Like his father Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie has carved out a career as a folksinger and songwriter with a social conscience who leavens political messages with humor. Though Woody Guthrie was hospitalized for much of Arlo's youth, the youngster nevertheless grew up in a musical community that included Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, and Cisco Houston.... [+] Read More

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Folk-blues guitarist and singer Brooks Williams is as adept playing traditional blues as he is singing his own contemporary folk songs. His voice has been endlessly compared to James Taylor's and yet his unique renderings of self-penned and blues classics on guitar make him an original.

Based in western Massachusetts for most of the... [+] Read More

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Christine Lavin emerged out of the crowded New York City songwriter scene of the '80s with a style that distinguished her from her peers. First, her songs were overwhelmingly concerned with contemporary romantic mores (that scary, uncertain world of "relationships," "commitments," and "biological clocks"). Second, while her takes on this subject... [+] Read More

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Canadian Gordon Lightfoot first began to gain recognition in the mid-'60s as a songwriter when his compositions "For Lovin' Me" and "Early Morning Rain" became hits for Peter, Paul & Mary, and Marty Robbins topped the country charts with "Ribbon of Darkness." Lightfoot's own style was understated, his tasteful folk arrangements topped by a... [+] Read More

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John Stewart first gained recognition as a songwriter when his songs were recorded by the Kingston Trio. In 1960, he formed the Cumberland Three, which recorded three albums for Roulette. The following year, he joined the Kingston Trio, replacing Dave Guard, and stayed with them until 1967. His song "Daydream Believer" was a number one hit for... [+] Read More

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With her long, flowing, blonde hair and crystal-clear soprano vocals, Mary Travers was a major influence on the folk music of the 1960s and '70s. A founding member of Peter, Paul And Mary, Travers, not only became one of the most commercially successful folk performers, but, used her position to become an inspirational political spokesperson.... [+] Read More

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Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Richie Havens moved to Greenwich Village in 1961 in time to get in on the folk boom then taking place. Havens had a distinctive style as a folksinger, appearing in such clubs as the Cafe Wha? His guitar set to an opening tuning, he would strum it while barring chords with his thumb, using it... [+] Read More

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Stan Rogers came from Hamilton, Ontario, a six-foot-four poet who started out as a rock bassist before turning to folk music. With his rich voice, he used his music to call to life all of the wonder and mysticism of his native Canada. His singing is occasionally mistaken for that of Gordon Lightfoot, but it's huskier and earthier than... [+] Read More

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Tom Rush came up in the Cambridge folk scene of the early '60s, playing folk-blues on a series of albums for Prestige Records, then moved to Elektra, and by the late '60s was interpreting the work of such upcoming writers as Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. By the early '70s, he was mixing his own songs on albums for Columbia. In recent years,... [+] Read More

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