Learn how to write folk songs that resonate with your audience. Follow these steps to craft folk songs that tell your story, express your feelings, and create your style.

Keep it simple. To me, the holy grail is one singer, one instrument -- most likely an acoustic guitar -- and great material. Some of the most enjoyable concerts I've ever attended were thus. Joan Baez, Don McLean and Pete Seeger are the greatest examples. John Denver also performed solo sometimes. Runner-ups are singers with very small backup bands -- John Denver, Harry Chapin, John Stewart -- or small self-contained groups -- the Kingston Trio, the Limeliters, Peter, Paul & Mary. You can tell from my preferences that I grew up in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Folk material needs to be potent. It needs to speak, comment or narrate. Folk material can be modern and current, it doesn't have to be about times gone past. For example; June Tabor, often regarded as the Queen of folk recorded an Elvis Costello song for an album we worked on called "All This Useless Beauty" This was a comment regarding Princess Diana. The beauty of folk material is that they can be sung acapella or with a full band but in the end the song has to capture an audience albeit willing.

How can you write successful folk songs?

Folk songs are timeless and universal, but they also require skill and creativity to write. If you want to craft successful folk songs that resonate with your audience, you need to follow some basic principles and techniques. In this article, we will explore how you can write folk songs that capture the essence of your story, your emotions, and your style.

1 Define your theme

Every folk song has a theme, a central idea or message that you want to convey. Your theme can be anything from love, freedom, protest, nostalgia, or identity. To define your theme, ask yourself what you want to say, why you want to say it, and who you want to say it to. Your theme will guide your choice of words, images, and sounds throughout your song.

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James Harrison Bacon (JHB)

BMI INTERNATIONAL RECORDING ARTIST/SINGER/SONGWRITER/COMPOSER
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Usually, I start with Personal Experience, then I'll move to relatable topics, also what I've seen in Life and what I've seen in others.

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Lennox B

Jamaican Entertainer
(edited)
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To be true , I would listen to an example and then do my style feeling the beat as i then think of a story or shorts to write about and provide the lyrics

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Colin Hanson-Orr

Nutritionist at Forage Technology Ltd
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A theme can guide the lyrics, and the lyrics can guide the song, but in many areas of life, following orthodoxy, kills innovation. Maybe a rhythm, or a melody, or a time signature, could be where you "hear" a theme.

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"Tiger" Will M.

Singer/songwriter; professional actor at ACTRA; changed stage name to "Tiger" Will Mason(Will is middle name)
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The best themes are those with a personal story to draw from. Events, love, or something like a story, one that either happened, or even an extrapolation of a real story.

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Dalila Mya

Sound Engineer - Music producer
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There's no standard recipe to write a great folk song. The best advice I can give as a songwriter is - find the inspiration through your life experiences. Most of the iconic songwriters in history have managed to write epic songs by sharing their feelings with notes.

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2 Choose your structure

Folk songs usually follow a simple and familiar structure, such as verse-chorus, verse-bridge, or verse-refrain. These structures help you organize your lyrics, create contrast and repetition, and build tension and resolution. You can also experiment with different lengths, patterns, and variations of your sections, as long as they support your theme and flow smoothly.

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Robert Monroe

Writer at Iowa Writers' Workshop
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Very carefully. Many ways to start. One is with a chord progression that moves or engages you. It helps to have some experience of life, and sometimes an event or experience can catalyze a song. It helps to have some sincerity and emotional openness, and some wit or wordplay can add some spice. Compassion, love, emotion, wisdom, and humor all can help. Compassion for one's fellow creatures animates many a folk song. Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez are some good ones to listen to, among many others.

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"Tiger" Will M.

