The U.S. state of Washington has been home to many popular musicians and several major hotbeds of musical innovation throughout its history. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is known for being the birthplace of grunge as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip hop. Nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also been centers of influence on popular music.
In the United States, California is commonly associated with the film, music, and arts industries; there are numerous world-famous Californian musicians. New genres of music, such as surf rock and third wave ska, have their origins in California.
The American state of New Jersey is located in the Northeastern United States and is part of the Mid-Atlantic region.
The music of Sri Lanka has its roots in five primary influences: ancient folk rituals, Hindu religious traditions, Buddhist religious traditions, the legacy of European colonisation, and the commercial and historical influence of nearby Indian culture—specifically, Kollywood cinema and Bollywood cinema.
The music of Barbados includes distinctive national styles of folk and popular music, including elements of Western classical and religious music. The culture of Barbados is a syncretic mix of African and British elements, and the island's music reflects this mix through song types and styles, instrumentation, dances, and aesthetic principles.
Music of Serbia represents the musical heritage of Serbia, both historical and modern. It has a variety of traditional music styles, which are part of the wider Balkan musical tradition, with its own distinctive sound and characteristics.
The Music of Wales, particularly singing, is a significant part of Welsh national identity, and the country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song".
Tom Lewis is a British singer and writer of nautical songs and sea shanties, some of whose works have become "folk standards." He's been recorded by over 40 other artists including Nathan Evans and has been called one of the finest exponents of contemporary nautical songs.
Flying Fish Records was a record label founded in Chicago in 1974 that specialized in folk, blues, and country music. In the 1990s the label was sold to Rounder Records.
Oleg Fezov, or Oleg Fesov is a musician, and composer from Tajikistan, who composes and arranges his songs in addition to performing.
Waterbug Records is a small independent record label based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois specializing in singer-songwriters and traditional folk musicians who do original research. The label was founded as an artist cooperative label in 1992 by singer-songwriter Andrew Calhoun. Calhoun described the label in a column written for Sing Out!: "Waterbug is largely an artists' co-op. All the artists own their recordings and publishing rights. Twenty artists contributed a song and part of the cost of manufacturing a label sampler, which each of us sell from the stage for $5. We are working cooperatively to help each other get heard."
The Sons of the Never Wrong is a Chicago-based singer/songwriter folk music trio founded in 1992. Current band members are Bruce Roper, Deborah Maris Lader, and Sue Demel.
Blake Colin Lewis is an American musician, singer and actor who was the runner-up on the sixth season of American Idol. His major label debut album A.D.D. was released on December 4, 2007, through 19 Recordings and Arista Records. On October 30, 2007, his first single "Break Anotha" was released. The album landed on number ten on the U.S. Billboard 200 as its highest peak position with 97,500 copies sold in its debut, and has sold over 350,000 copies. After the release of his second single "How Many Words", which peaked at number eight on the U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs, Lewis was dropped by Arista Records. Lewis eventually signed with Tommy Boy Records.
Medieval folk rock, medieval rock or medieval folk is a musical subgenre that emerged in the early 1970s in England and Germany which combined elements of early music with rock music. It grew out of the British folk rock and progressive folk movements of the late 1960s. Despite the name, the term was used indiscriminately to categorise performers who incorporated elements of medieval, renaissance and baroque music into their work and sometimes to describe groups who used few, or no, electric instruments. This subgenre reached its height towards the middle of the 1970s when it achieved some mainstream success in Britain, but within a few years most groups had either disbanded, or were absorbed into the wider movements of progressive folk and progressive rock. Nevertheless, the genre had a considerable impact within progressive rock where early music, and medievalism in general, was a major influence and through that in the development of heavy metal. More recently medieval folk rock has revived in popularity along with other forms of medieval inspired music such as Dark Wave orientated neo-Medieval music and medieval metal.
Jerry Bryant is an American folksinger specializing in maritime music. In addition to performing traditional songs, he also has written songs in a traditional style. Of his original songs, The Ballad of Harbo and Samuelsen is among his best known and has been recorded by several other performers including William Pint and Felicia Dale, Forebitter, and Rick Lee.
The Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, held annually in June from 1979 to 2020 at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, was among the oldest, and was the largest sea music festival in the United States. It reportedly attracted "the highest caliber of sea music performers, scholars, and fans." The Festival was first organized by Dr. Stuart M. Frank as a place to perform and hear sea music as well as a symposium for ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, and historians.
The Chicago Maritime Festival is a maritime music and culture festival held in Chicago, United States, every winter, usually the last weekend in February, usually at the Chicago History Museum. It is not uncommon for over 500 people to participate. It has existed in its present incarnation since 2003 and is the only wintertime festival featuring maritime music in the United States. The main organizers are performers Tom & Chris Kastle.
George Daly is a music executive, songwriter, musician, video and music producer, award-winning film director and inventor. In his role as a music Industry A&R executive he has worked with artists and groups such as Janis Joplin, The Cars, Tool (band), Huey Lewis, Carlos Santana, and others. Artists to whose efforts Daly has contributed have sold in excess of 300 million singles and albums in vinyl, tape, CD, and digital download format.
Morrigan was a traditional music group formed in 1978 in Seattle by folk musicians Marc Bridgham, Mary Malloy, and William Pint. The group played traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and England.
