Lately I've been getting into some acoustic driven folk music and have been liking it a lot. It's very calming for the soul, especially after a rough day or with a walk in the woods. I've always been awed by how such simple music can make such a profound impact. I'm looking for music similar to such contemporary artists as Iron & Wine to older, more traditional artists such as Nick Drake. Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but let me recommend you Tenhi, hailing from Finland.
They play this somewhat melancholic, or depressive even, neofolk. Beautiful stuff.

http://www.myspace.com/tenhiband

I've found a new band some weeks ago, it's called Omnia, from Hollands. This band use no Non-Acoustic instruments. They are amazing.. some of their songs are really nice. I enjoyed the Raven !! I just recommend those who like Folk music, to enjoy this songs. they have two great albums, which have worth of buying. Alive! and Pagan Folk... they are so nice

October Falls, Of The Wan And The Moon, the last Empyrium stuff Weilland, Dornereich

Written by FOOCK Nam on 25.06.2008 at 19:35

October Falls, Of The Wan And The Moon, the last Empyrium stuff Weilland, Dornereich

Yeah. probably not quite folk as most of us imagine it, but Id aslo recommend Empyrium

Pearls Before Swine - Amazing Psychedelic Folk.
Hölderlin - GREAT GREAT progressive psychedelic German folk.
Comus - progressive psychedelic folk, a real mind fuck.

Strat with these!
If you need any more feel free to contact me

nest makes great kantelele driven folk music
woodsmoke is a great album try this one!

Try Steve Von Till's solo albums.

Six Organs of Admittance
Espers
Devendra Banhart
Jana Hunter
Wooden Wand

Great (freak) folk!

Woven Hand
José González
Promise And The Monster
Forest

Try
Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness (2008)

I'd like to recommend Omnia, my favourite folk band at the moment. They use a lot Folk and Celtic instruments, and they are very creative lyrically. Here's their link http://www.myspace.com/omnianeocelt
Try also Faun and Lumsk (they're kind of metal but I think the last album was acoustic, great album btw)

Leadbelly
you can never go without some Johnny Cash
Mumford Sons
Johnny Flynn

Omnia have been mentioned. I saw them play last night open air in Germany. It was a spectacular show and definitely one of the top ten gigs in my live. I recommend them to whoever likes melodic music at all. Faun played a great gig earlier that day, and some other very good bands. What a package.

Sol Invictus' album "In The Rain" is my favourite acoustic folk album... be prepared to get driven into a truly depressed mood, though.

I had been listening also to a new Chilean neo-folk band called "Pájaro De Mal Agüero" wich is pretty amazing, obscure stuff.

I recommend this Chinese band called 'Cold Fairyland', they play some sort of chinese folk with traditional instruments like the pipa, amongst cello, keyboards, great drums and fantastic vocals. One of the best bands today I believe.
Here's the link to their myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/coldfairyland

I recommend this album 'Lhasa (2009)'

Too bad this is such an old topic. None of the recommendations really seem to be what Clint was asking for. Neofolk is cool and all, but I really don't hear the connection between Sol Invictus and Nick Drake. O_o

Here's a few of my absolute personal favorites:
Leonard Cohen (Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs of Love & Hate especially)
Joni Mitchell
Simon & Garfunkel (I used to think they were soft-rock for adults who don't listen to music. But my god are they good.)
Van Morrison
First Aid Kit
Mirel Wagner
Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon/Mark Kozelek
Peter Broderick (Check out Home. He does a lot of modern classical and ambient too.)
Lisa Germano
Tindersticks
The Handsome Family (more like alt-country, but brilliant)
Wovenhand
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (are amazing, though not exactly folk)

Other worthy picks off the top of my head:
Owen
Midlake
Fleet Foxes
Calexico
Alasdair Roberts
Sandy Denny (and why not Fairport Convention)
Elliot Smith
Grouper (drone folk, check out Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill)
Timber Timbre
Sufjan Stevens
Bon Iver
Tiny Vipers
Sharon Van Etten
American Music Club
Lambchop
Marissa Nadler
Cat Power
Angels of Light
Those Poor Bastards
Jay Munly
Elizabeth Cotten


As for the neofolk people have been recommending, check out Rome, Spiritual Front, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio and Hexvessel.

Nick Drake is my personal favorite...I don't think anybody did it better than he did on "Pink Moon" So much raw emotion on that album.

Anything EARLY Bob Dylan is a winner in my book too, check out "The Bootleg Series Vol. 4" for some amazing and personal live folk.

Neil Young's acoustic performances are pretty "folky" too.

Written by Branzig on 19.03.2012 at 01:18

Nick Drake is my personal favorite...I don't think anybody did it better than he did on "Pink Moon" So much raw emotion on that album.

Yeah, I like him a lot. Not as much as I like Leonard Cohen though. He sounds more weary, bitter and dark, and that works for me. I think people who love Nick Drake are often quite fond of Elliot Smith, of the newer artists. I guess they had somewhat similar tragic stories, which adds some fuel to the comparisons.



Oh, I completely forgot Bonnie "Prince" Billy (Will Oldham on my list. He's amazing.

Written by IronAngel on 19.03.2012 at 01:29

Yeah, I like him a lot. Not as much as I like Leonard Cohen though. He sounds more weary, bitter and dark, and that works for me. I think people who love Nick Drake are often quite fond of Elliot Smith, of the newer artists. I guess they had somewhat similar tragic stories, which adds some fuel to the comparisons.

Yeah, I don't mind Elliot Smith at all, he had some really great tunes...another tragic lose.

Never checked out Leonard Cohen...but how you described him sounds quite pleasing...I'll have to look into it!

Written by Branzig on 19.03.2012 at 01:38
Never checked out Leonard Cohen...

Do it. And while you're at it, pick up some of his poetry.

Nice to see we share the same opinion in regards to Nick Drake.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 19.03.2012 at 01:55

Do it. And while you're at it, pick up some of his poetry.

Nice to see we share the same opinion in regards to Nick Drake.

Check him out...Poetry and Muzak...

And it's reassuring knowing that there are Metal fans in this community who are MUSIC fans as well...A lot of my "metal" friends wouldn't know who Nick Drake was if his ghost came up and slapped them upside their heads...

Written by IronAngel on 19.03.2012 at 00:03

Too bad this is such an old topic. None of the recommendations really seem to be what Clint was asking for. Neofolk is cool and all, but I really don't hear the connection between Sol Invictus and Nick Drake. O_o

I guess people just got carried away with the folk tag and included neofolk in the recommendations. Plus... the thread was just called acoustic folk so anything like that could be posted although it wouldn't be of much help to the creator of the thread but still fine.

I liked a bit of Pájaro De Mal Agüero which Southern Wind recommended but overall I'm not that much of an acoustic folk fan, I enjoy some exceptions but nothing that really gets stuck on my head. Oh... First Aid Kit is pretty cute too. But yeah, I'm not really active with this kind of music. I just say "it's nice" and then I switch to something else.

Grab some Kleenex:





(Apparently a whole album of Van Zandt covers from Wino, Scott Kelly, and Steve Von Till just came out too.)