In the 80s and 90s, music splintered into dozens of sub-genres. Acid jazz, hip hop, trip hop, deep house, and the many other styles that emerged in what was a fascinating musical time.
One of them was known as folk funk, strong melodies and poetic lyrics backed with grooves made for dancing. There were folk funk bands and DJs everywhere, all of them trawling op shops and record bars for older records to sample.
The folk funk style owes a lot to mid-late 1960s acts, who had fused folk and rock and added a bit of funk to the mix. The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and later Young), Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and more.
We’re diving deep this time, looking for the roots of folk funk, sampling some very groovy 1960s and 70s records, including one by Nancy Priddy, the mother of actor Christina Applegate, and a classic of the genre, Tin Man, by America.
