Folk genres and artists

"Folk" covers a lot of ground. Here is what sets each of the main traditions apart, and where to start listening.

Traditional folk

Songs passed on by ear, usually with no known author: ballads, work songs, sea shanties and lullabies. Singers change the words to fit their own lives, so the same song can exist in dozens of versions. See our traditional folk songs.

Old-time

The fiddle-and-banjo dance music of the rural American South, especially Appalachia. Old-time is built for dancing and playing together: the fiddle and banjo play the tune in unison, often for many repeats, rather than taking turns with solos. Start with the Red Clay Ramblers.

Bluegrass

Grown from old-time and country music in the 1940s, bluegrass is faster and built around instrumental solos: three-finger banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar, upright bass and dobro, with high, close harmony singing. Man of Constant Sorrow is a bluegrass standard.

Celtic

The traditional music of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and related cultures, and of their emigrant communities. Expect jigs and reels on fiddle, flute, tin whistle, uilleann pipes, accordion and bouzouki, alongside old ballads. Start with Solas.

Cajun

The French-language dance music of southwest Louisiana, built on fiddle and accordion, with waltzes and two-steps for the dance hall. Bands like the Red Stick Ramblers mixed it with Western swing.

Country blues

The acoustic blues of the early 20th-century American South, played on guitar and harmonica. Folk and blues have always shared songs; The House of the Rising Sun sits on the border between them.

Modern folk and singer-songwriters

From the 1960s revival onward, songwriters took folk forms and wrote new songs in them. Today the label covers everyone from acoustic storytellers to artists who blend folk with rock, Latin and world music, like Kevin Johansen.

Artist profiles