Best modern folk music

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[Image: Gwynth Herbert; Credit: James]

I grew up in Los Angeles on the soothing sounds of punk rock and new wave. So why am I doing a Folk play list? Because hints of Folk are turning up everywhere, and a lot of it is so good. Our parents had Bob Dylan and Joan Biez, and now we have Bon Iver and The Low Anthem. It is now just dawning on me how prevalent and important Folk music has always been. This month's play list is "Folk" in the loosest terms. All the artists below have embodied some element of Folk music in there songs and in their general sound (and if you look on their Myspace pages, you'll see that most of them give a "shout out" to one or more Folk artist in their influences section). If you never fancied yourself a Folk enthusiast, I encourage you to take a listen to this playlist. It might surprise you...it certainly surprised me.

Michael Anderson

Michael Anderson is the founding partner of, an independent music and entertainment company based in Los Angeles and London. His clients include Paramount Television, Sony Pictures, EMI (UK), The Naim Labels, The Local, Burberry, Kipling Media, and various artists worldwide.