The Country, Folk & World Recommendation Thread

[Safar]

As a soloist, but also with his bands, [Tony Rice] has taken the sometimes dusty genre of bluegrass to ever new levels since the seventies and transported it into the future. Always with him: his Martin D-28 dreadnought acoustic, which he inherited from his idol, teacher and role model Clarence White... Truly a guitar with an important history.

Tony Rice - Wayfaring Stranger (USA)

Spoiler for Tony Rice - Jerusalem Ridge:

[Safar]

Master accordion-player Steve Riley started the Mamou Playboys with fiddler Dave Greely (who has since left the group) in 1988. Both were students of Dewey Balfa, one of the greats of the music form, credited with helping the music expand beyond the bayou. They’re a Cajun band, deeply rooted in the traditions of the music, but not afraid to innovate and take risks. They’ve pushed the music in new directions, incorporating Zydeco and Swamp Pop alongside traditional Cajun tunes and their own originals into a stunning repertoire of great music.

Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys - La Danse de Mardi Gras (USA)

[Safar]

VARO are Dublin-based singers and fiddle players Lucie Azconaga (from France) and Consuelo Nerea Breschi (from Italy) who perform Irish traditional songs and tunes with arrangement influences from the Folk, Baroque and Classical traditions, weaving around the melodies with harmonies, drones and countermelody.

VARO - Ye Jacobites by name (Ireland/France, Italy)

Spoiler for VARO & John Francis Flynn - 'Green Grows The Laurel':

The Ramparts mark St. Patrick’s Day 2020 with one of our favourite activities - singing in a pub! "Rocky Road to Dublin" is a 19th-century Irish song written by Irish poet D. K. Gavan about a man's experiences as he travels to Liverpool, England, from his home in Tuam, Ireland. Originally popularized by Harry Clifton, it has since been performed extensively and become a standard of Irish folk music.

The Ramparts - The Rocky Road To Dublin (Ireland)

They deal with the early days in Deptford with Dire Straits, a soccer fan in a foreign city, a musician coming home through the snow and much more. Knopfler once again proves himself to be an accomplished storyteller. Apart from that, the new album convinces as always with exciting guitar playing and a characteristically warm voice.

Mark Knopfler - Drovers' Road (GB)

[Safar]

Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke joins the Hoodna Orchestra, Tel Aviv's leading Afro-funk collective, combining his enchanting vibraphone playing with the brass-heavy power of the orchestra in seven original compositions that pay tribute to the classic Mulatu sound while breaking new ground.

Mulatu Astatke · Hoodna Orchestra - Tension (Ethiopia/Israel)

A set of 12 instrumentals – ten originals, two covers – radiantly played by Cape Town-based pianist-composer Kyle Shepherd, double bassist Shane Cooper and drummer Jonno Sweetman, ... This one, then, is a cause for rejoicing, not the least thanks to a sublime cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ that finds the trio improvising over those gorgeous rolling chords. The rhythms of West Africa are here, too, oh-so-subtly woven into ‘For Oumou Sangaré’, a glistening paean to the Malian diva that reinforces her status as a pan-African icon.

The Kyle Shepherd Trio - For Oumou Sangaré (South Africa)

Spoiler for Kyle Shepherd Trio - Teardrop/Live in Cape Town 2024:

[Safar]

The unrivalled masters of 21st century Turkish psychedelic music play their own compositions with such a heavy dose of improvisation that every gig becomes very different than the one before attracting and pushing fans to experience more and more shows just like Deadheads.
Born in Istanbul in 1996, BaBa ZuLa features founding members Levent Akman (spoons, percussions, machines, toys), Murat Ertel (electric saz and other stringed instruments, vocals, theremin), as well as darbuka and percussion player Ümit Adakale and Esma Ertel on vocals and dancing.
Abdülcanbaz is an "Istanbul Gentleman", he is also known as the "Formidable Turk." He is a hero of all times, a legend which the people hope and dream of…He always uses his remarkable powers to help the virtuous, the just and the downtrodden.

