Genre story · Alternative
Free Folk
Folk instruments and song traditions pushed into improvisation, unconventional structures and unpredictable performance.
Free Folk is a loose term for artists who depart from conventional Folk songs through improvisation, extended playing or unfamiliar instruments. Some of the recordings associated with the 2000s experimental-folk underground belong nearby, particularly work by Sunburned Hand of the Man, No-Neck Blues Band and Six Organs of Admittance. The boundaries with freak folk, psychedelic folk and free improvisation are not stable. One performance may be almost a recognizable song, another a collective exploration of rhythm and sound. The genre claim should follow the actual recording rather than any assumption that acoustic instruments are necessarily folk or that improvisation alone creates a new movement.
Listening examples
- 2005Six Organs of AdmittanceSchool of the Flower
- 2002Sunburned Hand of the ManHeaddress
- 1997No-Neck Blues BandSticks and Stones May Break My Bones But Names Will Never Hurt Me1997, context.