Psychedelic folk or psych folk is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s through the fusion of folk music and psychedelic rock. It retained the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but added musical influences common to psychedelic rock and the psychedelic experience. The term only evolved in the 2000s.

Characteristics[link]

Psych folk generally favors acoustic instrumentation although it often incorporates other instrumentation. Chanting, early music and world music influences are often found in psych folk. Much like its rock counterpart, psychedelic folk is often known for a peculiar, trance-like, and atmospheric sound, often drawing on musical improvisation and Asian influences. Its lyrics are often concerned with such subjects as the natural world, love and beauty and try to evoke a state of mind associated with the effects of psychedelic drugs.^[1]

History[link]

1960s[link]

The first musical use of the term psychedelic is thought to have been by the New York-based folk group The Holy Modal Rounders on their version of Lead Belly's 'Hesitation Blues' in 1964.^[2] Psychedelic music spread rapidly in the beat folk scenes of both the east and west coast United States in the mid-1960s.^[3] San Francisco produced bands such as Kaleidoscope, It's a Beautiful Day, Peanut Butter Conspiracy and H. P. Lovecraft.^[3] From New York city's Greenwich Village came groups such as Jake and the Family Jewels and Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys^[3] and from Florida Pearls Before Swine. Many of these psychedelic folk groups followed the Byrds into folk rock from 1965, and are, as a result, more widely remembered, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Captain Beefheart, and Quicksilver Messenger Service.^[4]

From the mid-sixties, partly as a result of the British Invasion, this trend ran in parallel in both America and Britain and as part of the inter-related folk, folk rock and rock scenes. Folk artists who were particularly significant included the Scottish performers Donovan, who combined influences of American artists like Bob Dylan with references to flower power, and the Incredible String Band, who from 1967 incorporated a range of influences into their acoustic based music, including medieval and eastern instruments.^[5][6] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, solo acts such as Syd Barrett and Nick Drake began to incorporate psychedelic influences into folk music with albums such as Barrett's The Madcap Laughs and Drake's Five Leaves Left.^[7][8]

There was a brief flowering of British and Irish progressive folk in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with groups like the Third Ear Band and Quintessence following the eastern Indian musical and more abstract work by group such as Vashti Bunyan, Forest, C.O.B. (Clive's Original Band), Dr Strangely Strange, Jan Dukes De Grey, Trader Horne, Trees, Spirogyra, Comus and Dando Shaft.^[9]

Decline in the 1970s[link]

In the early 1970s psychedelia began to fall out of fashion and those folk groups that had not already moved into different areas had largely disbanded. In Britain folk groups also tended to electrify as did acoustic duo Tyrannosaurus Rex which became the electric combo T. Rex.^[10] This was a continuation of a process by which progressive folk had considerable impact on mainstream rock.^[11] Others, probably influenced by the electric folk pioneered by Fairport Convention from 1969, moved towards more traditional material, a category including Dando Shaft, Amazing Blondel, and Jack the Lad, an offshoot of northern progressive folk group Lindisfarne.^[9] Examples of bands that remained firmly on the border between progressive folk and progressive rock were the short lived Comus and, more successfully, Renaissance, who combined folk and rock with classical elements.^[9]

Revival[link]

After an emergence of folk music from independent artists such as Elliott Smith and Neutral Milk Hotel in the late 1990s and crossover bands which dominated much of the underground music scene, a resurrection of psych folk appeared during the following decade, with the New Weird America movement, which also saw the rise of the stylistically similar genre of Freak Folk. Early proponents include Davenport, No Neck Blues Band, and Sunburned Hand of the Man. Also, Animal Collective's early albums identify closely with freak folk as does their collaboration with veteran British folk artist Vashti Bunyan,^[12] and The Microphones/Mount Eerie,^[13] who combine naturalistic elements with lo-fi and psychedelia. Both artists received significant exposure in the indie music scene following critical acclaim from review site Pitchfork Media^[14][15][16] and soon more artists to began experimenting with the genre, including Grizzly Bear^[17] and Grouper.^[18]

See also[link]

• Anti-folk
• Freak folk
• Jam bands
• List of psych folk artists
• Neofolk
• Ptolemaic Terrascope - a psychedelic folk & rock magazine

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

• PsychedelicFolk.com, by Gerald Van Waes
• Dream Magazine: resource for psych folk and all other types of psychedelic music
• Contemporary Psychedelia: From Transcendence to Immanence -- An essay on psych folk and spirituality
• Dirty Linen Magazine feature article on New Psych Folk

This article may rely too heavily on sources with too close a tie to the subject to be verifiable and neutral. Please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable, independent, third-party sources. (February 2011)

Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943, Fort Worth, Texas, USA) is a folk-rock musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s.

Phillips has recorded twenty albums ^[1] and worked with musicians including Donovan, Paul Buckmaster, J. Peter Robinson, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bernie Taupin and many others.^[2] The Texas-born singer/songwriter was described as "The best kept secret in the music business"^{[cite this quote]} by the late rock impresario Bill Graham.

