h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay, here we go, some good places to start are...

Bert Jansch; Eliza Carthy; Martin Carthy; Levellers; Billy Bragg; Bob Dylan (only the early stuff, though); Joni Mitchell; Steeleye Span; Fairport Convention; June Tabor; Norma Waterson; REM’s Fables of the Reconstruction and Out of Time albums; Rev Hammer; McDermott’s 2 Hours; Eden Burning’s The Hatchery – available to download at www.edenburning.co.uk. Go find, listen, and enjoy.

I would recommend The Corries, Dubliners and Steeleye Span (though there are not acoustic ) For a more modern Folksong I would recommned A Grand Don't Come for Free by The Streets - ordinary lives happening to ordinary people

For the more adventurous I would recommend Roy Harper - some traditional, but more penned by himself. Very very good Well, enough for a Friday at home time Until later...
BCNU - Crescent

If you are onto stuff like the Streets, I suppose I have to include the Clash. There's a lot of music for the people by the people out there...

The Chieftains, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Ian and Sylvia, Pete Seeger, Stan Rogers, Silly Wizard, David Coffin (though no one's ever heard of him, he's a sea music guy from Boston and he's SO COOL).

Okay, cue chair-throwing antics. Sepultura. Use of traditional Brazilian instruments - check. Lyrics concerned with the "little guy" on the street - check. South American thrash metal as folk music? Erm...

Check out Chaos AD and Roots.

Feel free to throw chairs...

I would recommend avoiding Rev Hammer like the plague. He's awful live and (in my humble opinion) has only become a "name" by being mates with The Levellers and tagging along on their tours.

The Pogues!!!!!!

I don't know whether they're unpopular with the hardcore folkies (too mainstream? too punk?) but they are excellent!


The Irish Rover (w/ Dubliners)
Sally MacLennane
Billy's Bones
The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn

are amongst the best Irish-style folk songs ever recorded!


Whenever I hear people like Kate Rusby singing wistful laments to lost love, soaring through the octaves and singing each syllable in four different consecutive notes, it really makes me want to listen to groups of drunk Irishmen. Maybe that's just me.

Oh, and don't forget Show Of Hands; Steve Knightley and Phil Beer. They're a lot more "traditional" and "country" sounding, and their album "Cold Frontier" is great (although their latest, Country Life, isn't).

Moose (who likes boozy folk rather than weepy folk)

'traditional' and 'country' *at the same time*? I didn't know that was possible!

I'm a strict traditionalist as far as music goes. I can't stand what's known as country music because of the non-traditional elements.

I agree, though, that the soprano laments just aren't as cool as a good old Irish drinking song.

>'traditional' and 'country' *at the same time*? I didn't know that was possible!


OK, fair point! That is a fairly good description though! They sound like a traditional, old-skool Devon folk band who've adopted some country and pop/rock influences.

'Moose (who likes boozy folk rather than weepy folk)'

Wheras the best kind of folk is the grim folk - 700 Elves, Tthe Old Woman Who Lived in the Woods, Alison Gross, Twa Corbies, Bedlam Boys, Shaking of the Sheets or Fighting for Strangers

Until later....
BCNU - Crescent

Wow, seriously cool band names.

How did I miss out the Pogues! I must be slipping in my old age...

Boozy folk is best enjoyed in a smoky pub drinking ale, preferably with an instrument in hand. Sessions are the way forward, unless you get the two oddballs arguing about Welsh marching tunes and which key to play them in.

I've seen it happen, and it's pretty ugly.

Support your local session!

Frag x

One obscure little outfit I forgot to mention: Doo The Moog. They split a few years ago (gutted), but mixed folky stuff with didge and bleeps and squggles, sorta traveller-culture, post rave, free festi kinda vibes. Hysterical live - "donut time" is a personal favourite. Anyone who saw them will remember them (unless they, erm, over-indulged) with a smile.

And any band who can include the words "I am a lump of algae" in the chorus of a song has to rule. If you can find it, "Sustenance Culture" is the best place to start. If anyone can find it on CD, let me know, I think my tape copy is about to meet its maker...