Folk (all flavours) what do you like?

[aquapiranha]

I thought it a god idea to start a thread about folk - any type you like.

Some of my faves are..

Pentangle - what more nned be said?
Trees - short lived band with great talent.
Vashti bunyan
Marissa Nadler

So what do you like and why?

[symon]

Bert Jansch - amazing guitar and a very subtle voice - 'subtle' in that you need to acclimatise yourself to it, but it's worth it once you do.
Pentangle
Martin Carthy - still going strong and such an amazing guitarist. Nice bloke to boot
Eliza Carthy - what a voice
Waterson:Carthy - what voices!!
Chris Wood - great singer, great musician, all round bloke - lives where I used to live
Last Night's Fun - amazing musicians. Sadly split up recently, but were amazing live

There is much more - John Renbourn, Annie Briggs,

and the true folk - The Copper family, Walter Pardon - these are the ones who were not affected by Victorian fantasy. Singers with a long tradition behind them who were the last of their kind before the folk revival took over.

I could go on, but my main interest is in Bert Jansch and Martin Carthy - they are gods but they still walk the earth and appear in places I can go see them.

[aquapiranha]

I like Bert Jansch too, though at the moment I have only Black swan. Eliza Carthy is pretty good too. Also, Sandy Denny if great solol and there are many more like Sally Oldfield.

[symon]

Black Swan is good. But I highly recommend his first four or five albums - up to Rosemary Lane

[Beechwoods]

Good band, Trees. 'Garden Of Jane Delawney' and 'On The Shore' (great cover on 'On The Shore' too). I got the early 90's reissues on vinyl, but they were very sibilant pressings The recent CD releases were very welcome

Must admit to liking the occasional bit of prog-folkers Gryphon too. And Third Ear Band - psychedelic free-folk avant-garde!

Roll on the avant-folk revival

Hi Nick

Love Gryphon but I am not much of a Folk fan English or otherwise. Though I do like those bands like Clannad,Iona and Renaissance that mixed some folk elements with Prog....but pure folk no.....I just don't get it.






Iona live





Renaissance

'Pure folk'... I'm sure that some folk could argue til the cows came home if there was even such a thing! I like Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick - I saw Swarbrick play an amazing unamplified solo gig at the Troubadour near Wembley in the early 90's. Amazing show, very intimate, maybe 100 people present. You could hear him breathing as he played, and his characteristic grunts - completely into the music. A lot of the 'straight' folk I like is political, but isn't that where folk came from

Umm....I thought it was a Victorian middle class attempt to recreate some mythical golden age that never existed except in peoples imagination. All costumes, dancing, art, building design etc is a recreation, as the original stuff is mostly lost. This goes for English Folk, Irish Folk, some Scottish, and most of Europe. The Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau and the Pre-Raphaelite where all part of this too. As is most folk music present today. Not all because some must have survived as tradition but the rest of it is all fantasy IMHO.

Blimey The 'manufacturing of tradition', old Eric Hobsbawm eh You're right, but for me the best folk came from the working classes, songs of revolution. I know the Victorians tried to create a new idea of 'nation' to keep people in line, but there was a grass roots that kept the local traditions and songs alive, and thankfully the folk revival of the 50's and 60's ensured that a lot of the songs were written down or recorded before they were lost. And punk kicked it all up the ass. So much good music, so little time

Hi Nick ohhh...I didn't quote from a book that was my opinion...I love that period of Victoriana and I love the work of the Arts and Crafts movement and everything which followed. But its all just FANTASY.

It just amused me because it reminded me of my firebrand youth, having discussions just like that over a pint in the student union bar. I studied Politics and that era was very much my bag. It's a fascinating time, and a very interesting analysis. Clan Tartan anyone??

[symon]

Ah - Swarbrick and Carthy - there's a fine pairing. I've been lucky enough to see them a few times. But, I have to admit that the sight of seeing Swarb walking around (having had a lung transplant) was a truly wonderful sight!

[Beechwoods]

A classic pairing. I have a tape of the two of them live back in 1991, Leicester I think, a Folk On Two BBC R2 broadcast. I need to do a decent transfer from tape. It was a great 20 minute excerpt from the show.

[symon]

Oooh! That sounds interesting!

[Beechwoods]

I'll pull it out and get it digitised. It has a Fairport (Acoustic) Convention session on the other side (from the following week) which is also great. I'll let you know how I get on

[symon]

Cool. I have some recordings on DAT, only one or two which have been converted to CD. Your welcome to a coppy of what I've transferred or a dub of the DATs if you like.

I should clarify - recordings of Swab and Carthy, Martin on his own, Pentangle, and Waterson:Carthy, Eliza Carthy, and other folky goodness.