The Unthanks: Last

FOLK MUSIC GETS A HARD RAP in the UK. In the US it's different. Far from being the subject of derision, the long standing American folk music of blues and the main strands of folk — music that all helps to form a narrative of the times — is, some would claim, responsible for the entire creation of modern music. Because the blues is cool man. Blind dudes slugging hooch? Tales of pacts with the devil and swampy shoot-em-ups? Alright! Muddy Waters said the blues had a baby, and that baby was rock & roll. In Britain folk had a baby and that baby was ugly and was picked on in the playground.