What other artists or records are Richard and Mimi Farina-esque?

September 26, 2007 2:29 PM

I enjoy the recordings of Richard and Mimi Farina, what other artists and records might I enjoy? I guess this might be classified as "Greenwich Village folk", early 60s folk-rock.
posted by geoff. to Media & Arts (21 answers total)

Have you tried Pandora for recommendations?
posted by eralclare at 2:40 PM on September 26, 2007

Karen Dalton, Fred Neil, Duh...Pre-Electric Dylan! Fine tunes indeedy.
posted by sgobbare at 2:47 PM on September 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yeah, I just downloaded Dylan's 1962 Gaslight recordings, very good. I was hoping for more obscure recommendations such as that. Nick Drake's "Family Tree" is also sort of up my alley -- though it is at least late 60s and obviously not even American. Same sound and influences though.
posted by geoff. at 2:53 PM on September 26, 2007

Response by poster: I should say "sort of", not that I don't like it, but that it doesn't fit the criteria of Greenwich folk-rock (which I am using as a marker and not an absolute).
posted by geoff. at 2:53 PM on September 26, 2007

Seconding Karen Dalton. Also, don't forget Leonard Cohen!

For current performers that sound similarly, I'd recommend Joanna Newsom and Fionn Regan.
posted by pazazygeek at 4:11 PM on September 26, 2007

Sound similar. Similar.
posted by pazazygeek at 4:11 PM on September 26, 2007

What part of the sound do you like? Quite a bit of their sound was Richard's unorthodox method of Appalachian dulcimer playing. If it's not too freak-folk for you, the dulcimer albums that Bob Force and Al d'Ossché made are available free here: Hand Made Music.

If you have a higher tolerance of Greenwich Village Freak-Folk, I'd also recommend The Holy Modal Rounders, especially the album 1&2.

Neither of these have anything close to Mimi's voice, though.
posted by scruss at 4:12 PM on September 26, 2007

Dave Von Ronk.
posted by OmieWise at 4:40 PM on September 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

This isn't precisely the question you asked, but if you like listening to this music, you will probably *love* reading David Hajdu's book Positively 4th Street.
posted by enrevanche at 5:15 PM on September 26, 2007

Wendy Waldman? Slightly later than your stated time, but overlooked latterly.

Seconding Dave Van Ronk, godfather to them all. Well, one of their godfathers, anyway.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:30 PM on September 26, 2007

I like Mimi and Richard Farina. I also like folkies from that time period like Joan Baez, Jesse Colin Young, even sometimes Melanie. And, of course, Dave Van Ronk.

For more contemporary music in a similar vein you might like Vic Chesnutt, and some of the stuff by The Mountain Goats, Devendra Banhart, Iron & Wine, Pete Krebs or Calexico's latest. For vocals, try The Waifs or that woman who recorded that one album in the 70s and then went travelling with her gypsy wagon only to be rediscovered by today's indie rockers. She has one of those Sufjan/Devendra names... anyone?

For discovering weird old stuff from that era, some great, some lousy, you migth want to check out the Grown So Ugly blog, it's sort of excellent.
posted by jessamyn at 6:19 PM on September 26, 2007

If you’re into Richard and Mimi Farina, you’re pretty deep in... so its hard to tell from the outside where to go from there... maybe The Holy Modal Rounders. Have you read Richard’s novel?
posted by Huplescat at 8:13 PM on September 26, 2007

Try Sandy Bull; he recorded a couple of albums for Vanguard (Richard and Mimi's label) around the same time that are pretty nifty experimental folk oddities. From Allmusic's review of the first:

Sandy Bull should be a household name, as he was a true musical visionary who was clearly ahead of his time. This, his first album, is a truly auspicious debut. Blending Eastern, gospel, folk, and blues styles (and that's just a start), he gave a musical preview of what were to become commonplace forms (in rock and pop music) several years ahead of their time. This album could also be accurately described as one of the very first psychedelic records. The album is primarily Bull alone, aided only by jazz drummer Billy Higgins. The side-long "Blend" is a virtual travelogue of styles done in a then revolutionary modal tuning.

His 2nd album, 1964's Inventions for Guitar & Banjo, is even better, I think, but this best-of is probably the best place to start. Definitely worth checking out if you like the smart 60s folk thing.
posted by mediareport at 9:25 PM on September 26, 2007

Jessamyn's thinking of the recently returned Vashti Bunyan. I'd suggest Phil Ochs in his psychedelic period, circa Pleasures of the Harbor and Rehearsals for Retirement.
posted by Scram at 9:29 PM on September 26, 2007

Response by poster: Have you read Richard’s novel?

The way I came to Richard was actually sort of roundabout. I had an untitled MP3 from pre-Napster days which I really enjoyed but never knew the title of (later found it out to be Farina's Bold Maurader). Much later I was reading Pynchon's non-novel writings and inevitably stumbled upon his obituary for Farina and picked up "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me", at which time I remembered my favorite obscure song from way-back-when, and put two and two together. I bought the Richard and Mimi Farina box-set, and also checked out their live songs with Pete Seger on YouTube (Bold Marauder, House Un-American Blues Activity Dream, Joy Around My Brain), then tried desperately to find what else I would like from that era.

I enjoy early Dylan, but thought there had to be more, that this era gets overshadowed by later developments, much like all forms of art from that era seem to do. My friends recommended to me the "Peel Back Slowly and See" Velvet Underground boxset as having a few songs similar to that. I have to agree, and if anyone is interested, the demo reel of "Venus in Furs" is surprisingly reminiscent, but on a whole it was lacking.

This thread has been great, I'll be checking this throughout thread tomorrow on this somewhat esoteric genre. I either have on order or downloaded nearly everything mentioned here, and can't way tot read Positively 4th Street.
posted by geoff. at 9:30 PM on September 26, 2007

I'd bet you'll also really like a couple of early albums from British folk-rockers Fairport Convention - the beautiful, folksy, eerie What We Did On Our Holidays and the equally amazing Unhalfbricking, which has the Sandy Denny classic "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" Check the samples, they should be right up your alley. Also maybe look into Ian and Sylvia, who were an early, mostly underappreciated influence on folk rock.
posted by mediareport at 9:42 PM on September 26, 2007

"Percy's Song" from Unhalfbricking is probably your best entry into Fairport. Ok, I'm done now.
posted by mediareport at 9:44 PM on September 26, 2007

You might like the early albums of Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley's dad. Try anything before Lorca.

For another contemporary artist, check out Tom Brosseau.
posted by hydrophonic at 6:55 AM on September 27, 2007

This question is amazing. The Farinas sounded familiar, my mind jogged way back to 1975, and BINGO, the Farinas are in fact who did a song someone played me (Blue Marauder). Thank you!
posted by Goofyy at 8:31 AM on September 27, 2007

Sandy Bull is folk, and he's great (better than the Farinas, as far as I'm concerned), but he isn't very like them. He's much closer to the Fahey/Kottke/Takoma Records kind of instrumental freak folk.
posted by OmieWise at 10:00 AM on September 27, 2007

Time Has Told Me (Artist Index) is a great folk resource.
posted by mia_farrow at 12:16 AM on September 28, 2007 [1 favorite]