jackhammer

Kate Rusby doesn't fit into this though

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TheBig3

was this revenge for the Boston Tea Party?

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I've moved to a new address

starrynight

Folk I would say is more of a pure traditional type of music. Of course popular music isn't about purity really, people mix all kinds of things together, and much of the stuff in this forum I would say isn't folk/country.

Moshe

Louis Armstrong famously said that he considered all music Folk Music, music made by Folks "I ain't heard no horses sing"
Folk music is mostly though not exclusively acoustic based. It is related to the traditional music of a country/ region
The Sixties Folk Revival involved the traditional side being revived & also new son gs by acoustic based singer-songwriters

starrynight

Singer-songwriters probably flourished the most in the 70s. But while they might draw on some folk influence I think you can clearly distinguish them from folk records which would have things like folk dances on them and less elaborate melodies normally. I see country as like American folk music, other influential folk music would include English (big influence I think), and then Celtic, French... There are also other countries from around the world with folk, these normally get put under 'world music' (puzzlingly lumped with western influenced music or native classical music by people).

Lisnaholic

^ This excellent answer picks up most of the elements that I think of as fixing the folk style. I would maybe add that the music or the words should also have a certain simplicity that make them easy to emulate. The great folk-songs have been passed around between musicians for years and to survive they`ve needed a robust structure and a certain universality of lyric. So, for me, I wouldn`t call Jack Johnson a folk singer - his songs are too quirky and individualistic - he falls into the singer-songwriter category that starrynight just mentioned.

I`d also say that it`s axiomatic that every country in the world has folk music, which these days seems to be called "world", mainly for marketing reasons, I suspect.

^ Absolutely essential, of course, although a female singer, with a note from her doctor, is now exempt from needing a beard in most countries.