American folk music is a diverse and beautiful subject, this lady a relative newcomer to the scene has my vote for vocal appeal. Introduced to me by a publican from my town many years ago. I present this lady as an Irish Man who enjoys her vocal style. This post is not to create debate just an acknowledgement by me and folks I know at home who appreciate her voice, song and beautiful expression within the genre. She can be viewed and listened to by anyone interested. If you like please post your American folk favourites.
Jleo Fipple,
You had me a bit nervous when you wrote, “I present this lady as an Irish Man”. I must admit I was quite relieved she was not sporting a moustache.
No debate from my camp, very interesting and pleasinf vocals and some fine guitar work.
Infamous Angel was released in 1992, so you can hardly call her a newcomer. But yes, I like her voice and her music. Her voice reminds me a bit of of Alice Gerrard (Hazel & Alice), and a lot of Emmylou Harris.
Songcatcher is full of great music. Emmy Rossum is also wonderful (the same beautiful young lady who was in the movie version of Phantom of the Opera).
I like have always enjoyed Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, and recently came across Meg Baird a voice from heaven and super work on guitar.
Not American, but I can’t resist sharing this. I’m sure the song is well-known to everyone who’s contributed to this thread and most who have read it. Richard Thompson wrote it, but Sandy Denny sang it on Fairport’s Unhalfbricking. I love the original, but this takes it to a new level.
Based on the number of different versions on Youtube, it must be part of his regular tour repertoire. Also, only about 50k views of all the videos together; it’s a shame.
Well, I am pretty sure thats a difference, if a german doesnt know or an american
I am also pretty sure that many americans mix up german, swiss, austrian and even dutch (yes those are different countires, just in case some wonder )
but i seems if a german call an english man an american, for some people thats intolerable
anyway i learnd that Donovan isnt american but brittish and lives in ireland right now, thanks to wikipedia and some really clever c&F member pointing my mistake out to me on such a nice way
I couldn’t see why; to me that’s just a simple mistake, for whatever reason. Language in common is as likely as any.
As I hinted at earlier, Donovan achieved such a degree of popularity in the US that after all these years I wouldn’t be surprised at all if some Americans nowadays simply assume he was American too. Of course, no one ought to make that mistake with the Beatles, but then, unlike Donovan’s case, their being British was a huge part of the selling point - the so-called “British Invasion”, and all that. Donovan? He was so at the tail end of that, that he was for all intents and purposes just another hippie.
And Tibetan, and Nigerian, and Guatemalan, Chinese, Filipino, Samoan, Somali, Pakistani, Russian, Greek, Egyptian, Uzbek, Japanese…you name it, it’ll be here. Ethnicities without a particular country, too, such as Hmong and Ruthenian. And let us never forget the Native Americans.
And what’s your point in that? And I’m not trying to be a pain in the tookus here. I’m more interested in understanding your point of view.
It’s true that very few of us are descended from the indigenous population of these lands. We are a synthesis, an amalgam of other populations. But when we speak of American folk music, I wouldn’t think that Irish music or British, Scots, Moldovan, etc. counts as American folk music. We have, instead, a synthesis, perhaps a distant memory of that music or the music of other countries. We forgot the lyrics and wrote new ones (rarely an improvement). We forgot melodies and re-wrote our own. We borrowed the instruments of our ancestors but we modified them to work with our new sensibilities. And in many cases we just plain did things from scratch. So at the end of the day, and the end of a few centuries, we are American and we have our own music and musical traditions to hand down - simple and as short lived as they are.
What we play has roots in the countries we came from. It is the voices in our blood. But it is typically identifiable as strictly American. No one else wanted it for a long time. And no matter how long we live and the more things change, the more they will remain the same.
But yes, I like her voice and her music. Her voice reminds me a bit of of Alice Gerrard (Hazel & Alice), and a lot of Emmylou Harris.
Doh!