In the 1960s Phillips worked as a session player on several Donovan albums including Fairytale, Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow,^[3] performed at the Isle of Wight festival, sang on the Beatles' "Lovely Rita",^[4] and was cast to play the lead in the original production of Jesus Christ Superstar (he had to withdraw due to his heavy recording and touring schedule).^{[citation needed]} In February 1969 Phillips wrote and performed, with The Djinn, the music for the controversial Jane Arden play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven at the Arts Laboratory on Drury Lane.^{[citation needed]}

Phillips worked the folk music scene in Los Angeles, New York's Greenwich Village, and London. In 1967, Phillips moved to Positano, Italy, where he remained throughout the 1970s, recording the albums Contribution, Second Contribution, Collaboration and Faces'.

Four of his albums Faces, Bright White, Furthermore and Do You Wonder made it into the Billboard Top 100. In addition, the singles "Lost Horizon" and "We" made Billboard's top 100 in 1973 (63 and 92 respectively).

His album No Category, featuring his longtime collaborators Paul Buckmaster and Peter Robinson, was released in 2002.

In 2007, his first live album, Living Contribution, was released, along with a Live DVD of the same title.

Phillips today lives in Port Elizabeth, South Africa with his wife Juliette and their son Liam. He quit touring after 2011 and now He divides his time between writing,recording and his work as an emergency medical technician (EMT), firefighter, and 1st Officer, Navigator, and Extrication Specialist with the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa (NSRI).

Discography[link]

^[5]

Albums[link]

• I'm a Loner (1964) [re-issued in 1965 as Favourite Things]
• Shawn (1965) [re-issued in 1966 as First Impressions]
• Contribution (1970)
• Second Contribution (1970) US #208
• Collaboration (1971)
• Faces (1972) US #57
• Bright White (1973) US #72
• Furthermore (1974), A&M Records US #50
• Do You Wonder (1974) US #101
• Rumplestiltskin's Resolve (1975) US #201
• Spaced (1977)
• Transcendence (1978)
• Beyond Here Be Dragons (1983)
• Best of Shawn Phillips (1990)
• The Best of Shawn Phillips: The A&M Years (1992)
• The Truth If It Kills (1994)
• Another Contribution: Anthology (1995)
• No Category (2002)
• Living Contribution (2007)
• At The BBC (2009)

Singles[link]

• A Christmas Song (1970, A&M AMS-819)
• We
• Lost Horizon
• Anello (Where Are You)
• Do You Wonder (1974. A&M)

References[link]

• Walking Through the Fields: The Shawn Phillips interview

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official Youtube channel
• Official ReverbNation channel

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

Linda Perhacs is an American psychedelic folk singer, who released her only album Parallelograms in 1970 to scant notice or sales.^[1] The album was rediscovered by record enthusiasts and grew in popularity with the rise of the New Weird America movement and the Internet. It was reissued on CD and 2-LP in 2005, and again in 2008.

Her songs have been featured in soundtracks to many films, most recently and notably in Daft Punk's Electroma. Perhacs also sang backing vocals on "Freely" from Devendra Banhart's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon and features in Prefuse 73's track "Rain Edit" (Interlude) from the album Surrounded by Silence. Encouraged by the newfound attention to her work, she has reportedly recorded two new albums with Ben Watt as of 2007.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Review by Aaron Milenski
• Oct 2009 Interview with Daiana Feuer
• Arcane Candy gallery and review of Linda's first-ever live show

This article on a singer-songwriter is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Susan Christie is an American singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had a minor hit with the novelty song "I Love Onions" (written by Donald Cochrane and John Hill).^[1] The track, which peaked at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966, is described as having a sound reminiscent of the 1920s, with Christie's "breathy" vocal backed by a chorus of kazoo players and male backup singers.^[2]

In Canada, however, the single fared much better, reaching #19 on the RPM 100 national singles chart on August 1, 1966.^[3] The tune was later adapted for a Canadian television commercial as "I Love Turtles" in 1980.^[4][5]

Signed to Columbia Records, Christie recorded an album in 1970, Paint a Lady. Described as "psychedelic folk music", the album went unreleased by Columbia, which considered it to be non-commercial, and Christie was dropped from the label. The album, of which only three vinyl copies were ever pressed,^[6] languished in obscurity until 2006, when Manchester-based DJ Andy Votel received a copy and brought the album renewed attention and a CD release. SPIN magazine described the album as "funky free folk" filled with "[b]rilliantly original songs" and Christie as a "dark, strange songbird".^[7]

Christie participated in the 2008 "Lost Ladies of Folk" project spearheaded by Votel and his spouse, recording artist Jane Weaver, performing in concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and appearing on the compilation album Bearded Ladies.^[6] In 2010 Christie appeared as a guest artist on Weaver's album The Fallen By Watch Bird.^[8]

References[link]

1. ^ International Lyrics Playground. http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/i/iloveonions.shtml
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Library and Archives Canada, inferred from following week's listing. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.5795&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=kcr4kjfogh58km4jlp4so26bs5
4. ^ YouTube, Turtles Chocolate Commercial 1980. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0GEMuj4I5Q
5. ^ http://www.whatsthatcalled.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11716
6. ^ ^{a b} Lie back and think of ukuleles
7. ^ Reviews: New CDs
8. ^ Jane Weaver: The Fallen By Watch Bird

This article about a United States singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e