Music recommendations - acoustic harmony
February 11, 2022 6:23 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for music, artists, or albums that capture the feel of a family that plays together. Maybe they get together for a monthly dinner, or at family reunions. Maybe some folk with banjos and fiddle, or maybe djembe and piano, or maybe horn and accordion, or any genre / culture, really. I imagine harmonious singing - 2, 3, 4 part harmonies etc. Instruments that don't overpower the singing. Audio quality as if recorded live in someone's bedroom.
Mountain Man is very good.
Christian / religious music is.... Great but I can't stand the lyrics
Sacred harp is an amazing tradition... Perhaps there is something in this genre you'd recommend? (but it's also very loud!)
The reason I ask this question is because I'm looking for examples of music that is not just nice to listen to, but where I can learn to sing harmonies and encourage my friends to sing along with me.
I know a lot of classic Americana and folk has massively skillful banjo and fiddle and fingerpicked guitar... That intimidates me very much, and I'd like to skip the whole "get gud" part of it.
Mountain Man is very good.
Christian / religious music is.... Great but I can't stand the lyrics
Sacred harp is an amazing tradition... Perhaps there is something in this genre you'd recommend? (but it's also very loud!)
The reason I ask this question is because I'm looking for examples of music that is not just nice to listen to, but where I can learn to sing harmonies and encourage my friends to sing along with me.
I know a lot of classic Americana and folk has massively skillful banjo and fiddle and fingerpicked guitar... That intimidates me very much, and I'd like to skip the whole "get gud" part of it.
Early iron and wine albums were literally recorded in San Beams bedroom… Also, fit the style you’re asking for.
posted by u2604ab at 7:08 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by u2604ab at 7:08 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
You want Dan Zanes: a lot of albums of songs with musicians, kids, family members, all singing fun songs together, sounding like a huge impromptu party. Lots of different styles, I'm especially partial to the sea shanties.
posted by Serafina Flummery at 7:16 AM on February 11, 2022
posted by Serafina Flummery at 7:16 AM on February 11, 2022
If you want to sample a cross-section of folk traditions, the University of Chicago Folk Festival is this weekend and they're streaming all of the concerts as well as the Saturday workshops for free!
The vocal workshops all look interesting, but more specific to your question, there's a shapenote singing school at 2pm.
posted by yeahlikethat at 7:29 AM on February 11, 2022
The vocal workshops all look interesting, but more specific to your question, there's a shapenote singing school at 2pm.
posted by yeahlikethat at 7:29 AM on February 11, 2022
A lot of Pete Seeger's career was devoted to making music exactly like this. His whole discography with the Almanac Singers and the Weavers, the former especially, is made for hootenannies. Get yourself a copy of the Rise Up Singing songbook for all the chords and strum along at home.
posted by dr. boludo at 7:30 AM on February 11, 2022
posted by dr. boludo at 7:30 AM on February 11, 2022
I immediately thought of Cielito Lindo, a family of four boys and their father.
From the website, "Cielito Lindo is a bilingual family music group that perform a variety of Mexican and American folk music. The boys (ages 9 to 13) each sing & play multiple instruments including guitar, vihuela, guitarron, & trumpet."
posted by olopua at 7:31 AM on February 11, 2022
From the website, "Cielito Lindo is a bilingual family music group that perform a variety of Mexican and American folk music. The boys (ages 9 to 13) each sing & play multiple instruments including guitar, vihuela, guitarron, & trumpet."
posted by olopua at 7:31 AM on February 11, 2022
Response by poster: (just a note - I hate the sounds of children singing)
Thanks for all the recommendations so far! I'll start diving into these.
posted by rebent at 8:23 AM on February 11, 2022
Thanks for all the recommendations so far! I'll start diving into these.
posted by rebent at 8:23 AM on February 11, 2022
The Kiffness does this sort of thing with international collaborations.
