Folk music is hard to define. Wikipedia really struggles but does identify some characteristics for folk or traditional music:
It was transmitted through an oral tradition.
The music was often related to national culture.
They commemorate historical and personal events.
The songs have been performed, by custom, over a long period of time.
There can be a fusion of cultures as people with different background mix together.
There was a significant revival in the interest in folk music after World war 2 creating what some people call contemporary folk music. This was originally acoustic based but from the mid 1960s onwards with The Byrds and Bob Dylan, it was electrified to create folk rock.
Folk and Folk Rock Live Albums Of The 1960s
The Byrds Avalon Ballroom San Francisco November 2nd 1968
The Byrds Live At Fillmore February 1969
Sandy Denny Live At The BBC 1966 to 1973
Donovan In Concert 1967
Bob Dylan Live in New York Gaslight Cafe 1961
Bob Dylan In Concert Brandeis University 1963
Bob Dylan Live At Carnegie Hall 1963
Bob Dylan Live 1964 Concert At Philharmonic Hall
Bob Dylan Live 1966 The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert
Fairport Convention Live At The BBC 1968 to 1974
Arlo Guthrie Arlo 1968
Ian & Sylvia Live At Newport 1963 & 1965
The Incredible String Band Live At The Fillmore 1968
The Kingston Trio College Concert 1961
Odetta at Carnegie Hall 1960
Pentangle Sweet Child 1968
Pete Seeger We Shall Overcome Complete Carnegie Hall Concert 1963
Peter Paul & Mary In Concert 1964
Peter Paul and Mary Live in Japan 1967
Simon And Garfunkel Live from New York City 1967
Simon & Garfunkel Live in 67
Simon And Garfunkel Live 1969
The Youngbloods Ride The Wind 1969
I thought I’d include Bob Dylan up to and including the notorious Royal Albert Hall concert in 1966. Beyond that I’m treating either as a singer songwriter or classic rock.
You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk
The All Time Best Live Folk And Folk Rock Albums
I don’t have a readers poll to find the best live folk albums for this decade but I do have a poll to find the all time best folk and folk rock live albums.
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Folk and folk rock live albums by decade – 1950s – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s –
We Shall Overcome, The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert is a live album by folk singer Pete Seegers.
It was recorded in New York on 8 June 1963.
When it was released later in 1963 it was a single vinyl LP with thirteen songs but in 1989 the complete concert was released with 40 tracks.
Continue reading Pete Seeger We Shall Overcome Complete Carnegie Hall Concert 1963
Live At The Fillmore 1968 is a live album by The Incredible String Band.
Continue reading The Incredible String Band Live At The Fillmore 1968
Sweet Child is a half live and half studio double album by British folk group Pentangle.
The live album was recorded at Royal Festival Hall in London on June 29, 1968. It was released in December 1968 with twelve tracks. Since then, seven more songs were added when the CD was released.
Live At Fillmore February 1969 is a live album by The Byrds.
It was recorded at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on February 7 & 8, 1969 and was finally released in February 2000.
This captures The Byrds at the time they were playing country rock rather than their earlier psychedelic rock style. The studio album Sweetheart of the Rodeo had been released in August the previous year was released the following month, in March 1969.
The Bootleg Volume 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964 – Concert At Philharmonic Hall is another archive live recording. It was recorded on October 31, 1964 in New York and the studio Another Side of Bob Dylan had been released a couple of months earlier in August.
It follows on from Live 1966 “Royal Albert Hall” and Live 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue.
This time, Bob Dylan is still a solo acoustic folk singer although it includes three songs from the yet to be released Bringing It All Back Home. Dylan was shortly to change popular music forever but we didn’t know it.
Joan Baez provided vocals on Mama, You Been on My Mind, Silver Dagger, With God on Our Side and It Ain’t Me, Babe.
Continue reading Bob Dylan Live 1964 Concert At Philharmonic Hall
The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert is a controversial live album by Bob Dylan.
It is one of the most famous live recordings ever made as one disgusted fan of Bob Dylan’s electric rather than acoustic songs yells out “Judas” before Like A Rolling Stone. Listen out for it and you”ll also hear Dylan’s instruction to his band to “play it fucking loud”.
And they do.
Feelings were still running high although the electric Bob Dylan first appeared on the Bringing It All Back Home album, released in March 1965.
For many years it was bootlegged and became known as the Royal Albert Hall recording but it is widely known that the Judas heckling comes from the concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in May 1966.
Bob Dylan started to issue a series of official bootlegs and this album appeared legally in 1998.
The group backing Bob Dylan in this concert were known at the time as The Hawks but they became better known later as The Band.
Continue reading Bob Dylan Live 1966 The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert
