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Top 10 greatest Folk artists of all time according to the results of voting on the websitehttps://www.ranker.com/
Folk music is one of the most famous musical genres in the world. Each country has its own version and derivatives of the genre, which is wide in its appeal, but, in fact, this is what makes the best performers of folk music resonate with listeners. Initially, it was assumed that the message reflected in the songs of folk music performers came from folklore, hence the name; but recently folk songs have retained a more populist message, and the peak of the genre's mainstream came in the 1960s and 70s. Usually folk singers and folk bands play a variety of acoustic instruments, from strings such as guitar and banjo, to rhythmic percussion and even simple piano and keyboards. So, who are the best folk music performers and the best folk singers? It is not easy to answer this question. But if you're a fan of folk music, you know that American singers and songwriters John Prine, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and, of course, Canadian singer-superstar Joni Mitchell, all deserve to top this list of folk music groups. This list should include all folk music groups, whether new and current or classic old ones, including the most popular folk musicians and folk singers.
Performers
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, a folk music legend, has been a prominent figure for more than five decades. With his characteristic voice and poetic texts, he conquered the hearts and minds of generations. His extensive catalog of original songs includes such iconic songs as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", which have left their mark on the world and strengthened his position as an influential force in folk music. Most of the musician's most famous works were written in the 1960s, when he was proclaimed the "voice of the generation" and one of the main persons of protest, which was facilitated by songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", which became anthems of the civil rights movement and movements against the Vietnam War. In 1965, he radically changed his sound, thereby breaking away from the American folk movement and his early fan base, recording the iconic six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone", the innovative concept of which is considered one of the turning points in pop music of the XX century.
Dylan's texts contain a wide range of political, social, philosophical and literary trends. The musician's creativity challenged the existing rules of pop music and became an important part of the developing countercultural trend. Inspired by the artistry of Little Richard and the poetic style of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson and Hank Williams, Dylan expanded and personalized musical genres. Throughout his career, Dylan has worked with most of them — from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll and rockabilly, from English, Scottish and Irish folk music to jazz and traditional American songs. However, despite the recognition of Dylan as an outstanding musician and producer, critics primarily note his literary skill, the ability to raise serious topics, the philosophical and intellectual component of his texts comparable to "high poetry", as well as his influence on many performers of his generation, including Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen and The Beatles[7][8].
After the release of his debut album in 1962, Dylan made a breakthrough by releasing the record The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), including the songs "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", as well as several other compositions that have firmly become symbols of the era. In 1964, the publication of the politicized The Times They Are a-Changin’ and the more abstract Another Side of Bob Dylan followed. After that, in 18 months, the musician recorded three of his most important and influential albums of the 1960s: Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. In 1966, after a motorcycle accident, Dylan reduced his public activities. During this period, he worked a lot with The Band, whose members also performed with him as a concert band; the result of joint activity was the album The Basement Tapes, released in 1975. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dylan became interested in country music, which was reflected in the material of John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline and New Morning records. In 1975, Blood on the Tracks was released, one of the key releases in the musician's career, followed by another successful album — Desire (1976). In the late 1970s, Dylan converted to Christianity and released a series of gospel albums, in particular, Slow Train Coming, after which he returned to his traditional rock sound in the Infidels longplay. Among the most iconic works of the musician's late career, critics single out Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft and Tempest. Dylan's recent albums are dedicated to traditional American music, in particular, songs from the "Great American Songbook" and the work of Frank Sinatra. Since the late 1980s, Dylan has organized a regular tour, the so-called Endless tour, where he performs with his stage band on guitar, keyboards and harmonica.
