The Free Folk Music Blog

Cynthia Marchant

2009-07-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

Cynthia Marchant is a Chicago singer-songwriter who writes poingant songs about love, life, and journeys. She has a distinctive rhythm all her own. She recently did a full 90-minute show at the Heartland Cafe in Chicago and did a great job showing off her material.

Her Myspace page has several tunes she has written and recorded with some professional backup; check out "The Long Rider" for her folk-rock sound.

http://www.myspace.com/cynthiamarchant

Tim Wais

2007-10-22T11:53:00.001-07:00

Tim is a Chicago musician who writes very topical political songs and touching love ballads. He has a Dylanesque style with a bit of Weavers and Phil Ochs thrown in. He has some free MP3s available on his website; a good example of his protest style is "Tug of War".

Fair and Tender Ladies

2007-10-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

Roger McGuinn has recently released a free version of himself and Gene Clark of the Byrds doing "Fair and Tender Ladies" live in New York City in 1977. Gene is playing a Martin D-45 acoustic, and McGuinn is on his trademark electric 12-string Rickenbacker. As he himself states on the Folk Den, this "could have been on a 1965 Byrds record". Pretty stuff.

Radio Shows at eFolkMusic

2007-09-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

eFolkMusic has a very comprehensive list of folk radio shows, including station information, schedule, and links to station websites.

http://www.efolkmusic.org/Resources/FolkRadio.aspx

Also, you can stream a radio broadcast of their own artists directly from http://www.live365.com/stations/tubaboy

Minstrel's Song Album

2007-09-24T06:04:00.000-07:00

Ula Kapalta's band posts a variety of free MP3s samples online at:

http://ula-kapala.art.pl/nagrania/

I recommend downloading the entire Minstrel's Song album. This Polish artist does beautiful versions of several old English folk tunes on this album, in including Scarborough Fair and Hangman.

Alice Stuart

2007-09-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

Alice Stuart has a beautiful plaintive voice in the tradition of early Joan Baez, exemplified on the free MP3 "Once I Had a Sweetheart".

Her main website is at http://www.alicestuart.com

Laura Cantrell

2007-09-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've been listening alot lately to Laura Cantrell. A real pure clear folkie sound, and she has a great page of free MP3 downloads. She is one of the legendary BBC critic John Peel's favorite artists. Check out her cover of the Johnny Rivers hit Poor Side of Town; also the poignant Civil War era song When The Roses Bloom Again

http://www.lauracantrell.com/

Indigio Girls Podcasts

2007-09-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

I just returned from the Austin City Limits Music festival and had the chance to see the Indigo Girls live on Sat. night. I think their concert was the best of the weekend, every song sounded great, with pristine harmonies. Emily Saliers is becoming quite an accomplished guitarist on both acoustic and electric.

On their website they post some free podcasts of themselves and guest artists just jamming and talking. Here's a link to the podcast site. The podcast with Girlyman has a nice version of "Pendulum Swinger" from their latest album "Despite Our Differences". Also nice is the podcast with Brandi Carlile doing a cover of the Dylan classic "Don't Think Twice Its All Right".

Robert Earl Keen

2007-09-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

Saw the Robert Earl Keen show at the Austin City Limits music festival over Sept 14-16. Great show, Keen couldn't quite stop grinning thru the entire thing. He's part folkie, part rocker, and part Jimmy Buffet.

The Robert Earl Keen MySpace page has a couple live cuts that are worth a listen. "Feelin Good Again" is a great example of his Texas twang; he's not terribly introspective, but has a nice Austin-style sound that went down really well at the festival. Also at the concert (but not on the website) was his rock version of "Long Chain On", originally done by Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Wendy Grossman's Roseville Fair

2007-09-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Wendy Grossman posts the MP3s for her beautiful folk album Roseville Fair available online. Very pretty. Send her a contribution if you really like it (I did).

Kim Taylor

2007-09-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Kim Taylor is a Cincinnati-based guitarist and singer, who writes intriguingly abstract songs and performs them beautifully. There are some free live shows from her on archive.org, here's a sample

Roger McGuinn

2007-09-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

Roger McGuinn of the Byrds maintains a fabulous collection of folk tunes at the Folk Den that he records in his home studio. He presents a new tune each month, with a free MP3 and a description of the history of the song and how he came to record it. An outstanding site and well worth a visit.

Here's a very Byrdsy sample of "Silver Dagger" originally recorded by Joan Baez, complete with that classic electric 12-string Rickenbacker jangle.

Here's a link to the full site (starting with this month's recording):
Roger McGuinn's Folk Den

Disclaimer: I'm a huge Byrds fan!

Welcome to Free Folk Music

2007-09-22T08:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my free folk music blog. I'll be posting links to and short reviews of freely available, legal folk-related MP3s that I find on the web.

I'm a part-time folk musician myself, doing vocals and playing a Martin 6-string guitar. I've done both voice and guitar classes at the wonderful Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. I also sing a bit with some friends at the Lake Street Church in Evanston IL. My tastes tend to run to traditional folk, 60's music, celtic, and folk-rock.

Also I do some work with MIDI, and I'll post some describing how to use it in a folk music context.

Peace. Enjoy.