Precursors The earliest known relationship between rebellious folk music and the ethos that would later define punk rock is that of
Woody Guthrie, often known as a precursor to the
punk ethos, who sung songs about
anti-fascism and the conditions faced by
working-class people, starting in the 1930s. In the 1960s,
New York's folk music revival scene spearheaded by artists like
Bob Dylan would birth other early precursors to folk punk which included underground
proto-punk artists like
David Peel,
the Godz,
the Holy Modal Rounders and
the Fugs whose style of crude vulgar folk music would later prove influential to
anti-folk artists like
Jeffrey Lewis.
1970s In 1977
London-born singer-songwriter
Patrik Fitzgerald released his first EP titled
Safety-Pin Stuck in My Heart which was subtitled "a love song for punk music". The titular song from the EP still remains Fitzgerald's most famous work and acted as one of the pioneering releases for folk punk by combining punk rock imagery with acoustic guitar and vocals.
1980s Formed in
Milwaukee in 1981,
Violent Femmes was one of the first and most commercially successful bands to fuse punk and folk, though much of their influence came more from early
art rock acts like the Velvet Underground. During the 1980s other punk and hardcore bands would pepper their albums with acoustic tracks or inject folksier sounds, notably
the Dead Milkmen and
Articles of Faith. An influential album was the punk-inflected folk-country album released in 1984 when psychedelic hardcore band
the Meat Puppets switched their style for their seminal release
Meat Puppets II. In the UK, the fusion of folk and punk was pioneered by the London-based Irish band
the Pogues, formed in 1982, whose mixture of original songs and covers of established folk singers, many performed in a punk style, led to three top ten albums in the UK, a number two single in "
Fairytale of New York" (1987) with
Kirsty McColl, and a string of top ten singles and albums in Ireland. The pioneers of a more distinctively English brand of folk punk were
the Men They Couldn't Hang, founded in 1984. Also important was the
Oysterband, who developed from playing English
Céilidh music with a fast and harder rock sound from around 1986.
1990s pictured playing live at the
University of Leeds, 1986, supporting
Conflict. The early nineties saw a general lull of interest in folk-influenced punk, but there were a few acts touring. Formed in 1990, Austin-based experimental bluegrass band
Bad Livers is one example, though the band used punk more as a cultural reference point than a musical one, often appearing wearing
Misfits shirts and occasionally covering
Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life". 1994 saw the creation of
Plan-It-X Records. which would later go on to release some of the most quintessential folk punk acts of the late 90s/early 2000s and have a large influence on the genre. Another genre-defining act,
the Moldy Peaches formed in 1994 featuring
Adam Green and
Kimya Dawson. singing and playing acoustic guitars. The band labeled themselves as
Anti-Folk. Formed in 1995,
the World/Inferno Friendship Society is a large ensemble that came to be influential in the later New York Gypsy Punk scene. They combined elements of
Cabaret, Punk, and
Klezmer into their grandiose and theatrical performances. At the close of the 1990s, Celtic punk had a revival as bands like
Dropkick Murphys,
Flogging Molly,
Greenland Whalefishers, and
the Real McKenzies started to experience a wider commercial notice. This wave of bands, who often mixed Pogues-derived sounds with those of
street punk bands like
Cockney Rejects, spawned imitators worldwide.
2000s In the early 2000s, a Plan-It-X Records sound, heavily influenced by underground 1990s pop punk and classic
DIY ethic began to take shape. For many in the punk community, the record label has become synonymous with folk punk, though they have also released electric acts with little or no folk influence. In the Northeastern US, yet another community was emerging around the band
Mischief Brew and Fistolo Records. These acts merged the DIY punk underground with '60s radical folk in the vein of
Phil Ochs and contemporary
anarchist folk musicians like
David Rovics. Notable artists from the Northeast at this time were punk/
appalachian hybrids
the Can Kickers, and influential singer/songwriter
Pat the Bunny under the name
Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. Pat later went on to form
Wingnut Dishwashers Union in the late 2000s. He is considered by many to be a highly definitive folk punk artist. During this period, the genre gained increased attention as
Against Me! from
Gainesville, Florida achieved mainstream success; however, this coincided with a shift away from their original folk sound. In the mid-2000s, the west coast began to produce its own DIY scene of folk punk artists with a different sound, connected with
Santa Cruz's Blackbird Raum who feature a completely acoustic lineup based entirely around traditional instruments, but with fast punk rhythms and bleak, political lyrics influenced by
crust punk. They are closely associated with the all-acoustic hardcore band
Hail Seizures and the
Northwest Folklife festival folk-punk stage. These west coast bands play acoustically in order to
busk. This time also hosted the rise of folk punk created in the Southwest United States.
AJJ began in 2004 in
Phoenix, AZ drawing inspiration from and collaborating with artists around the country. In 2004, the Moldy Peaches split up and
Kimya Dawson began releasing solo work. In 2007, her music was featured extensively in the soundtrack for the film
Juno. This soundtrack went on to win a
Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack in 2009. In 2006, Brian Sella and Mat Uychich formed
the Front Bottoms. Their first two albums,
I Hate My Friends and
My Grandma vs. Pneumonia, as well as their first EP, ''Brothers Can't Be Friends'', featured them as well as Mat's brother, also named Brian.
2010s and 2020s folk punk festival and demonstration In 2011, Pat the Bunny and others started Ramshackle Glory in
Tucson, Arizona. This turned out to be his last larger collaborative project, as in 2016, revered by many as an integral part of the community, he announced his retirement from folk punk altogether. He cited a dramatic change in his viewpoints, shifting away from anarchism in politics and punk music. 2016 saw also the death of Erik Petersen, member and founder of
Mischief Brew, and the subsequent groups disbanding. One of the most notable disruptions within the community occurred in 2017 when
Chris Clavin, founder of Plan-It-X Records and member of several bands including Ghost Mice, was accused of sexual misconduct by several individuals. The continued rise in popularity of several folk-punk acts during this decade was aided by the emergence and spread of musical videos on websites like YouTube. Some of these videos gained widespread recognition, as exemplified by
Days N' Daze's Misanthropic Drunken Loner, reaching well past 8 million views to date. Notably, three channels have emerged over the years, featuring folk punk acts in various formats: A Fistful of Vinyl is a Los Angeles radio show with live sessions every Thursday night on
KXLU 88.9 FM. AFoV releases videos of their studio sessions since 2012 periodically on YouTube. Shibby Pictures is a YouTube channel that features mostly indie music videos, short movies and documentaries since about 2010. The songwriting of
Matt Pless's has been compared to that of Bob Dylan. In 2014
Bostonian working-class folk-punker
Bryan McPherson got banned by
Disney from playing
Anaheim's House of Blues, due to his political lyrics. ==Celtic punk==