Registrar’s Office, University of Chicago.

Demonstrations against racial discrimination—in Mississippi, Missouri, & Chicago; & against continuing U.S. participation in the war in Indochina.

To avoid being drafted, to kill & be killed in the mad & unjust Vietnam war, accepted fellowships to graduate school.

During less & less rational demonstrations against the war, & while National Guard troops occupied the campus of the university I’d sailed thru til then, my Ph.D. dissertation was rejected:

http://www.stereogum.com/1797988/stream-kenny-knight-crossroads-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/ wrote:The only album Kenny Knight ever released is about American Sadness: the especially poignant, timid melancholy of a people who are raised up to believe their dreams are destined to come true, the cold desolation that settles in when they don’t. Crossroads stares down the barrel of the ’80s, riding high on fumes of free love and a peaceful, easy feeling. Sure, Knight coasts and moans like Don Henley or Joe Walsh, but his gentleness is more essential to the record’s overall feel. Jim Croce and Jackson Browne spring to mind as easy contemporaries even if Knight leans harder on the country canon than either of them did. These are cowboy lullabies with their outlaw instincts replaced by middle class ennui, and they are phenomenal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hardy_%28singer-songwriter%29 wrote:John Studebaker "Jack" Hardy (November 23, 1947 – March 11, 2011) was an American lyrical singer-songwriter and playwright based in Greenwich Village, who was influential as a writer, performer, and mentor in the North American and European folk music scenes for decades. He was cited as a major influence by Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, and many others who emerged from that scene in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Hardy was the author of hundreds of songs, and toured tirelessly for almost forty years. He was also the founding editor of Fast Folk Musical Magazine, a periodical famous within music circles for twenty years that shipped with a full album (and later, compact disc) in each issue, whose entire catalog is now part of the Smithsonian Folkways collection.

Hardy died on the morning of March 11, 2011 in Manhattan. He was 63.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Havens wrote:Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013), known as Richie Havens, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk, soul, and rhythm and blues. He is best known for his intense and rhythmic guitar style (often in open tunings), soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

Follow-Richie Havens from Scott Wright on Vimeo.

http://www.last.fm/music/Dr.+John wrote:Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940), better known by the stage name Dr. John (also Dr. John Creaux), is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combines blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll. The winner of five Grammy awards, Rebennack was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by singer John Legend on Monday, March 14, 2011.

Dr. John has been making his own idiosyncratic music since the 1960s. Along with Professor Longhair, Dr. John is heir to the rich New Orleans tradition. He is perhaps best known for “Right Place, Wrong Time”, an international hit in 1973, reissued and used on soundtracks many times since.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, his professional musical career began as a session musician in New Orleans in the 1950s. Early on he also played guitar and was often known as Mac Rebennack. He switched to the bass (“the lowest time of my life”), and then the piano after his index finger was nearly shot off protecting his bandmate and longtime friend Ronnie Barron. He gained fame beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with music that combined new orleans-style rhythm and blues with psychedelic rock and stage shows that bordered on voodoo religious ceremonies, including elaborate costumes and headdress. For a time he was billed as Doctor John, The Night Tripper. The name “Dr. John” came from a legendary Louisiana voodoo practitioner from the start of the 19th century.

http://thestereofly.com/content/them-natives-alabama-bound wrote:The phantasmagoria of the American South can be as palpable as mid-summer humidity. Our fear and respect for that which goes bump in the night reveals itself in superstition passed down through generations and includes a musical heritage rich with the influence of haints, restless souls, and woodland specters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fotheringay wrote:Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition "Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay Castle, in which Mary, Queen of Scots had been imprisoned. The song originally appeared on the 1969 Fairport Convention album, What We Did on Our Holidays, Denny's first album with that group.

