News & Updates — folk

Perhaps the original "freak-folk" artist, the Bahamian musician & herbalist Tony McKay (aka "Exuma") was created from a lightning bolt and raised on Cat Island before moving to NYC in the late '50s. He participated in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the mid-'60s, hanging and playing with Dylan, Hendrix, Richie Havens, Peter, Paul & Mary and others. He released his first Exuma album in 1970 and proceeded to create his unique brand of psychedelic folk/funk/island pop with his Junk Band (sometimes members of the Blues Magoos), very much rooted in junkanoo and Obeah culture while also displaying the influence...

Peace & Rhythm and C.A.M.P.O.S. team up to present the world premiere of C.A.M.P.O.S.'s new video for "My Bird Has Many Voices" (Mother's Mix). This is the latest of a string of videos to songs off of the Miracles & Criminals 2xLP, available now direct from Peace & Rhythm or wholesale from Forced Exposure distribution. The video was again created by Croaker Norge. (If you would like to see the previous videos made for the album, click here, here and here. Purchase the album direct from our webshop. "My Bird...": Last month, we were thrilled to see the inclusion of...

Part Mexican-American and part Santee-Dakota Sioux, the inspired poet/musician/actor/activist John Trudell grew up on a reservation in Nebraska and became heavily involved in the Red Power & American Indian Movements and was also a hemp advocate (alongside Willie Nelson). In '69 he was the spokesman & broadcaster for the All Tribes Occupation of Alcatraz Island, which put him right in the FBI's crosshairs. His entire family (including his children) all died in a suspicious fire the day after Trudell burned an American flag on the steps of the FBI building in '79. Soon after, his poetry career started. His first...

The innovative American psych-folk artist Tim Buckley has always been a cult favorite. His music ranged from straight folk and blue-eyed soul to weird jazz and psychedelic vocal experiments. A singer and multi-instrumentalist, he quit college to sign with Elektra and his records included some intense lyrical content, both dark, personal statements and anti-war & topical themes. His classic albums are Happy Sad, Lorca and Starsailor. He died of a heroin overdose at 28. One of my faves from Buckley, his weird side on full display:

The activist singer Josh White got his start as a homeless teenager, recording his own blues and gospel sides, and cutting sessions for other singers before a period of inactivity due to a serious hand injury. Healed, he starred on Broadway, became FDR's closest friend and was a well-loved country-blues artist in the '40s. One of the most popular artists of the day, he also made some movie appearances at a time when blacks were rarely seen starring onscreen. In fact, White's career was full of "firsts" for black artists...until McCarthyism damaged his reputation with the American public and he...