{"id":6043,"date":"2012-05-09T14:48:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T21:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=6043"},"modified":"2012-05-09T15:09:49","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T22:09:49","slug":"folk-forward-essential-folk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/05\/folk-forward-essential-folk\/","title":{"rendered":"FOLK FORWARD – ESSENTIAL FOLK"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOLK FORWARD – ESSENTIAL FOLK<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

DUST BOWL BALLADS<\/em>\u00a0(1940)\u00a0<\/strong>
\nWOODY GUTHRIE\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a whirl of autobiography and activism, Guthrie reinvents American song. The Oklahoma native recorded this 1940 gem in two days, laying the groundwork for thousands of guitar-strumming followers. These are dusty, hard-bitten ballads that somehow gleam and soar more than 70 years after their creation.<\/p>\n

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THE FREEWHEELIN\u2019 BOB DYLAN<\/em>\u00a0(1963)\u00a0<\/strong>
\nBOB DYLAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

The folk bard\u2019s second album blew the doors down. Dylan set topical lyrics to traditional melodies, creating classics like \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind,\u201d \u201cMasters of War\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Think Twice, It\u2019s All Right.\u201d The album\u2019s most poignant moments come on \u201cBob Dylan\u2019s Dream,\u201d where he recalls his now long-gone scuffling days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BLUE<\/em>\u00a0(1971)<\/strong>
\nJONI MITCHELL<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 1970s works of James Taylor, Mitchell and others found folk turning inward. On Blue<\/em>, her introspective masterpiece, Mitchell employs incisive language and evocative alternate tunings to explore the intricate complications of the heart. High points include \u201cRiver,\u201d \u201cCarey\u201d and the melancholy title track.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS<\/em> (1993)<\/strong>
\nNANCI GRIFFITH<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1980s Griffith emerged as a singular voice in folk with country-inflected acoustic albums such as Last of the True Believers<\/em>. This album is a sparkling journey through her folk influences. She covered Guthrie, Dylan, Kate Wolf, John Prine and others\u2014and wound up winning a Grammy for her efforts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1000 KISSES<\/em>\u00a0(2002)\u00a0<\/strong>
\nPATTY GRIFFIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recorded in producer Doug Lancio\u2019s home studio, 1000 Kisses<\/em> is a minimalist triumph. Griffin\u2019s character sketches are devastating: pretty little tragedies. She finds a sweet spot between Guthrie\u2019s emphatic populism and Mitchell\u2019s emotional excavations as she sings of fragile folks filled with regret and hard-won wisdom.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOLK FORWARD – ESSENTIAL FOLK DUST BOWL BALLADS\u00a0(1940)\u00a0 WOODY GUTHRIE\u00a0 In a whirl of autobiography and activism, Guthrie reinvents American song. The Oklahoma native recorded this 1940 gem in two days, laying the groundwork for thousands of guitar-strumming followers. These are dusty, hard-bitten ballads that somehow gleam and soar more than 70 years after their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3630],"tags":[3661,3658,3592,3655,3654,3629,3628,991,3303,3619,3660,3659,157,3657,3656],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6043"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6056,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043\/revisions\/6056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}