The Next Folk Music Revival

Has It Already Started?

Photo by GESPHOTOSS on Unsplash

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Over the last several decades we’ve seen newspaper articles with this title, or some variation thereof—”Whatever Happened to Folk Music?” Most of them name several well-known folk singers—among them are Ani DiFranco, Iris DeMent, Tom Waits, Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Rhiannon Giddens, Jason Isbell, and even Taylor Swift, whose Folklore album, recorded from her home during the pandemic, was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. As Louis Armstrong, the famed jazz trumpeter, was purported to have once commented, “Hey man, all music is folk music—you never heard a horse sing, did you?!” Of course, folk music has been alive and well all along; folk singers, venues, and festivals abound across the country. But will a new folk revival emerge? 

While the issue of just what criteria defines folk music is perhaps a never-ending one for academics, the one recognizable feature always seems to be the factor of its social significance. Though the immense popularity of Swift’s Eras Tour may be due in large part to the extravagant staging and performance, it is the transparency expressed in her songs of self-realization that qualify her as a folk phenomenon. Yet a catalog of folk music obviously includes more than just songs of personal growth.  

We’ve found some evidence that interest in folk music is growing among Gen Z (people who are 12-27 years old).  Writing in Her Campus—a global media platform dedicated to empowering college women—columnist Megan Kelly contends that a folk revival has already begun.She attributes this trend to two factors. Gen Z is tired of happy pop music and finds comfort in sad songs. She says that folk “is the perfect vessel for this trend” because it explores stories that have unsettling and sad undertones.” Kelly’s second factor is that her generation craves “genuine and pure songs” devoid of pop music’s marketing tactics. Folk has greater depth and covers a wider range of topics. 

Just last month the student newspaper at the University of Kansas ran a feature article entitled “The Gen Z Revival of Folk Music.” In it, journalism major Morgan Weir points out that “music artists such as Hozier, Noah Kahan, Lizzy McAlpine, Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Caamp and Mt. Joy are reviving the key elements of folk music.  

Weir points out that Gen Z has grown up in a globalizing internet society in which regional cultures are dwindling and so are local connections. Even though Gen Zers bond with people around the world through the Internet, they often do not know their neighbors. She believes that  folk music, with its deep roots in local culture, is helping to give Gen Z a sense of connection.  In addition, folk music brings regional experiences  into a wider audience and challenges stereotypes. She also points out that contemporary folk music deals with topics beyond the “sex-drugs-romance paradigm”—“everything from spirituality to death to family trauma.” Although not new narratives, these stories rarely reach the top of the charts. 

Weir says, “Gen Z welcoming these topics into the mainstream is evidence of our desire to speak more openly about stigmatized issues, such as painkiller addiction — Jason Isbell’s “King of Oklahoma”—or suicide — Noah Kahan’s “Call Your Mom.” On a similar note, this new folk trend continues the social and political commentary that has been the hallmark of folk music, blending “today’s values with the strong folk music traditions that fill gaps in the society into which Gen Z was born.” 

For a new folk revival to happen, given the vast distribution changes have taken place since the 1970s, folk musicians need support. Many contemporary folk-based singer/songwriters work their commercial gigs but also sacrifice earnings in service to a cause, donating their time on the front lines of change and dreaming of creating a larger impact. Systemically viewing musicians only as performing artists deprives communities of locally-based, trusted creative leaders who share their values and culture and bring creative solutions born from their own lived experiences of injustice. These artists have innovative music-driven ideas for change, but often lack the financial support, business skills and local connections to sustainably implement their concepts. 

Music to Life (MTL)—a nonprofit entity created by Noel and his daughter Liz Sunde—recently launched its Musician Changemaker Accelerator (MCA), the first incubator of its kind to train and fund musicians, not solely as artists, but as community leaders and strategic stakeholders in the social change economy, through mutually sustainable and enriching partnerships with organizations and communities in need.  This transformation of collaborative spirit and local financial support allows musicians —especially from marginalized communities—to sustainably implement their creative solutions for change.

According to Nati Linares (New Economy Coalition), well-resourced creators shift the culture: “When artists and creators are in control of the resources they need to create, we can [all] do the hard and rewarding work of building a truly revolutionary culture.” MTL’s work with artist activists sets up just such a scenario—a ripple effect of sustainable change—for themselves and, by extension, the communities in which they live and work. Artists who have experienced the Musician Changemaker Accelerator (80+ annually) use their new skills, connections with local leaders and toolkit of resources to self advocate and push past systemic limitations. 

Last fall Spotify announced a new flagship playlist for folk and acoustic music called “juniper.” Spotify’s editor for folk and acoustic programming said,”While folk music has always maintained its presence, there is a fresh wave of relevance sweeping through Gen Z right now that is hard to ignore.

We envision the “next folk revival” as small, intimate and meaningful returns to music all over the globe. Maybe it will hasten the fall of pop idolatry and the growth of an earnest desire for modest gatherings of acoustic music as a way of sharing not only the personal victories of self-realization but reflecting through community the larger concerns for society.

Maybe the next folk revival has already begun. 

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Connections:

Folk Alliance International (FAI) is  a global arts nonprofit founded in 1989 to connect folk music leaders aiming to sustain the community and genre worldwide.

The Smithsonian’s online displays about folk music include sections on American Folk Music, the Folk Revival,  Politics and Protest, and Instruments

Music to Life--co-founded by Noel and his daughter, Liz--offers next gen musicians training, mentorship,  and resources to take their music off the stage and into communities.

Vibrations:

Hear Noel’s “Not That Kind of Music.”

Resonance:

What do you think of our sense that a new folk revival is beginning?