Old friend looking for acoustic folk inspired music

I re-read the op's post. (I just wish we could hear back from the OP's friend as to (his/her) thoughts on our posts?

(( My thought would be when there's no feedback from the OP's  friend, so all of this becomes an exercise in talking amongst ourselves without the original intent (I) had of hopefully getting some feedback and if we are helping at all)). Having said that, the OP's friend wasn't too interested in a strict interpretation of (folk) in his/her request? It was "acoustic folk inspired".

lp2cd:, I do take your point for a strict interpretation of "folk". I listened a little to Eddi Reader that you posted above, it may be "folk inspired" but I believe every one of my recommendations are "folk inspired" as well. I focus more on the song/lyrics and their interpretation/presentation when I try to classify a song.artist into a specific genre. Like I said above, I think classifying specific genres are very hard to do these days. That's just my humble opinion. I would never think of Billy Joel as folk.

bdp24:, I thought Mary Gauthier was a great recommendation! If not, how would others classify her, in one word?

I would recommend a recent record show find, The Stone Ponies "S/T". I believe it would fit in the traditional "folk" genre very well but would not fit into the OP's friend's request who also wanted, "new, smart, beautifully written". It just doesn't fit the "new" portion.

When folk music is mentioned Kate Wolf deserves notice. She had a brief 10 year recording span due to illness and eventually death. Had she survived her talent would have emerged into the mainstream during the "folk" revival of the late 80's-early 90's!

Yep Slaw, Mary Gauthier is one of the best somewhat new artists, imo. But after lp2cd suggested she and some of the other recommendations aren’t really Folk (according to his definition), I could see his point. I guess she could be considered Singer/Songwriter (though that's two words ;-), which includes Folk, whereas not all Singer/Songwriters are folk. lp’s definition is from and of a purist point-of-view, whereas the request was for, as we’ve noted, Folk "inspired" artists/music. Is Mary inspired by Folk? Seems like it to me, but I’m no Folk music authority!

I'm sorry folks, but I'm terrible busy right now. I'll try to respond to some of the comments maybe tomorrow nite or more likely Sunday. Thanks!

bdp24:,

You may find this interesting....

An old family friend who has always been interested in my systems throughout the years and has been/is a vinyl lover and an aspiring song-writer/guitarist, recently told me that while he was living in Atlanta years ago, shared a stage with Mary Gauthier on some sort of talent night I suppose. (This is my brush with greatness).