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If you liked the Croft Number 5 stuff mentioned earlier try Martyn Bennett, or trecherous orchastra.
Iain Morrison is well worth a listen. Folk with a Celtic twist, but I am biased.
http://www.peatfiresmoke.co.uk/
As I'm from north of the border I have a certain empathy for the celtic stuff so I'll recommend Peatbog Faeries, Braebach and Shooglenifty.
Second the Bad Shepherds- bloody good in concert.
The Demon Barbers also good live.
Bit obvious but if you like show of hands, try Steve Knightley's solo stuff, 'tis very good
+1 for Roddy Woomble & Kris Drever & Martin Simpson
I would also very much recommend anything involving John McCusker (especially the Drever, Woomble, McCusker cd "Before The Ruin"
Also worth checking out alela diane, bellowhead, Karine Polwart, Heidi Talbot, The Shee and Bella Hardy all of whom are excellent live
thirded the bad shepherds, saw them at cambridge this year, brilliant live, off to see them again at Pocklington shortly
chris wood is ace. how about vetiver, backed by devendra banhart. even the be-good-tanyas are ace and very praised. monsters of folk album is good. mazzy star! desert folk?!
whats "folk"?
dunno if this stuff is folk:
Mountain Goats (possibly the best act ever)
I am Kloot
Clann Zu
Andrew Bird
Crimea
Tom Mcrae (miserable sod)
and more "celtic" stuff...
Flogging Molly
Gogol bordello
Dropkicks???
Mountain goats are godlike though.
were in london last weekend
didnt go 🙁
Bob Dylan, til he sold out and went electric 👿
The missus keeps telling me she thinks she likes Crosby Stills and Nash...
Julie Fowlis-anything thats she sings.
Kate Rusby-all good if a bit teary at time, great live. (she is from Cawthorne not Barnsley)
John McCusker sems to play onload of other peoples stuff apart his wifes (see above).
Faustus
Malinky
Eddie Reader (ex-fairground attraction) has some really great recordings, Peacetime or Songs of Robert Burns.
Kareen Polwart-Fairest Floo'er is fantastic loud.
A good thing to do is buy a copy of the radio 2 folk music awards when it comes out each year. I often choose new stuff based on whats on it.
Have fun.
mt - Cawthorne is in Barnsley, unless the south yorkshire separatists have really got their s**t together.
Try some English stuff......
Oyster Band as mentioned, Brass Monkey produce stonking stuff when together, best of the lot! could listen to them for hours...
Q
Mitch,I live in Silkstone,and neither Cawthorne nor Silkstone is "in" Barnsley.
Ian
You seeing them on the tour dave?
their only playing London i think so wont catch them on tour this time, but if it was Bright Eyes touring i would sell a kidney to catch them live 🙂
Another vote for Mumford & Sons, really liking them at the moment.
And Flogging Molly, I wouldn't necessarily think of them as a folk band, but brilliant nonetheless!
Oh God I forgot gorgeous women folk: Julie Fowlis and Kate Rusby!
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the Honk Toot Suite
Kris Drever
and what mrmichaelwright said
Another vote for Tunng also Bon Iver
Have a look at the Greenman website http://www.thegreenmanfestival.co.uk/ lots of good links from this site also a relly good "folk" festival.
I like Chris Wood Martin Simpson James Yorkston and Tuung.
Also Alasdair Roberts.
Not keen on Bon Ivers...
Some of those mentioned (Bonnie Prince Billy & Gillian Welch) are ace but they are not what I would call folk (although they do have folky elements...)
I would have to say that the newer stuff (Shooglewhatever yer fancy etc) just isn't my kind of folk.
Dont forget the classics like Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy and Davey Graham now though
thejesmonddingo: whether you want to admit or not, both Silkstone and Cawthorne are covered by Barnsley metropolitan borough council - that makes them part of ... now let me think. I'm from Darfield, and very proud to say I come from Barnsley - I'm ready for my insults now please.
Saw Karine Polwart last night, wonderful stuff. Mumford & Sons, Kate Rusby, Kris Delmhorst, who has a wonderful, melifluous voice, Red Bird, a trio that Kris is in along with her husband, Jeffrey Foucault, the Smoke Fairies, Cerys Matthews, Julie Fowlis, Indigo Girls, the Wailin' Jennies, the Great Lakes Swimmers, Erin McEown, Shawn Colvin, Patti Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Shearwater, The Mummers. Oh, and Fairport Convention, along with Sandy Denny, one of the finest singers this country has ever produced. Listen to 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' which Sandy wrote when she was fourteen. Then listen to your average X-Factor contestant.
[url= http://www.strikethecolours.com/ ]Strike the Colours[/url]
. . . mainly 'cos Jenny is my cousin
Eliza Carthy is good, and I think Vashti Bunyan has recorded a new album, Her voice is very marmite though*.
Don't listen to a great deal of folk to be honest though unless you count stuff like The Levellers, The Waterboys and Billy Bragg. Oh and quite a bit of US folk like Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton.
Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch/Pentangle etc are all worth a listen, too.
*Diamond Day of that T-mobile ad is her.
EDIT: [url= http://ninoskika.bandcamp.com/ ]Ninoskika[/url] are pretty good, too. I found them randomly on the interwebs a few days back, and I might well get their album soon.
Cumbria's own [url= http://www.myspace.com/thewitchandtherobot ]The Witch And The Robot[/url]
kennyp - MemberTry Flogging Molly. Bit like the early Pogues, but better.
the musics OK, but the voice? It's like a bad Pogues tribute band, putting on a weird accent. FM were OK live, but not a patch on the Pogues.
Agree with DKM though, and Gogol Bordello. Have scanned the thread but see no contribution from John Hooper, so I'll recommend New Model Army (anything - but the new album is ****in brilliant) and the Justin Sullivan solo album. Try Rev Hammer as well...
Surprised to see no recommendations for Frank Turner... Only man ever to play the Cambridge Folk Festival and the Reading Festival punk stage in the same year 
Very upbeat, occasionally a bit acoustic-punk- he used to be the singer/songwriter for the hardcore band Million Dead. The First 3 Years album would be the sensible place to start. This one gets the big 5 gold stars treatment off me, I love it and I can't recommend it too highly.
If you like that, then Joie/Dead Blonde Girlfriend is another good one, New York antifolk at its best, without trying too hard to be wacky like the Moldy Peaches.
Hum, what else. I'm just in from a Colin MacIntyre gig, formerly Mull Historical Society, good choice if you like your folk a little bit indie. If you prefer it a bit more pop, Emmy the Great's album First Love is, I think, absolutely superb. I'm not quite sure how to sum up the Earlies, all I can say is I like 'em.
Think I'll be downloading a lot of stuff from these posts...
If you want contemporary folk have a gander at Bellowhead. Along with the Imagined Village and a few of the others already mentioned they are developing new styles of music based on the folk tradition.
I would also recommend Jim Moray as somebody who is doing some really interesting stuff. If you get a chance to see him and the band live it will be really worth it. The sound is much bigger than the recorded stuff leads you to bieive it will be, then Jim stand on stage alone and signs a cappella. Simply stunning.
To be honest folk is such a broad church that if you dig around you will find something that tickles your fancy. Above everything else these guys really do know how to play.
king creosote
I'll second that and add Pip Dylan "Aint a Classical Piece..." is a great album and HMS Ginafore. Saw all three do a gig together not long ago and they were very good.
http://www.fencerecords.com/artists.php
Oh, and Fairport Convention, along with Sandy Denny, one of the finest singers this country has ever produced. Listen to 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' which Sandy wrote when she was fourteen. Then listen to your average X-Factor contestant.
Agree with you there Xipe 🙂
Am also a fan of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 😳
Saw Steeleye Span yonks ago but just didn't get them.
Toddles off to CG Towers archives to find "Liege and Lief" - what a brilliant (vinyl) album 😀
Would invite you to walk awhile, cg, but it's the wrong album! 🙂
Great Lake Swimmers get my vote. Love Ongiara.
Jackson C. Frank.
Crikey - just read one thread on real ale and now one on Folk music - this place just become more weird by the day!!
Lots of good bands mentioned but no one seems to have mentioned the Levellers - love their agressive/political style.
Pulls on chunky knit jumper, picks up tankard, stick hand over left ear and oooooooowwwwwww I played the wild....!!!
The Roots Union, including Philip Henry - http://www.myspace.com/therootsunion
They just do great music, which happens to be folky...
Here's a good music map.. enter bands you like and it returns similar artists
[url= http://www.liveplasma.com/ ]Live Plasma[/url]
The Decemberists and Mad Dog mc crea....
There's a couple more that are worth considering, Lisa Hannegan, who I'm listening to at this moment, and Inge Thomson, who tours with Karine Polwart. Inge is also in a band called Harum Scarum, and has worked with Will Oldham (Bonny Prince Billy) on a recent album. Her latest album, Shipwrecks & Static, is definitly not conventional folk, her voice is a bit like Heidi Talbot's, quite breathy and sweet, with all sorts of electronic stuff going on in the background along with Inga's flute and piano accordion. Quite indy, I guess. She's from Fairisle, off the Shetlands, and is just the loveliest lady to meet. Fotheringay 2, with Sandy Denny, which was originally recorded in 1970, didn't get resumed until 2007, then released in 2008. It's a lovely album, and really worth checking out.
Peatbog Fearies
Wolfstone
Runrig
Capercaillie
Shooglenifty (again)
Deaf Shepherd
Old Blind Dogs
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God we're getting old arn't we?
[url=
Lakeman[/url]
[url=//www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHKhhVSIGFQ]Kate Rusby[/url]
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mwr5p/Transatlantic_Sessions_Series_3_Episode_2 ]Transatlantic Sessions[/url]
[url= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1I2nCAaodI ]julie fowlis[/url]
........... folk is more alive than ever before, and is defintely not just for 'the old'
+1 Decemberists
and i guess Modest Mouse count as 'shouty' folk
Also Shona Kipling