Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a niche but faithful popularity in the underground.
Suzanne Nadine Vega is an American singer-songwriter of folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the UK, "Marlene on the Wall", "Left of Center", "Luka" and "No Cheap Thrill".
Christa Päffgen, known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model.
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater. They started out influenced by American folk rock, with a set list dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane". Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, and Matthews later left during the recording of their third album.
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody, especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs.
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her first major commercial success came with her third and fourth albums, Joan Armatrading (1976) and Show Some Emotion (1977), and she continues to play live and record studio albums. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.
The Waifs are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson as well as Josh Cunningham. Their tour and recording band includes Ben Franz (bass), David Ross Macdonald (drums) and Tony Bourke.
Cheryl Wheeler is a Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded thirteen folk albums to date and has toured extensively throughout the United States since the mid-1970s.
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten was an influential American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This position meant that she would play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as "Cotten picking". NPR stated "her influence has reverberated through the generations, permeating every genre of music."
"Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" is a song written by the English folk-rock singer and songwriter Sandy Denny.
Hedwig Grace "Hedy" West was an American folksinger, songwriter and song catcher. She belonged to the same generation of folk revivalists as Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Carolyn Hester. Her most famous song "500 Miles" is one of America's most popular folk songs. English folk musician A. L. Lloyd declared West to be "far and away the best of [the] American girl singers in the [folk] revival."
Deborah Holland is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She rose to national prominence in 1987 as the lead singer and songwriter of Animal Logic featuring Stanley Clarke and Stewart Copeland.
"Blue Yodel no. 8, Mule Skinner Blues" is a classic country song written by Jimmie Rodgers. The song was first recorded by Rodgers in 1930 and has been recorded by many artists since then, acquiring the de facto title "Mule Skinner Blues" after Rodgers named it "Blue Yodel #8".
Kim McLean is a singer-songwriter originally from Greensboro, North Carolina. McLean moved to Nashville to pursue a career in songwriting. A month after arriving in Music City, she signed her first staff songwriting deal with an upstart publishing company, Little Big Town, run by publishing mogul, Woody Bomar.
S. J. Tucker is an Arkansas-born North American female singer-songwriter. Originally inspired by alternative folk rock artists like Joni Mitchell, Jeff Buckley and Ani DiFranco, Tucker – also called "Sooj" or "Skinny White Chick" – soon branched out to assume a more diverse identity. Like The Beatles – another cited influence – Tucker prefers an eclectic approach to songcraft. Since her debut album in 2004, Tucker's work has integrated elements of electronica, filk, spoken word, world music, industrial metal, and – with the troupe Fire & Strings – fire-spinning.
Wu Fei is a virtuoso Chinese American composer, performer, and improviser from Beijing, China. She performs on the Chinese guzheng, an ancient zither with twenty-one strings, as well as sings. She currently resides in Nashville. Wu Fei has composed for a variety of musical genres, including choir, string quartet, chamber ensemble, Balinese gamelan, orchestral, film, and modern dance.
Carla Boni, was an Italian singer.
Carla Patricia Morrison Flores is a Mexican indie-pop guitarist and singer. She has released three studio albums and has received various awards and nominations including two Grammy Award nominations and three Latin Grammy Awards.
Mary Ellen Simpson is an American violinist, mostly noted for her work with Yanni, Gary Ruley and Mule Train and Walker's Run. She is a founding member of The Whiskey Rebellion band.
Valerie June Hockett, known as Valerie June, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Her sound encompasses a mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass. She is signed to Fantasy Records, and its parent company, Concord Music Group worldwide.
