folk | Musicosity

folk

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen, (born September 21, 1934 in Montréal, Quebec, Canada) is a poet, novelist and musician. His musical career has largely overshadowed his prior work as a poet and novelist, although he has continued to publish poetry sporadically after his breakthrough in the music industry. Musically, Cohen's early songs are based in folk music, in terms of both melody and instrumentation; from the 1970s, though, his work begins to show the influence of various types of popular and cabaret music.

Artist Type: 

James Walker

There are two artists with this name: James Walker is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Walker has numerous band appearances to his credit. His current solo project is also his first. James Walker (other names include "Jay-Jay", "Strawberry Blonde Gangster" and "Go away") is also an upcoming and promising solo artist who's track record includes allegedly playing keyboard with led zeppelin and the white stripes. This has never been proved as his image cannot be captured on camera and his existence is still only myth.

Artist Type: 

BonJah

Hailing from Tauranga, New Zealand, this four piece folk, funk, roots band has spent the last 20 months playing shows around Australia. After playing over 380 shows since their arrival in May 2006 they have cemented their place as one of Australia’s hardest working groups. BONJAH have followed their acoustic roots and share a deep genuine love for playing music. Having already gathered a legion of fans in Melbourne and around Australia by playing and touring relentlessly, their reputation as an amazing live act is fast continuing to grow.

Artist Type: 

Lisa Mitchell

Lisa Helen Mitchell was born in England on March the 22nd of 1990, although migrated to New South Wales, Australia at the age of three. She is the eldest of two in a family which resides in the border town of Albury, Australia. Her musical journey began at age twelve when she started taking guitar lessons with a focus on rock and folk. Not long after, she fronted a cover band called Chrome - predominately playing in local cafes.

Laura Marling

Laura Marling (born 1st February 1990) is a folk singer/songwriter/guitarist from Eversley, United Kingdom. She began playing the guitar at the age of five, first being taught the blues by her father in front of the family fire, and has been enthralled by the songs and lyrics of the likes of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and John Mayall ever since. It’s not just the “golden-oldies” that Laura admires; she also harbours a rather deep love for alt.country’s favourite son, Ryan Adams.

Artist Type: 

The War on Drugs

The War on Drugs is an American indie rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Band member Adam Granduciel (born Adam Granofsky in Dover, Massachusetts) moved from Oakland, California to Philadelphia in 2003, where he met Kurt Vile and began playing music with him. They began playing as The War on Drugs in 2005, and self-released a demo EP. While Vile and Granduciel formed the backbone of the band, they had a number of accompanists early in the group's career, before finally settling on a lineup that added Charlie Hall as drummer/organist, Kyle Lloyd as drummer and Dave Hartley on bass. Granduciel had previously toured and recorded with The Capitol Years, and Vile has several solo albums. The group gave away its Barrel of Batteries EP for free early in 2008. Their debut LP for Secretly Canadian, Wagonwheel Blues, was released in 2008.

Reviewers of the band's music make note of its Americana overtones. The group's sound has been described as influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and My Bloody Valentine.

The lineup underwent several changes, and by the end of 2008, Kurt Vile, Charlie Hall, and Kyle Lloyd had all exited the group. Granduciel and Hartley were joined by drummer Mike Zanghi as the group slimmed to three members.

After Zanghi's exit in 2010, Steven Urgo took over drum duties and Robbie Bennett joined on keys. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Bruce Molsky

Bruce Molsky (b. Manhattan, New York, 1955) is an American fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, and singer. He primarily performs old-time music of the Appalachian region. He was born in 1955 at New York Infirmary in Manhattan, and grew up near St. James Park in The Bronx. His father, Milton, a mechanical engineer, was a first-generation American descendant of Jewish immigrants from Poland. As a young man, Bruce first became interested in blues music, but eventually became absorbed in old-time music while studying engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York beginning in 1972.

Artist Type: 

Dan Parsons

At just 21, it’s somewhat surprising that Dan Parsons has already been on the scene for a couple of years. Having made his foray into the musical world with his heritage-flavoured debut release Old Brown Shoe in 2007, Parsons continued on this path for a short time. Then after gradually being absorbed by a new musical world of peers and influences he found a new desire to make a different type of music.

Artist Type: 

The Gin Club

Forming in Brisbane in 2003, The Gin Club casually coagulated around a regular open mic night held in a Brisbane pub. Originally based on a fairly elastic lineup, the band has stabilized but it is still a large ensemble with seven songwriters. Winning one day of recording time through a cancer fundraiser at Brisbane club The Troubadour enabled The Gin Club to record their first album. Releasing the album through a label (Plus One) associated with one of Brisbane's main alternative record stores gave the band a reason to tour nationally...

Artist Type: 

Thao

Thao Nguyen (vocals, guitar) plays with Adam Thompson (bass guitar), and Willis Thompson (drums). Thao was raised in Falls Church, Virginia, and began playing guitar at age 12. Since then, she has crafted a folksy sound with tinges of gritty blues and laconic country. Thao's records are currently released on Kill Rock Stars.

Artist Type: