Folk is far and away one of the most difficult genres of music to define and categorise. Folk Fringes was borne of love for a range of modern music that has been heavily influenced by the American and British folk traditions. Using the music of Woody Guthrie as a starting point, the site's mission is to identify and expand the horizons of Anglo-American folk music.

Folk, by its widest definition, has pretty well been around for as long as people have been playing music. Since establishing the site I am still finding new sub-genres that fit the basic spirit and feel of where Folk Fringes is heading. Folk, I have discovered, currently occupies a kind of musical underground that is often hard to find and almost always operates on the fringes.

It is what I like to call the 'fringe factor' that is the single biggest thing preventing folk from finding a much-deserved wider audience. When someone Googles the term 'jazz', for example, a whole host of popular jazz websites come up that, in a very short time, will give the surfer a reasonably clear idea of what are the happening things. Try searching on 'folk music', however, and many or most of the top results will be obscure and probably nothing like what the inquirer was looking for. In short, modern folk lacks a clear identity and if people can't quickly find what they are looking for, a lot of the time they simply give up and move on to something else.

Folk Fringes is all about cohesion… or at least an attempt to bring together a body of music in one place that will appeal to people who suspect they may be hooked on folk. The site is aimed at those who want to explore folk's dusty corners, listen to the words of modern musical poets and revel in the traditions that are very much a part of what we are. It is a journey of discovery into music that is quite simply great listening.

The Music
One of the benefits of having a large record collection is that when your tastes begin to change you can rediscover some music you may not have listened to for some time or rarely played at all after buying it. In my case I suddenly found that Rubber Soul had replaced Revolver as my favourite Beatles album, Beggars Banquet was the only Stones record I was giving a spin and singer/songwriters like James Taylor, Paul Simon and Gordon Lightfoot were on the home charts again after multi-decade absences. Some things never change… one or more Dylan record will always be popular in my house, Neil Young will never burnout, rust or fade away as long as I can get to the CD player, the Byrds will probably always soar above all other folk-rockers, and once a Deadhead...

A few other things also started to make sense. I always had a few country records that gave my friends no end of fodder for curry. Looking at them, however, most come from the Austin (formerly Outlaw) Scene, are bluegrass classics or fit under the Americana umbrella… and all of them are pretty cool. Most of my old prog-rock records have not aged well and are sounding pretty dreadful, with the exception of a handful that are decidedly folksy. My occasional foray into Celtic music seems far less an aberration. If all this stuff still sounds great after all these years, surely there must be a whole new world of folk music out there just waiting to be discovered.

And there is. A gaggle of new singer/songwriters are still singing about the things that matter, prog-rock has given rise to the acid folk revival, a whole Celtic punk movement has been spawned by the Pogues and some of the most listenable folk in the world is being made right in my Australian backyard. Tom Waits has even won a folk Grammy! Toss in a Coen brothers movie that out-bluegrasses the Mitchell Downs and folk is well and truly back on the map… it's just that not many know about it yet.

In looking at what to include at Folk Fringes the music of Woody Guthrie was useful as a starting point. When I purchased a copy of Dustbowl Ballads I thought it would be a nifty historical piece that would probably get one or two plays and retire into dust-gathering mode. Instead I discovered an infectious record that is arguably the first real 'album' of music from the modern era. By the late-50s a whole host of folk revivalists were making albums of music that had suddenly found a commercial niche. The Weavers led by Pete Seeger, the Kingston Trio and the Limeliters were all big stars. Swept away by the Beatles and the British Invasion, it was all over by 1964 - but not before the emergence of artists like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Donovan.

Dylan would become recognised as the greatest singer/songwriter in popular music and lay the platform for the mid-60s folk-rock revolution. While there were plenty of one-hit wonders, folk-rock also offered up a swag of bands that made some genuinely good albums. The Byrds and the Mamas & the Papas brought a West Coast feel to things, while elsewhere even the Beatles got in on the act with their brilliant Rubber Soul LP. In folk terms, however, the line was blurred and acoustic traditions were on the ropes.

The late-60s was the critical point in time where the foundations for modern folk-influenced music were laid. In England Fairport Convention led an Anglo-folk revival that would eventually see the emergence of Celtic influences on popular music. Some of the British bands introduced psychedelic and progressive elements into their music, in the process laying a platform for the prog-rock sound of the 70s and modern acid folk.

Back in America the use of traditional acoustic instruments saw both country-rock and roots music emerge as distinctive identities. Modern strains of bluegrass and acoustically-based Americana can trace their roots back to this point. Perhaps more importantly, the term 'singer/songwriter' was attached to a host of artists who wrote folk-influenced music that was generally easy on the ear. The thing setting folk apart from rock and country was not only the heavy use of acoustic instruments, but also a conscious attempt to introduce traditional folk sounds into modern music.

While folk-influenced music has endured more than its share of commercial ups and downs since the 1970s, there have always been artists willing to fly the folk flag. As always, the line is sometimes pretty blurry. A look at the Top 100 New Folk list highlights the remarkable diversity in modern folk and the fact that the commercial winners can come from just about anywhere. The importance of online folk streams has been critical in bringing this music to a wider audience and, hopefully, a bright and healthy future.

Peter Sykes
4 February 2007