(just a note - I hate the sounds of children singing)
How do you feel about animals? Some of the Kiffness songs include them.
posted by FencingGal at 9:08 AM on February 11, 2022
(just a note - I hate the sounds of children singing)
How do you feel about animals? Some of the Kiffness songs include them.
posted by FencingGal at 9:08 AM on February 11, 2022
Wailin' Jennys?
or possibly the Jayhawks? That example might be a little too instrument-forward for you, but the harmonies always sounded like "driving in the van with buddies" to me.
posted by adekllny at 9:19 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
or possibly the Jayhawks? That example might be a little too instrument-forward for you, but the harmonies always sounded like "driving in the van with buddies" to me.
posted by adekllny at 9:19 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
The McGarrigle Family seems like a good match…
posted by sixswitch at 9:23 AM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by sixswitch at 9:23 AM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
Within Americana/folk/country/hillbilly music, The Carter Family are the canonical example of this. They're simply wonderful and they have nearly endless recordings and filmed/recorded performances. The older stuff will have patriarch AP Carter, matriarch Sara, and her sister Maybelle. See, as an example: I Love You Better Than You Knew.
The later stuff will have the next generation of Carters in various combinations, along with Maybelle. Eventually, it was pretty much all Maybelle and her daughters, including June, who eventually married Johnny Cash. You'll see tons of archival TV footage of that incarnation as they toured with Cash and appeared on his variety show regularly. Here they are singing a song both versions of the act did regularly: Keep on the Sunny Side.
The Carters are an American treasure and time spent exploring their music is infallibly well-spent. They do have a lot of religious songs, but plenty about love, hard times, and other topics.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:39 AM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
The later stuff will have the next generation of Carters in various combinations, along with Maybelle. Eventually, it was pretty much all Maybelle and her daughters, including June, who eventually married Johnny Cash. You'll see tons of archival TV footage of that incarnation as they toured with Cash and appeared on his variety show regularly. Here they are singing a song both versions of the act did regularly: Keep on the Sunny Side.
The Carters are an American treasure and time spent exploring their music is infallibly well-spent. They do have a lot of religious songs, but plenty about love, hard times, and other topics.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:39 AM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Brandi Carlile and the Hanseroth Brothers
First Aid Kit
posted by greta simone at 9:49 AM on February 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
Brandi Carlile and the Hanseroth Brothers
First Aid Kit
posted by greta simone at 9:49 AM on February 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
The Staves, though not their latest album because they're experimenting with autotune and I wish they wouldn't.
Fretless might be close to what you want.
posted by humbug at 1:11 PM on February 11, 2022
Fretless might be close to what you want.
posted by humbug at 1:11 PM on February 11, 2022
I think the Louvin Brothers fit your definition pretty exactly. They are family members, the music takes a bit of a back seat, and harmony is the whole thing--"blood harmony," that is. Their approach to harmony basically invented the Everly Brothers and, by extension, Simon and Garfunkel, to my ears.
I also would really recommend to you the Songs:Ohia album called "Didn't It Rain." It's not exactly down-home sounding big group singing harmonies or anything, in fact it's the opposite of that. But there are harmonies there, and there is sparse musicality which sounds to me almost improvised, and it may have literally been recorded live in a bedroom, I seem to recall that something close to that was the origin story. It's sparse, and it's bleak, but it has components of what you speak of.
posted by kensington314 at 2:06 PM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
I also would really recommend to you the Songs:Ohia album called "Didn't It Rain." It's not exactly down-home sounding big group singing harmonies or anything, in fact it's the opposite of that. But there are harmonies there, and there is sparse musicality which sounds to me almost improvised, and it may have literally been recorded live in a bedroom, I seem to recall that something close to that was the origin story. It's sparse, and it's bleak, but it has components of what you speak of.
posted by kensington314 at 2:06 PM on February 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
I apologize, I missed the comment about not wanting to hear Christian music. Louvin Brothers wrote and performed a lot of Christian music. I think a lot of people can appreciate from an ironic remove, because some of it is so over the top, or from an appreciation that it was dark and conflicted earnest--it was good enough for Graham Parsons, after all. But you may find it unlistenable, on review.
The Indigo Girls have a lot of what you're looking for, I think.
posted by kensington314 at 4:26 PM on February 11, 2022
The Indigo Girls have a lot of what you're looking for, I think.
posted by kensington314 at 4:26 PM on February 11, 2022
I immediately thought about Low, but then I kept reading the question. :)
posted by tayknight at 6:54 PM on February 13, 2022
posted by tayknight at 6:54 PM on February 13, 2022
https://www.norfolkbroadsmusic.co.uk/music
posted by Lookinguppy at 1:01 PM on February 14, 2022
posted by Lookinguppy at 1:01 PM on February 14, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by moonmilk at 6:52 AM on February 11, 2022 [1 favorite]