Gordon Lightfoot
With his warm baritone voice and storytelling skills, Gordon Lightfoot has been captivating audiences since the 1960s. Lightfoot hails from Canada, and his songs are deeply rooted in the experience of his homeland, and tracks such as "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" paint vivid pictures of life in the north. His eternal ballad "If You Could Read My Mind" demonstrated his ability to create mesmerizingly beautiful melodies that remain with listeners long after the music subsides.Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk rock and country music. He is credited with helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He was called Canada's greatest songwriter and was known internationally as a folk rock legend. He topped the US Hot 100 or Adult Contemporary (AC) charts with the hits "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970), "Sundown" (1974); "Carefree Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People" (1975) and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976), as well as many other hits that hit the top 40. Several of Lightfoot's albums have received gold and multi-platinum status internationally. His songs have been recorded by artists such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Harry Belafonte, the Grateful Dead, Olivia Newton-John and Jim Croce.
woody guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter, one of the most significant figures of American folk music; His music, including songs such as "This Land Is Your Land", has inspired several generations both politically and musically. He wrote hundreds of political, folk and children's songs, as well as ballads and improvised works. His album of songs about the Dust Bowl period, Dust Bowl Ballads, is included by Mojo magazine in the list of 100 records that changed the world. Many of his recorded songs are archived at the Library of Congress. Songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Hunter, Harry Chapin, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Andy Irwin, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, Jerry Garcia, Jay Farrar, Bob Weir, Jeff Tweedy, Bob Childers, Sammy Walker, Tom Paxton, AJJ, Brian Fallon and Sixto Rodriguez, acknowledged that Guthrie was a big influence. He often performed with the slogan "This machine kills fascists" written on his guitar. Guthrie was raised by middle-class parents in Okem, Oklahoma, until the age of 14, when his mother Mary was hospitalized for Huntington's Disease, a deadly hereditary neurological disorder. His father moved to Pampa, Texas to pay off debts from failed real estate deals. In his early teens, Guthrie learned folk and blues songs from friends of his parents. He got married at 19, but with the onset of the dust storms that marked the Dust Bowl period, he left his wife and three children to join the thousands of Okie residents who migrated to California in search of work. He worked for the Los Angeles radio station KFVD, gaining some notoriety for performing country music; befriended Will Gere and John Steinbeck; and wrote a column for the Communist newspaper People's World from May 1939 to January 1940. Throughout his life, Guthrie was associated with communist groups in the United States, although, apparently, he was not a member of any of them. With the outbreak of World War II and the conclusion of the non-aggression pact that the Soviet Union signed with Germany in 1939, the owners of KFVD radio were not satisfied with Guthrie's communist sympathies. He left the radio station, ending up in New York, where he wrote and recorded his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads, based on his experience of the 1930s, for which he received the nickname "The Troubadour of Dust Bowl". In February 1940, he wrote his most famous song "This Land Is Your Land". He said it was a response to what he thought was an over-playing of Irving Berlin's song "God Bless America" on the radio.Guthrie was married three times and became the father of eight children. His son Arlo Guthrie became a world-famous musician. Guthrie died in 1967 from complications of Huntington's disease. His two first daughters also died of the disease. In the last years of his life, despite his illness, Guthrie was a figure in the folk movement, inspiring a generation of new folk musicians, including mentoring Ramblin Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Mitchell's songs, borrowed from folk, pop, rock and jazz, often reflect social and environmental ideals, as well as her feelings of romance, confusion, disappointment and joy. She has received numerous awards, including nine Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Rolling Stone called her "one of the greatest songwriters of all time", and AllMusic stated: "When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may become the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century."Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and throughout western Canada before performing on the streets and in nightclubs in Toronto, Ontario. In 1965, she moved to the United States and began touring. Some of her original songs ("Urge for Going", "Chelsea Morning", "Both Sides, Now", "The Circle Game") were covered by other folk artists, which allowed her to sign a contract with Reprise Records and record her debut album Song to a Seagull in 1968. Having settled in Southern California, Mitchell helped define an era and a generation with such popular songs as "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock". Her 1971 album Blue is often called one of the best albums of all time; It was ranked 30th on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, which is the highest position for a female artist. In 2000, the New York Times selected Blue as one of 25 albums that represented "turning points and peaks in 20th century popular music." In 2017, NPR ranked Blue #1 on the list of the greatest albums created by women. Mitchell's fifth album, For the Roses, was released in 1972. Then she changed labels and began exploring more melodic ideas influenced by jazz, using juicy pop textures, in 1974 on the albums Court and Spark, which included the radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" and became her best-selling album. Around 1975, Mitchell's vocal range began to shift from mezzo-soprano to a broader contralto. Her characteristic compositions for piano and open guitar also became more harmonious and rhythmically complex as she explored jazz, mixing it with influences of rock and roll, R&B, classical music and non-Western rhythms. In the late 1970s, she began working closely with famous jazz musicians, including Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, as well as Charles Mingus, who asked her to contribute to his latest recordings. Later, she turned back to pop music, became interested in electronic music and participated in political protests. In 2002, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards Ceremony.Mitchell is the sole producer of most of her albums, including all of her 1970s work. A harsh critic of the music industry, she stopped touring and released her 17th and reportedly last album of original songs in 2007. With roots in the visual arts, Mitchell designed most of her album covers on her own. She describes herself as "an artist derailed by circumstances"
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice. Baez has been performing publicly for more than 60 years, having released more than 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages. Baez is usually considered a folk singer, but her music has diversified since the counterculture era of the 1960s and covers genres such as folk rock, pop, country and gospel. She began her recording career in 1960 and was immediately successful. Her first three albums, Joan Baez, Joan Baez, Vol. 2 and Joan Baez in Concert, received gold status. Although she is a songwriter herself, Baez usually interprets the work of other composers, having recorded songs by the Allman Brothers, the Beatles, Jackson Browne, Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Violetta Parra, the Rolling Stones, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and many others. She was one of the first major artists to record Bob Dylan songs in the early 1960s.; Baez was already a world-famous performer and did a lot to popularize his early attempts at songwriting. On her later albums, she found success interpreting the work of later songwriters, including Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle, Natalie Merchant and Joe Henry. Among Baez's famous songs are "Diamonds & Rust" and covers of Phil Ochs' songs "There but for Fortune" and the band "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". She is also known for the songs "Goodbye, Angelina", "Love is Just a four-letter Word", "Forever Young", "For You", "Joe Hill", "Dear Sir Galahad" and "We will Win". Baez performed fourteen songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and demonstrated a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment. On April 7, 2017, Baez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
James Joseph Croce
James Joseph Croce (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer and songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released five studio albums and numerous singles. He died along with five others in a plane crash on September 20, 1973, at the peak of his popularity. His first two albums were commercially unsuccessful, they failed to chart or release any hit singles. During this period, Croce worked odd jobs to pay bills while continuing to write, record and give concerts. After forming a partnership with songwriter and guitarist Maury Muhleisen, his fortunes changed in the early 1970s. His breakthrough came in 1972; his third album You Don't Mess Around with Jim produced three chart-topping singles, including "Time in a Bottle", which reached No. 1 after his death. The next album Life and Times contained the song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", which became the only No. 1 hit he had during his lifetime. The day before the release of the first single from his fifth album, "I Got a Name", Croce and Muleisen were killed. Croce's music continued to lead the charts throughout the 1970s after his death. His wife Ingrid Croce was his first songwriting partner and continued to write and record after his death, and his son AJ Croce became a singer and songwriter himself in the 1990s.
