Indie Folk

Indie folk is a style of Contemporary Folk and indie music originally sprouting from Singer-Songwriters in the early 1990s. Combining elements of Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Traditional Folk Music, Country, and occasionally Anti-Folk, indie folk as a style has a focus on light melodicism, rough production, and a general emphasis on lyricism. Many indie folk artists directly took this DIY approach from several Alternative Rock styles, especially from Slacker Rock, with lo-fi, noisy production being a popular choice for many artists in the genre. Although indie folk has roots in contemporary folk, it was spearheaded by indie rock bands such as Sebadoh, where their messy production style was applied to acoustic ballads. Singer-songwriters such as Elliott Smith and Dan Bern further exemplified the style by stripping the music completely down to acoustic instrumentation and an understated, intimate vocal style, moving indie folk’s focus towards lyricism.