Folk Punk Music Guide: 6 Notable Folk Punk Bands

Folk punk music is a fusion of punk rock and traditional folk music. Folk punk artists primarily use acoustic instruments, but they use them in the intensely visceral style associated with the hardcore punk scene. The genre enjoyed a run of mainstream success in the 1980s, and it remains popular to this day as part of the alternative and indie rock scene.

The folk punk community has spawned related genres like anti-folk, Celtic punk, Gypsy punk, and cowpunk. Each of these subgenres has its distinct traits, but all combine raw DIY punk energy with time-honored folk music traditions.

Folk punk music shares an abrasive quality with punk rock and draws from folk music's long-standing role in the counterculture.

• Traditional folk influences: The earliest folk punk groups drew influence from older folk rock musicians like Bob Dylan, Donovan, and Woody Guthrie. These artists embraced the rebellious side of folk music, which folk punk bands interpreted in their own novel ways.
• American bands transition from rock and country: The earliest American folk bands include Violent Femmes, which projected pop punk energy on acoustic instruments, and Meat Puppets, which fused punk rock with country-folk. Both came of age in the early 1980s when standard punk rock began to fade from the radio airwaves.
• Folk punk explosion in the UK: In the United Kingdom, numerous bands embraced the folk punk aesthetic. Chief among these was the Pogues, a London-based band with Irish origins. Billy Bragg also made a strong impression on the folk punk scene thanks to a solo act that featured him strumming an overdriven electric guitar in the style of a dreadnought acoustic guitar. Other UK folk punk groups of the era include Oysterband, Levellers, the Men They Couldn't Hang, and Citizen Fish.
• 1990s expansion: The definition of folk punk expanded in the 1990s. A number of English and Celtic folk punk groups turned to a harder-edged sound that bordered street punk and hardcore. Such groups included Dropkick Murphys, Cockney Rejects, and Flogging Molly. On the country punk front, the banjo-wielding Bad Livers merged the sounds of the Meat Puppets with traditional bluegrass. New York art punks the Moldy Peaches created a punk sound they called anti-folk. Also in New York, Gogol Bordello pioneered a style that became known as Gypsy punk, which combined eastern European folk with punk rock and ska.
• Plan-It-X Records: In 1994, Samantha Jane Dorsett started Plan-It-X Records in Bloomington, Indiana. The label would release records by the likes of Ghost Mice, Against Me!, This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, Japanther, Ramshackle Glory, and Defiance, Ohio. While Plan-It-X harbored many types of groups, it was notably kind to folk punk artists.
• Twenty-first-century folk punk: The folk punk scene continues to thrive among indie and alternative rock audiences. Popular artists include AJJ (originally called Andrew Jackson Jihad), Apes of the State, Crywank, Harley Poe, Rail Yard Ghosts, and Days N' Daze.

Folk punk music typically exhibits several core characteristics.

1. 1. A mixture of punk rock and traditional folk instruments: The typical folk punk band may have electric guitars, electric basses, and a drum kit. It may also feature traditional instruments like the banjo, accordion, bagpipes, tin whistle, flute, violin, washboard, and hurdy-gurdy.
2. 2. Hard-charging vocals: Punk rock is known for in-your-face lead vocals, and folk punk is no different. The intensity of Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano or the Pogues' Shane MacGowan is only a few degrees removed from that of the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten.
3. 3. Political bent: Politics frequently appear in folk punk lyrics. These politics run the gamut from socialism to anarchism to environmentalism. Like many punk lyrics, the political messages tend to be direct rather than allegorical.
4. 4. Embrace of many folk traditions: Folk punk draws from many different folk traditions from American country-western to traditional Irish ballads to Romanian Gypsy music to New York coffeehouse folk. Some groups specialize in one of these styles, and others draw from many folk traditions at once.

Folk punk bands have enjoyed both mainstream and indie success dating back to the early 1980s.

1. 1. Billy Bragg: English folk punk legend Billy Bragg began his career singing politically charged lyrics while furiously strumming an electric guitar as though it was an acoustic instrument. He later expanded into songs of love and philosophical musings, but he remains famous for his intense energy and socialist politics.
2. 2. Violent Femmes: Formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1980, Violent Femmes enjoyed genuine mainstream success with folk punk classics like "Blister in the Sun" and "Add It Up."
3. 3. The Pogues: An Irish band based in London, The Pogues were the UK's biggest folk punk success story. They combined standard punk rock instrumentation with traditional instruments like the cittern, banjo, mandolin, hurdy-gurdy, washboard, tin whistle, bodhrán, violin, and accordion.
4. 4. Blackbird Raum: Hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Blackbird Raum play socially charged folk punk that directly addresses environmental politics. Their no-holds-barred approach to politics recalls the English crust punk genre of the 1980s.
5. 5. Mischief Brew: Led by Erik Petersen, Mischief Brew played a key role in America's anarcho-punk movement. The band operated out of Philadelphia until the death of Petersen in 2016, at which point they disbanded.
6. 6. Pat the Bunny: A central figure in the twenty-first-century folk punk scene, Pat the Bunny (born Patrick Schneeweis) has released music with Ramshackle Glory, Wingnut Dishwashers Union, and Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains.

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