Джеймс Тейлор
Джеймс Вернон Тейлор (родился 12 марта 1948 года) - американский певец, автор песен и гитарист. Пятикратный лауреат премии "Грэмми", он был включен в Зал славы рок-н-ролла в 2000 году. Он является одним из самых продаваемых музыкальных исполнителей всех времен, продав более 100 миллионов пластинок по всему миру.Тейлор достиг своего прорыва в 1970 году с синглом № 3 "Fire and Rain" и получил свой первый хит № 1 в 1971 году с записью песни "You've Got a Friend", написанной Кэрол Кинг в том же году. Его альбом Greatest Hits 1976 года был признан бриллиантовым и разошелся тиражом в 12 миллионов копий в США. После выхода в 1977 году альбома JT он сохранил большую аудиторию на протяжении десятилетий. Каждый альбом, который он выпустил с 1977 по 2007 год, разошелся тиражом более 1 миллиона копий. Его успехи в чартах возродились в конце 1990-х и 2000-х годах, когда он записал некоторые из своих наиболее отмеченных работ (включая Hourglass, October Road и каверы). Он добился своего первого успеха в США в 2015 году, записав альбом Before This World.Он известен своими каверами, такими как "Как это сладко (быть любимым тобой)" и "Handy Man", а также оригиналами, такими как "Sweet Baby James"
Carol King
Carol King (née Carol Joan Klein, born February 9, 1942) is an American singer and songwriter who has been active since 1958, first as one of the full-time songwriters at the Brill Building, and later as a solo artist. She is the most successful female songwriter of the second half of the 20th century in the United States, having written or co-written 118 pop hits that entered the Billboard Hot 100. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter in the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005. King's main success began in the 1960s, when she and her first husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen hits, many of which became standards for many artists. Since then, she has continued to write for other artists. King's success as an independent performer came to her only in the 1970s, when she performed her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. Having experienced commercial disappointment from her debut album Writer, King made a breakthrough with the album Tapestry, which topped the American charts. The album stayed on the chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on it for more than six years.King has released 25 solo albums, the most successful of which was Tapestry, which held the record for the number of weeks in first place among female performers for more than 20 years. Sales of her record were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songs. She is the recipient of the Gershwin Award of the Library of Congress for Popular Song of 2013, the first woman to be awarded such an honor. She is also the recipient of the 2015 Kennedy Center Award.
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, activist, and humanitarian, whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was one of America's best-selling performers, and AllMusic has described Denver as "among the most beloved entertainers of his era".Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed, with total sales of over 33 million records worldwide. He recorded and performed primarily with an acoustic guitar and sang about his joy in nature, his disdain for city life, his enthusiasm for music, and his relationship trials. Denver's music appeared on a variety of charts, including country music, the Billboard Hot 100, and adult contemporary, in all earning 12 gold and four platinum albums with his signature songs "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Annie's Song", "Rocky Mountain High", "Calypso", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", and "Sunshine on My Shoulders". Denver appeared in several films and television specials during the 1970s and 1980s. He continued to record in the 1990s, also focusing on environmental issues by lending vocal support to space exploration and testifying in front of Congress in protest against censorship in music. He lived in Aspen for much of his life where he was known for his love of Colorado. In 1974, Denver was named poet laureate of the state. The Colorado state legislature also adopted "Rocky Mountain High" as one of its two state songs in 2007. An avid pilot, Denver died at the age of 53 in a single-fatality crash while piloting his recently purchased light plane
Нил Янг
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After starting his musical career in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he formed the band Buffalo Springfield together with Stephen Stills, Richie Fury and others. By the time he joined Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969, Young had released two solo albums and three as part of Buffalo Springfield. Starting with his early solo albums and albums with his backing band Crazy Horse, Young has recorded a steady stream of studio and live albums, sometimes feuding with his record company along the way. Young's guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and distinctive tenor vocals define his long career. Young also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which often combine folk, rock, country and other musical styles. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially in Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "The Godfather of Grunge" and led to the 1995 release of the Mirror Ball album with Pearl Jam. Most recently, Young was supported by Promise of the Real. Young has directed (or co-directed) films under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including Journey into the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Highway of People (1982), Greendale (2003) and CSNY/Deja Vu (2008). He also contributed to the soundtracks for the films Philadelphia (1993) and Dead Man (1995). Young has received several Grammy and Juno Awards. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has included him twice: as a solo artist in 1995 and in 1997 as part of Buffalo Springfield. In 2000, Rolling Stone named Young the 34th greatest rock and roll artist. He has lived in California since the 1960s, but retains Canadian citizenship. He was awarded the Order of Manitoba on July 14, 2006, and became an officer of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2009.
Леонид Утесов
Владимир Высоцкий