Two former members of Eclection, Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway, and two former members of Poet and the One Man Band, Jerry Donahue and Pat Donaldson (bass), completed the line-up responsible for what was long assumed to be the quintet's only album. This folk-based set included several Denny originals, notably "Nothing More", "The Sea" and "The Pond and The Stream", as well as versions of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Way I Feel" and Bob Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing". Though, during the year of its original release, the album featured in the UK's two music papers' Top 20 (Melody Maker and NME), it did not meet commercial expectations, and pressures on Denny to undertake a solo career — she was voted Britain's number 1 singer (two years consecutively) in Melody Maker's readers poll — increased. The album peaked at No. 18 in the UK Albums Chart.[1]

Fotheringay disbanded in January 1971, during sessions for a projected second album.[2] Some of its songs surfaced on Denny's 1971 debut solo album, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Lucas, Conway and Donahue joined Fairport Convention in 1972 to record the Rosie album (on which some Fotheringay material was also used). However, Conway played on three tracks only and began session work afterwards. Both Conway and Donaldson have worked with Richard Thompson, amongst many others. Lucas and Donahue stayed with Fairport (the Nine album came out in 1973) for another couple of years, with Denny rejoining in 1974. This line-up recorded two additional albums: Fairport Live Convention (re-titled A Movable Feast in the US) and Rising for the Moon. Denny, along with Donahue and Lucas, left the band in December 1975. Conway eventually joined a reformed Fairport in 1997.

In 2007, the BBC announced that Donahue would be attempting to complete the abandoned project (which he accomplished using previously unheard takes from the original archived tapes). Permission had finally been granted and the work was completed by summer of the following year. The resulting album, titled Fotheringay 2, was released by Fledg'ling Records on 29 September 2008.[3]

A special live performance by Fotheringay was recorded at Gruga-Halle in Essen, Germany, on 23 October 1970. The concert tapes have been re-mastered by Fotheringay guitarist Jerry Donahue, and the album was released on 2011.

A four-disc collection, Nothing More: The Collected Fotheringay, was released on March 30th 2015. This is the most comprehensive compilation of the group’s recordings.

In June of 2015, the three surviving members of the original band - Jerry Donahue, Gerry Conway and Pat Donaldson - reunited for six tour dates in the UK. They were joined by Kathryn Roberts (Equation, KR & Sean Lakeman), Sally Barker (The Poozies, ‘The Voice’) and PJ Wright (The Dylan Project and Little Johnny England) to provide the harmonious vocals in the absence of Denny.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espers_%28band%29 wrote:Espers is a psych folk band from Philadelphia that is part of the emerging indie folk scene. They formed in 2002 as a trio of singer-songwriter Greg Weeks, Meg Baird and Brooke Sietinsons but later expanded to a sextet including Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall and Chris Smith. Their music is reminiscent of late-sixties British folk as well as many contemporary folk acts such as Six Organs of Admittance. Most of the band's members have also featured on recordings by a number of other folk artists such as Nick Castro and Vashti Bunyan and as a result have become an important part of the psych-folk revival.

They released their self-titled debut in 2004 on Locust Music and followed that with an album of cover songs, The Weed Tree, in 2005. This release featured the band's versions of songs by artists as diverse as Nico, The Durutti Column and Blue Öyster Cult. In 2006 the band released their third full-length album, II (presumably so called because it was their second album of original material), on Drag City Records. Their fourth album, III, was released on October 20, 2009.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Stone wrote:Julia Natasha Stone (born 13 April 1984) is an Australian folk-blues singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is the sister half of Angus & Julia Stone and is also a solo musician. Her debut solo album, The Memory Machine, was issued in 2010. Her second solo album, By the Horns, appeared in May 2012, which peaked at No. 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Hanged+Man wrote:The solo project of Stockholm based Rebecka Rolfart (formerly of Those Dancing Days and Vulkano) who released her debut single first time dreaming on PNKSLM Recordings in late September 2014.

http://www.sumienagano.com/project/about/ wrote:Sometimes less is so much more, and in the case of Sumie’s musical path her voice and her acoustic guitar casts the most hypnotic and disarmingly simple spell.
Sumie released her selftitled critically acclaimed debut album “SUMIE” early December 2013 through the prominent indie Label Bella Union.

The album was recorded with the german pianist and producer Nils Frahm in his studio in Berlin with the company of producer and fellow pianist Dustin o Halloran.
Born Sandra Sumie Nagano in Gothenburg, Sweden, she first began composing and recording her songs in 2008 from her apartment in Gothenburg. Previous recordings can still be found at Bandcamp.

