Why Folk?

When looking for new genres to explore I found folk music. This is a genre I always associated with country, but after listening I don’t really know what other genre it sounds like. I can only describe it as a calm version of rock. I knew some folk artists before really getting into this genre, but I was really pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable I find folk music.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens is an artist who I find very nostalgic, because the song “Father and Son” was played very frequently throughout my childhood. I discovered that Cat Steven’s entire discography is extremely soothing and relaxing. One song in particular is titled ” The Boy with a Moon and Star on his Head”. This song doesn’t feel like a song as much as it does a story. The lyrics masterfully tell a story about a boy coming into the world. I believe the song represents his conversion to the Islamic religion. The accompanying music directly matches the story, and makes it much more dynamic and intriguing to the listener. Cat Stevens is someone I will always listen to if I need to cry or relax.

Jim Croce

Jim Croce is another very nostalgic artist to me. My Grandfather always used to have on a Jim Croce CD on when I would visit. This encouraged me to listen to him for this blog post. Jim Croce has a lot more energy in his songs than Cat Stevens does. Some of his songs such as “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” have a western saloon type of feel, while others are much calmer and talk about his life experiences as a musician. My favorite song that I found by Jim Croce is titled “Box #10“. The song describes his struggles when he was an upcoming musician and is like a call for help from his parents. It is very humanizing, as well as catchy.

The Avett Brothers

The Avett Brothers are certainly the youngest musicians I will be talking about in this blog post. I discovered them because of finding the song “Murder in the City” in a folk music collection on Spotify. This song is one of most well arranged songs lyrically I have ever heard. I am unaware of the context surrounding this song, but the family values described in it correlated directly to me.

One thing that sticks out about this band musically is their live performances. The vocalist sounds almost identical to how he does in the recordings. The musicians are also very versatile with the instruments they play and I respect that.

James Taylor

Of all the folk artists I listened to, none inspired me to learn their songs more than James Taylor. As soon as I heard the intro to “Fire and Rain” I sat down and learned it for myself. It was definitely a challenge, but it sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. James Taylor’s riffs I discovered are consistently difficult and beautiful I soon discovered with songs such as “Mexico” and “Sunny Skies”. I will most definitely to continue to explore his work and learn as much as I can from his playing and writing.