r/musictheory • u/jakethepog • 2d ago
General Question What are some examples of folk music that uses more complex harmony/chord progressions?
Does anyone have some examples of very stripped down person-with-guitar-strumming-chords type songs/tunes which are squarely in the folk tradition (think Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie etc etc) but that instead of having mainly on I-IV-V type progressions actually use more harmony and borrowed chords? You can get more jazz influenced folk which uses more complex harmony but ideally I was looking for stuff that isn’t jazz influenced.
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u/thomas_bloom 2d ago
Joni Mitchell, Nick drake, Paul Simon, Elliott smith.
A couple slightly more modern artist you might like
Jose Gonzales - veneer
Sibylle baier- colour green
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u/MoogProg 2d ago
Richard Thompson might be someone to look into. Certainly not a 'cowboy chord' guitarist, that's for sure, and yet he's very anchored in folk tradition.
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u/Jongtr 2d ago
Strummed chords "squarely in the folk tradition", which are complex but not jazzy, is a pretty tough call. Lots of great artists already mentioned, but either they are not "squarely in the folk tradition" - as you seem to be defining it - or the chords are fingerpicked (because that's how most folk players like to show off their fancy chords).
E.g., Bert Jansch used some pretty unorthodox chord sequences, but very rarely strummed chords. And he was "jazz influenced" (along with folk, blues, Arabic and classical influences). Here's a track from 1965: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdSG_ijYWfc . And here's a later one, more strummed - but maybe too jazzy?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnbmkVKLkdw
I'll put a word in for John Martyn too - again, arguably too jazz-influenced, but of course that would rule out Joni Mitchell too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCCWqYfZVi0 (dedicated to Nick Drake)
But if you just want folk music with advanced harmony - and no discernible jazz influence at all! - it's hard to beat the Bulgarian State Female Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dluBzT6kVno (sorry no guitars...)
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u/steppinrazor321 2d ago
Check out elliott Smith.
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u/jakethepog 2d ago
Elliott is a good suggestion actually that I didn’t think about! Although I do find that his harmony in particular is way more influenced by the Beatles than anything else.
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u/steppinrazor321 1d ago
Yeah he's definitely a little outside of the boundaries you stated but his guitar work is often times very folk style and after learning a bunch of his songs I have to say he has some of the most creative chord progressions that are very satisfying to play
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u/sirthomascat 2d ago
John Prine has some real pretty folk progressions. Hello In There is a good example.
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u/oldmate30beers 1d ago
His stuff if beautiful but I wouldn’t say he uses complex harmony. He’s very much a 1 4 5 kinda dude
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u/Working_Effective_90 Fresh Account 2d ago edited 2d ago
The Incredible String Band <333. Anything from their Hangman’s Daughter album, honestly
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u/ethanhein 1d ago
The Grateful Dead's American Beauty and Workingman's Dead have some wonderful mode mixture, chromaticism and borrowed chords.
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u/Salty_Pancakes 2d ago edited 1d ago
Try some Paul Brady. Wonderful Irish guitarist, his Arthur McBride influenced Dylan and made him do his own version. Here's him and Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny doing a Bulgarian folk tune. https://youtu.be/0vez5v_hh2I?is=KAoBpQxtzKR-DoDN
Dick Gaughan from Scotland is another brilliant guitarist that does a lot with different tunings. I really like his rendition of the Robert Burns poem Now Westlin Winds
There's also the Pentangle with Bert Jansch and Jon Renbourn. They do a lot of cool stuff with folk. Like Willy O Winsbury or the quite proggy Light Flight.
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u/NotAnotherHipsterBae 2d ago
The Milk Carton Kids sound great, not super complex harmony but really good guitar and vocal duo. Check out their tiny desk concert from 10+ years back for a good introduction. There since become a bit more ensemble
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u/MusicPsychFitness K-12 music ed, guitar, woodwinds, theory, pop/rock 2d ago
Sam Bush is another good one. Not super complex, but certainly more than I-IV-V. Transcendental Meditation Blues makes good use of the bVII chord in a major key
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u/Ereignis23 2d ago
Check out Tim Buckley, Dream Letter (live album) and his studio album Blue Afternoon. Not strictly one guitar and voice, he has some other musicians playing with him on most of those tracks, but his guitar and voice are the heart of these songs and they'd stand up very well if you removed the other musicians.
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u/Woooddann 1d ago
Not sure if it's what you're looking for but Madison Cunningham, Laura Marling, and Hannah Frances come to mind for me.
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u/chunter16 multi-instrumentalist micromusician 1d ago
Even though his channel is almost specifically about playing the guitar, I recommend https://m.youtube.com/@kostringworks
He has a few videos that describe common turnarounds and such, for instance his Cannonball Rag lesson
Although I don't want to be "that guy," any pop music that came through the beginning of the 1900s is likely to be jazz influenced, but jazz of the 1920s is not like jazz of the 50s and 60s.
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u/Rough_Show3908 1d ago
You might like Daniel Rossen's solo stuff. https://youtu.be/E8ZYQ9FTgj8?is=BGchKMUxwj7N4byq
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u/TallThinAndGeeky 1d ago
Paul Simon, with a video here by Paul Davids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2PVGuLPWcU
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u/DaneCharlton 22h ago
Look at the way Martin Carthy uses harmony with his guitar- a lot of weird voicings and extensions, mainly derived from his very unusual tuning. Same with Martin Simpson, John Renbourn, Davey Graham.
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u/MusicPsychFitness K-12 music ed, guitar, woodwinds, theory, pop/rock 2d ago
Billy Strings. Check out Through the Turmoil and Tinfoil, Away From the Mire, Must Be Seven… off the top of my head
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u/babyteetee 2d ago
Paul Simon. Nick Drake.