Written by Abby Chadwick. Graphic by Charlotte Beck.
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of music typically reserved only for campfires and the backs of record stores. That’s right… folk music is back. Before now, folk never took much precedence in mainstream media. It was arguably a niche, reserved only for indie listeners and my grandpa. Today, radio stations and streaming services are pushing folk hits more than ever before. But why now, in 2024, is folk music finally getting some love?
There are a couple of theories to consider, the first of which has to do with a tiny, miniscule event in 2020 known as the global pandemic. During lockdown, people truly went back to basics. Between staying inside all day, missing out on social interactions and having to constantly stress out every time they’d open the news app on their phones, it seemed natural for people to try to find comfort in things like music. And to be quite honest, who could argue that folk isn’t the comfort food equivalent of music? Also, as more and more artists turned to things like at-home Instagram lives to fill the void of live shows, the appeal and allure of the acoustic sound grew, which acted as a gateway into theory two… TikTok.
To say that TikTok played a role in putting folk music back on the map would be wildly offensive to some folkies (but, to be honest, it is quite true). There is a phenomenon in genres like pop music where the artist not only plays the role of a singer or musician but also a public figure as well. People like Beyonce, Rihanna and Lady Gaga have long surpassed the title of simply “singer” and now just fall under the category of “celebrity.” Folk music, on the other hand, doesn’t follow this algorithm, arguably making it more difficult for new artists to break into the industry. But, with the utilization of Tiktok as a central advertising platform, more and more artists have had the opportunity to reach audience numbers typically only reserved for the most established of musicians.
As a prime example, take singer/songwriter Noah Kahan, to whom I am incredibly biased. Not to flex, but I have been an avid listener of Noah since 2019, and have watched him slowly creep his way into greater recognition by 2020. However, none of that compared to the “Stick Season” implosion in the fall of 2021. Using TikTok as his main promoting platform, Noah’s song “Stick Season” completely took off after being released and gave him such wide recognition that his album (also titled “Stick Season”) gained wild success and even earned him a Grammy nomination. All of this went down around the time Hozier’s “Unreal/Unearth” album dropped as well, so to say that folk music is back would be a wild understatement.
So, from a personal standpoint, I can attest that The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons were the soundtrack of the pandemic. And to anyone saying that TikTok is extremely addictive and only bad things can come from it, you’re probably right. However, I have found some of my favorite folk songs and folk artists through the platform, a few of which I’ll include down below.
“From Gold” – Novo Amor
“Time” – Angelo De Augustine
“Deep In Love (feat. Eric D. Johnson, Josh Kaufman, & Anais Mitchell)” – Bonny Light Horseman
“Sleepwalking” – Travelers
Abby Chadwick is District’s Chief Social Media Strategist and an interior design major at SCAD. She has been involved with District since her freshman year, with this year being her third as an editor. Apart from her role at District, Abby can be seen around SCAD walking to and from Clark Hall and enjoying the Savannah coffee scene. (Her go to is an espresso tonic, if you were wondering!)