BABA ZULA - Abdülcanbaz (Türkiye)

"Four young Turks from different Anatolian villages met and became friends during the 1960s, discovering in common their taste both for the traditional music of their land and for the new kind of music that Europe called "pop". Their names were Murat Ses, Cahit Berkay, Taner Ongur, and Engin Yorukoglu, all of them skilled musicians playing traditional Turkish instruments, to which they had added guitar, piano and organ by the time they launched themselves as a group in 1967.
Their kind of music, based on the exotic folklore heritage of Anatolia, enriched by modern rhythms merged with the impassioned strains of the Turkish national idioms, stimulated the formation of numerous other new groups.

Moğollar ‎– Kâtip Arzuhalim Yaz Yare Böyle (Türkiye)

[Safar]

The seven-strong band from Tbilisi are adept purveyors of the famous polyphonic singing tradition of Georgia, but they are also flying the flag for the lesser known instrumental folk styles of the region, bringing in dances and songs from around the Caucasus, expertly played on the emblematic Georgian instrument, the three-string panduri, accordion, frame-drum and given an extra shot of modern energy with the addition of keyboards, bass guitar and drums.
The band came together in 2011 and were playing on the streets of Tbilisi when they were heard by music producer Chabuki Amiranashvili who took them into the studio.

Bani - Gandagana (Georgia)

Spoiler for Bani - Diaco ბანი - დიაცო:

[Drjohnrock]

Originally Posted by Safar

Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys - La Danse de Mardi Gras (USA)

I love cajun, zydeco, and just about any other music from southern Louisiana and New Orleans. I've heard about this group for years but this is the first song I've heard by them. It updates cajun music without compromising its essence. Thanks for posting this, Safar.

[Safar]

Thanks for your comment, Drjohnrock. I think I listened to Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys some time ago without giving them the attention they deserve.
I like how they start their Sundays in New Orleans.

“When you meet Taj Mahal, it's like a day with an extra helping of cake,” explains Linda Ronstadt. The singer talks about Taj Mahal, one of the most fearless blues musicians of the twentieth century.
With a lot of tradition and just as much experimentation, he saves the blues from insignificance. Despite its massive influence on pretty much all major popular styles, the blues as a genre in its own right is still only a niche music.

Taj Mahal - Queen Bee (USA)

Recorded in Nashville with Keb’ and Taj co-producing, Room On The Porch finds the pair in peak form, playing to each other’s strengths and opening up new creative horizons more than a half-century into their storied careers. The songs are warm and inviting here, rooted in the joy of human connection and the power of positivity, and the performances are as timeless as they are adventurous, incorporating the full spectrum of American roots music from blues and jazz to folk and country.

TajMo - Room On The Porch feat. Ruby Amanfu (USA)

The Red Clay Strays is an American country rock band formed in Mobile, Alabama.
This is a really impressive collection that shows how accomplished these five musicians are – strong songwriting, powerful vocals and exemplary musicianship.

The Red Clay Strays - Wondering Why (USA)

[Safar]

The Soul Brothers, formed in KwaZulu-Natal province in the mid-1970s by the late vocalist David Masondo and keyboardist Black Moses Ngwenya (and still working as a band today, though with new players), was the outfit that shaped the sound of South African mbaqanga. That’s the name of a popular genre blending traditional African vocal styles and lyrical tropes with transformed borrowings from western pop. It grew from a predominantly Zulu-speaking fanbase to dominate Black South African hit parades for more than a decade.

Soul Brothers - Mama Ka Sibongile (South Africa)

[Drjohnrock]

Originally Posted by Safar

Taj Mahal - Queen Bee (USA)

If Taj has a signature song, this is it. He’s done the tune in a variety of arrangements and styles. He did it on Saturday Night Live back in day with a calypso feel.