Folk Music roundup
The Best Folk Music Songs Right Now
Not chart hits of the moment, but songs that keep being rediscovered, covered and passed on. The essential, defining tracks in folk music.
Some songs stop being one artist's property and become something closer to shared ground in folk music, sung and re-sung until they're part of the furniture of the genre itself. The ones below are essential precisely because they've earned that status — not chart hits of the moment, but songs that keep getting rediscovered, covered and passed on, which is about as good a definition of "essential" as folk music has ever offered anyone.
"Blowin' in the Wind" — Bob Dylan, a Folk Music Cornerstone
A string of unanswered questions set to one of the simplest, most singable melodies Dylan ever wrote. Its openness is exactly what's kept it alive — it doesn't argue a specific position so much as insist that the questions themselves matter, which is part of why it's been adopted by so many causes and movements since 1963.
"The Sound of Silence" — Simon & Garfunkel
Close harmony over a hushed, almost hymn-like guitar figure, built around a lyric that reads more like a piece of imagist poetry than a conventional song. It found its biggest audience only after producers added electric instrumentation to the original acoustic recording — a small piece of studio history that says a lot about how flexible the boundary between folk and other genres has always been.
"Scarborough Fair/Canticle" — Simon & Garfunkel
A traditional English ballad, arranged rather than written from scratch, which is itself a useful reminder that plenty of the genre's best-loved recordings are interpretations of older, communally owned material rather than fully original compositions. The counterpoint vocal layered over the familiar melody is what turns a old folk standard into something distinctly theirs.
"Both Sides Now" — Joni Mitchell
Written while Mitchell was still in her early twenties, it plays like the work of someone twice that age — clear-eyed about how differently the same thing can look from two ends of a life. It's been recorded by other artists too, but Mitchell's own versions, recorded decades apart, are the clearest illustration of how a song can keep meaning something different to the person who wrote it.
"Fast Car" — Tracy Chapman, Modern Folk Music Storytelling
Proof that folk's storytelling tradition never actually went anywhere, even during decades when the genre wasn't fashionable. A verse-driven narrative about ambition, class and getting out, carried by little more than a fingerpicked guitar figure and a voice that doesn't need to raise itself to hold your attention.
"Ho Hey" — The Lumineers
A more recent example, and proof the tradition of a simple, communal-sounding chorus never really left. Built around handclaps, a stomping rhythm and a chant simple enough for a room full of strangers to join in on, it shows how directly contemporary folk-pop still borrows from the genre's oldest, most participatory instincts.
"The Boxer" — Simon & Garfunkel
A weary, autobiographical-sounding narrative wrapped in one of the most carefully constructed arrangements either songwriter ever put their name to, right down to the booming drum hit that arrives like a held breath being released. The "lie la lie" refrain does the work a traditional chorus would once have done, giving listeners something to hold onto even when the verses turn inward and specific.
"Four Strong Winds" — Ian & Sylvia
A quieter entry, and a reminder that not every enduring song needs a famous studio trick behind it. Written by Ian Tyson, it's been recorded by a long list of other artists in the decades since, which is really the whole story of how a folk song is supposed to work — written once, then handed on and reshaped by whoever picks it up next.
Why These Particular Songs
None of these were picked for chart performance, and a couple of them barely resemble each other in tempo or mood. What they share is staying power — each one keeps finding new listeners well beyond the moment it was written for, which is the closest thing this corner of folk music has to a real definition of essential. If you want the fuller stories behind the people who wrote them, our guide to the best folk artists to know is the natural next stop, and our look at essential folk albums covers several of these songs' original records in full. New to the genre entirely? Start with our beginner's guide to folk music instead.
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