Folk Music 1980 - 2000

Since the 1970s a genre of contemporary folk, from new singer-songwriters, has continued to play the coffee-house circuit and keep the tradition of acoustic folk music alive in the United States. Such artists include Chris Castle, Steve Goodman, and John Prine.

In London The Pogues and from Ireland The Corrs brought traditional instruments and tunes back into the album charts.

In the 1980s a group of artists like Phranc and The Knitters propagated a form of folk music also called country punk, cowpunk or folk punk, which eventually evolved into alt country. More recently the same spirit has been embraced and expanded on by performers such as Dave Alvin, Miranda Stone and Steve Earle.

Neofolk music is a modern form of music that began in the 1980s. Fusing traditional European folk music with post-industrial music forms, historical topics, philosophical commentary, traditional songs and paganism, the genre is largely European. It is not uncommon for neofolk artists to be entirely acoustic, playing with entirely traditional instruments.

The appropriation of folk has even continued into hard rock and heavy metal, with bands such as Korpiklaani, Skyclad, Waylander and Finntroll melding distinctive elements of folk styles from a wide variety of traditions, including in many cases traditional instruments such as fiddles, tin whistles, accordions and bagpipes as an element of their sound.

Unlike other folk-related genres, folk metal shies away from monotheistic religion in favour of more ancient pagan inspired themes.

Folk inspirations are a massive part of subgenres of black metal, with genres such as viking metal being defined on their folk stance, and many a band incorporating folk interludes into albums (eg, Bergtatt and Kveldssanger, the first two albums by once-black metal, now-experimental band Ulver). There is also a Metal band that uses medieval instruments along with guitars.

There was another folk revival in the second half of the 1990s. Once more folk music made an impact on mainstream music. There was a younger generation of artists, in some cases children of revival-inspired artists; (Eliza Carthy, for example, is the daughter of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson).

This time, notably, the instrumentation was largely acoustic, rather than electric. The skill level of players and singers was as high as before. As the number of summer folk festivals increased, so more talented performers have come in, and folk music has found at least a toehold in the mainstream with artists like Kate Rusby and Spiers and Boden featured in the press.

Folk music remains popular, with folk music clubs meeting to share traditional-style songs, and there are major folk music festivals in many countries.

For example the Port Fairy Folk Festival is a major annual event in Australia attracting top international folk performers as well as many local artists.

Indeed, even for those who consider themselves hip, the arrival of Americana and Naturalismo including the music of Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Devendra Banhart, Tin Pan Caravan, Moses Atwood and many others have shown that folk music can still be cutting edge.

History of Folk Music - Celtic