Folk baroque

Folk baroque refers to an influential form of Anglo-American folk music which utilises the highly distinctive eponymous guitar fingerstyle at its forefront. It was pioneered in the early 1960s in England by Davy Graham and was subsequently developed by British guitarists Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn (and later performers such as Martin Simpson and Dick Gaughan). The style is highly percussive, polyphonic and features interpretations of traditional material from, most prominently, the British Isles, but also commonly the USA. It draws influences from forms (and evolutions) of American Folk Music, including Blues, Jazz and Ragtime, as well as aspects of various regional styles from around the world and early Western Classical Music (for example, Renbourn's usage of Medieval elements within his music). Graham's 1962 3/4 AD EP is a landmark release in the style, particularly of note being the track "Angi", which was revered and covered by countless fingerstyle guitarists, including Jansch, Renbourn, Paul Simon (with Garfunkel), Gordon Giltrap and Wizz Jones. With his early recordings and live work, Graham popularized the DADGAD tuning (since particularly common in Irish Folk Music and other Celtic folk traditions), which when combined with a highly melodic variation on 'Travis picking' (named after Merle Travis's syncopated guitar pattern), laid the framework for folk baroque, along with other tunings such as open D and G being commonly used.