Befitting Sumie’s bloodline  (Swedish mother, Japanese father), the album fits both current Scandinavian and Japanese folk strains. “I have always thought that the cultural differences are very interesting,” she says. “My way of doing things definitely carries the duality of both cultures.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Buffalo_%28band%29 wrote:The White Buffalo is the professional moniker and stage name of American musician and singer/songwriter Jake Smith.
The White Buffalo's first full-length album, Hogtied Like a Rodeo, debuted in 2002, followed by The White Buffalo EP, produced by Eels' Koool G Murder, which Smith states is about "relationships, love, loss and booze with a little murder mixed in." In a friend's living room in 2008, he re-recorded the first album, dubbing it Hogtied Revisited.

When a bootleg tape of Smith's music made it into the hands of pro surfer Chris Malloy, one of his songs, "Wrong," was featured in his popular surf movie, Shelter. This eventually led to further film scoring and composing work, with three of his songs featured in FX's hit show Sons of Anarchy and Showtime's Californication.

In 2010, a second EP, Prepare for Black and Blue, was recorded in six days by producer Jimmy Messer and released through Chad Stokes' Ruffshod imprint via Nettwerk Records earlier that year. The music and the artist captured the attention of Unison Music's Bruce Witkin and Ryan Dorn, who then signed The White Buffalo and co-produced Once Upon a Time in the West.

In 2013, a fourth LP, "Shadows, Greys, and Evil Ways",[6] was released on Unison Music Group. The LP saw positive reviews including NY1 which stated, "Not since Neil Young's Living With War has there been so strong an artistic statement about this country's occupations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lal_Waterson wrote:Lal Waterson (15 February 1943 – 4 September 1998) was an English folksinger and songwriter. She sang with, among others, The Watersons, The Waterdaughters and Blue Murder. She was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and died suddenly in Robin Hood's Bay, of cancer diagnosed only ten days before. 'Lal Waterson's voice was stark but captivating, her songs lyrically ambitious and melodically powerful.'[1]

Lal Waterson was the sister of Norma Waterson and Mike Waterson, the aunt of Eliza Carthy, and the sister-in-law of Martin Carthy. She was survived by her husband of 30 years, George Knight, and her two children, Oliver Knight and Maria Gilhooley, with both of whom she had recorded albums.

http://www.last.fm/music/Halls/+wiki wrote:Halls is South London musician Samuel Howard. The music is performed as a live band featuring Patrick Ghirardello, Ian Jenkins and Joseph Munday.

Formed in London, UK in early 2010, Halls worked on material that would appear on the debut EP 'Halls EP', released in January 2011, which was described as having 'ambient soundscapes buttressed by skitter-step beats.'

'Ark' - his brooding debut album - draws from a palette of crystalline melodies, intense production and panoramic instrumentation to create a deeply personal, constructivist work of art. Evocative in sound and yet isolationist in sentiment, the album is an intense, dramatic and emotive study of loss and modern anxiety set to a strained electronic soundtrack.

http://dawnbird.bandcamp.com/album/the-shape-of-things-to-come wrote:The Left Outsides, Mark Nicholas and Alison Cotton, are a husband and wife duo from the MIdlands and Sunderland based in London, England whose atmospheric, hypnotic songs echo Nico's icy European folk, pastoral psychedelia and chilly English fields at dawn.

Their new album is The Shape Of Things To Come, mixed by Martin Noble of British Sea Power and Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis - 13 songs including modern-day murder ballads, 60s beat psychedelia and outsider folk, with music and lyrics inspired by memories, dreams and Gregorian chants.

Before The Left Outsides, Mark and Alison were in psych folk group The Eighteenth Day of May. Alison was also in Saloon, and over the past decade she's played viola live with British Air Powers (an early version of British Sea Power), Cheval Sombre, Pete Astor and Mathew Sawyer. She plays with Plinth and her viola arrangements can be heard throughout Comet Gain's latest album, Paperback Ghosts.

