Acoustic Folk Pop
tagStarted 1970Peak 1971-1978Last big hit still active
Stripped, guitar-and-voice folk pop where the acoustic instrument is the whole arrangement. Intimate fingerstyle or open-tuned strumming, light upright bass or brushed drums, and an unornamented lead vocal carry confessional, melodic songs. Production is dry and close-miked, prizing breath, string squeak and dynamic restraint over studio gloss; harmonies arrive sparingly for warmth.
History
Crystallized in the early 1970s as the singer-songwriter wave pared folk pop down to its acoustic bones. Cat Stevens and James Taylor made spare guitar records into hits; Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman renewed it in the late 1980s, and Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz carried the unplugged template into the 2000s coffeehouse-radio era.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer-songwriter
- https://www.allmusic.com/style/folk-pop-ma0000004449
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_music