Singer/songwriter; professional actor at ACTRA; changed stage name to "Tiger" Will Mason(Will is middle name)
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Often, I heard a melody or a line in my head, based on something I'd been struggling to write for some time. Example; we were talking about going to Navajo territory in Arizona, and I wanted to write as if I'd already gone, or was about to. There was a Springsteen-type line running around in my head for weeks: "it's quiet on the dark side of the valley tonight", and I struggled to find a use for it. With the trip coming, and the song idea forming, suddenly I had a use for it, and it became the first line of the 1st verse. The rest of the song wrote itself. It became verse, chorus, verse, ch, middle 8, chorus X2.

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3 Write your lyrics

Your lyrics are the heart of your folk song. They tell your story, express your feelings, and connect with your listeners. To write effective lyrics, you need to use clear and concise language, avoid clichés and filler words, and use sensory details and imagery. You also need to use rhyme, rhythm, and meter to create musicality and harmony in your words. You can use different types of rhyme schemes, such as end rhyme, internal rhyme, or slant rhyme, and different types of meters, such as iambic, trochaic, or anapestic.

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"Tiger" Will M.

Singer/songwriter; professional actor at ACTRA; changed stage name to "Tiger" Will Mason(Will is middle name)
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It's always different. Rhyme schemes etc are usually the last thing on my mind... Writing the story in song sometimes means telling the story is more important than rhyme or meter.

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4 Compose your melody

Your melody is the voice of your folk song. It carries your lyrics, sets the mood, and creates the hook. To compose a catchy and memorable melody, you need to use notes, intervals, and scales that match your genre, style, and theme. You can use major or minor scales, pentatonic or diatonic scales, or modal or chromatic scales. You can also use different types of intervals, such as thirds, fifths, or sevenths, and different types of notes, such as whole, half, or quarter notes.

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5 Select your instruments

Your instruments are the tools of your folk song. They enhance your melody, add texture and color, and create the atmosphere. To select the right instruments for your folk song, you need to consider your genre, style, and theme. You can use traditional or modern instruments, acoustic or electric instruments, or solo or ensemble instruments. Some common instruments for folk songs are guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, fiddle, or accordion.

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6 Record and share your song

Your song is ready to be heard by the world. To record and share your folk song, you need to use quality equipment, software, and platforms. You can use a microphone, an audio interface, a computer, and a digital audio workstation (DAW) to record your song. You can also use plugins, effects, and editing tools to polish your sound. To share your song, you can use streaming services, social media, blogs, or podcasts to reach your audience and get feedback.

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James Swan

Retired professor of EFL
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Keep it simple. To me, the holy grail is one singer, one instrument -- most likely an acoustic guitar -- and great material. Some of the most enjoyable concerts I've ever attended were thus. Joan Baez, Don McLean and Pete Seeger are the greatest examples. John Denver also performed solo sometimes. Runner-ups are singers with very small backup bands -- John Denver, Harry Chapin, John Stewart -- or small self-contained groups -- the Kingston Trio, the Limeliters, Peter, Paul & Mary. You can tell from my preferences that I grew up in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

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Letitia Rae Smith

Part Time days 8-Noon starting Dec 1, 2023
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today to make money in the music industry, just an acoustic guitar and a singer might get you a coffeehouse gig. you'll need a website with pics and videos to show to prospective buyers. the 50's-90's are gone

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Nick St.John

Songwriter/Music Producer
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You can hire me it will save you a lot of pain not money😎 songwriting is a gift and there’s no books or classes. You can take to be great at it just time.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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John Ravenhall

Freelance Award Winning Professional Record Producer and Mixer
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Folk material needs to be potent. It needs to speak, comment or narrate. Folk material can be modern and current, it doesn't have to be about times gone past. For example; June Tabor, often regarded as the Queen of folk recorded an Elvis Costello song for an album we worked on called "All This Useless Beauty" This was a comment regarding Princess Diana. The beauty of folk material is that they can be sung acapella or with a full band but in the end the song has to capture an audience albeit willing.

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How can you write successful folk songs?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Define your theme

2 Choose your structure

3 Write your lyrics

4 Compose your melody

5 Select your instruments

6 Record and share your song

7 Here’s what else to consider

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