The Left Outsides have played across the UK, France, Germany and in the USA on their own, supported Dead Meadow, The Clientele, Mark Mulcahy and the Bevis Frond and also appeared at Phil McMullen's Terrascope festival. They've recorded radio sessions for Stuart Maconie's Freakzone, Tom Robinson's show on BBC6 Music and Pete Paphides show for Soho Radio.

http://www.ruucampbell.com/about wrote:“The first time i sat down at the piano and lifted the bar i was overwhelmed by a sense of belonging , enchanted by something warm , something golden . A place that was both inviting and knowing , so very different from what was otherwise around me…….

It is full of wonder that i enter such a world so full of beauty and gentleness , so quiet and free and full of space . My journey to walk that world , to be that world , to share that world is one of great joy and deep sorrow.

It is from that world that came Heartsong , like my life , a work for ever in progress.”

ruu.

Ruu originally signed to Dreamworks, has played all over the world, from the beaches of Brazil to the great marble halls of India and clubs of London. Ruu has supported Beth Orton and Cara Dillon, and worked with Leftfield, Sly and Robbie, Greg Wells (Rufus Wainright, Mika), Ken Thomas (Sigor Ros), Ted Barnes (Clayhill, Eat Sleep Records), and Phill Brown (Bombay Bicycle, Talk Talk). Ruu has written ad campaigns for Lloyds, Vodafone and the Prostate Cancer Charity.

Ruu currently writes, records and tours in Europe and the US, both as a solo artist and with the group Younger Brother. Ruu has recently returned from a Rough Trade tour with Dylan Le Blanc. Described by Rough Trade as ‘a real life troubadour bringing camp fire wisdom to the modern age’ .


He is currently working on a new album for the Cinematic Orchestra, as well as releasing his debut solo album.
Recorded in a home studio adjoining his cottage, Ruu’s new album Heartsong is infused with uncompromising intimacy and an ethereal British sensibility. It bears the unmistakable sound of a man who has finally found home. Songs such as Mathereal, Crossroads and Magic Tree echo with love and longing, escape, and the road– a road that, in this instance, has finally become a happy ending.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4855 wrote:Roger Rodier is a Québecois composer, singer and guitarist, that drew favorable comparisons to Nick Drake. He was born in Montréal and released only one album, called Upon Velveatur, in 1972 and two singles prior to that (1969) in collaboration with his buddy Germain Gautier. Rodier is really an unknown/forgotten artist, an obscure character, he didn't make public appearances often. When his album came out, he only made a couple of gigs, some alone, some in support of Procol Harum and Genesis.
After a moment he started to compose a new album, but nothing came out of his recent compositions. Since then, he slowly stopped playing music. He now lives in exile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Young_%28musician%29 wrote:Steve Young (born July 12, 1942) is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist, known for his song "Seven Bridges Road" (on Rock Salt & Nails & Seven Bridges Road). He is a pioneer of the country rock, Americana, and alternative country sounds, and also a vital force behind the 'outlaw movement' that gave support to the careers of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr. and more. Young was also featured in the 1975 Outlaw Country documentary Heartworn Highways. He is the subject of the song "The All Golden" by Van Dyke Parks.

http://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ask-the-unicorn wrote:Ask the Unicorn is an "acid folk" masterpiece and one of the most singular releases from the infamous and historic ESP-Disk catalogue. It was recorded live to tape by a 27 year-old Ed Askew in 1968. Since that time, the impossible-to-find record and the man have acquired a mythological status. This first-ever, fully-remastered reissue has been awaited internationally for over 30 years.

But Ask the Unicorn, one of the most unique and gripping records under the 1960's sun, remained a question and an item of critical and fan devotion. It is finally available on the white vinyl Askew originally requested. The cover for the UK release, reproduced here, is the positive of the US edition. It is a photo of the protests in Stamford following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ask the Unicorn is a wild album. Inspired by immersion in Lorca and Kurt Weil, Askew's live psych delivery blends "bitter and economical" with deep imagism. The tone of the Martin tiple, the 10-string ultra-resonant acoustic instrument for which Askew is known, is wiry and stark -- a true counterpoint to contemporary psychedelic music. Ask the Unicorn is also a very rare and important work by an openly gay songwriter in the 1960's.