folk

Soak is 18 year-old Birdie Monds-Watson, an Irish singer-songwriter who sounds at once wise beyond her years and refreshingly unfamiliar. Before We Forgot How to Dream would be an astonishing debut for any artist, let alone a teenager, let alone a teenager who, according to the liner notes, had been working on these songs for four years prior to recording the album.

Before We Forgot How to Dream is filled with mysterious and uplifting dream-pop songs that can conjure everything from mid-80s 4AD atmospherics to Laura Marling-esque chamber folk to Camera Obscura. Through it all, Soak’s is an

American Kid is the 7th solo album of singer-songwriter Patty Griffin, and her first since 2007 that contains all original material.  She is strongly supported on the album by talented musicians Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars and Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin fame. But to me, the album is all about Patty – her vocals and her brilliant song writing. The first and last songs on the album were inspired by her father and his impending death in 2009. "Go Wherever You Wanna Go" is a sweet and whimsical look at the afterlife – “no paying bills, going to work or breaking a

If you haven’t yet heard of Parker Millsap, and are a fan of folk music,  I'll bet that in the near future you will. I have pretty much been listening nonstop to this 21 year olds debut album, titled Parker Millsap.

It’s shelved under CD-Folk music, but it is also equal parts country and blues. His voice can sound rough, wild and raucous on some songs, (Truck Stop Gospel and Quite Contrary), and can also sound soft and soulful on others (The Villain). But it’s his lyrics that really impressed me, especially for someone so young and for a debut performance.  He has been nominated by the