Best 1970s Folk Songs — 70s Folk Music
The best folk songs of the 70s (1970s) — 12 essential tracks from the decade's singer-songwriters, each linked to the album.
Reviewed by Callum Ashworth, 247 Album Verdict · Last updated · How we rank
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1S&
Bridge Over Troubled Water
The closing statement of the decade — piano, voice, and an impossible climax.
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2S&
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3CS
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4JT
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5JM
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6CS
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7JM
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8JD
Take Me Home, Country Roads
The state song West Virginia never officially voted for.
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9JM
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10JS
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11ND
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12NY
Tap the artwork or "Listen" to find the track on Amazon Music; "Watch" opens a YouTube search; the song title or "Album" opens its album page. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases and sign-ups.
Why is the 1970s considered folk's peak decade?
The 1960s folk revival, centred on Greenwich Village and figures like Bob Dylan, matured into a more introspective, personal singer-songwriter movement through the 1970s — critics widely regard this as the point where folk songwriting reached its greatest lyrical and melodic sophistication, before the genre's commercial visibility declined toward the end of the decade.
What's the difference between folk and singer-songwriter music?
The terms overlap heavily and we use them together deliberately — "folk" originally implied traditional or protest-rooted acoustic music, while "singer-songwriter" describes the more personal, confessional style that grew out of it. By the 1970s most artists working in this space were doing both at once.
Why do so many of these songs feature just voice and acoustic guitar?
Sparse arrangement is largely the point — 1970s folk songwriting prized the voice and the lyric over production, partly as a reaction against more elaborately produced rock and pop of the same period. Simpler arrangements also meant the songs could survive being played on a single guitar, which is part of why so many have endured.