This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #130 June/July 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
by Lahri Bond
A new genre of folk music has emerged during the early part of the new millennium. It goes by many names: In the United States it's been called "psych folk" (psychedelic folk), "neofolk," and "new weird-America" (NWA) while the European press has bantered around the terms "nu folk," "weird folk," "freakfolk," and "twisted folk." Regardless of the labels, the basic tenets of the faith include deep love and respect for, and musical references to, 60s British folk legends such as Fairport Convention, Pentangle, the Incredible String Band, Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan, and Donovan, as well as psychedelic bands including King Crimson, T-Rex, Gong, and Pink Floyd. American influences are more scarce, but extend to Pearls Before Swine, the Fugs, and the so-called "Takoma School" of fingerstyle guitarists (John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke).
An unexpected byproduct of all this embracement of a music (which was created some 15-20 years before most of the current crew were born) is that the original artists, such as Bert Jansch and Vashti Bunyan, not only have had their careers revitalized, but have been elevated to "living legend" status. The trend is reminiscent of the early 1960s, when 40s-era blues musicians were being discovered by a new generation of artists who were forming blues-based bands such as the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones.
Next time we'll take a look at artists from both Europe and America, including Rio en Medio, Glen Jones, Paula Frazer & Tarnation, Arborea, Iron & Wine, Amy Duncan, and the Memory Band.
This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #130 June/July 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
![[cover #130]](/linen/130/cover130t.jpg)
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