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Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music.
Similarly, folk guitarist Sandy Bull's early work "incorporated elements of folk, jazz, and Indian and Arabic-influenced dronish modes". His 1963 album Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo explores various styles and instrumentation and "could also be accurately described as one of the very first psychedelic records". Later albums, such as 1968's E Pluribus Unum and his live album Still Valentine's Day 1969, which use experimental recording techniques and extended improvisation, also have psychedelic elements.
Musicians with several groups that became identified with psychedelic rock began as folk musicians, such as those with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Beau Brummels from San Francisco; the Byrds, Love, Kaleidoscope, and the Peanut Butter Conspiracy from Los Angeles; Pearls Before Swine from Florida; and Jake and the Family Jewels, and Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys from New York.Auslander (2006), pp. 76.Unterberger (2002), pp. 183–230. The Serpent Power was a psychedelic rock group with a strong folk influence. The Byrds was the most important American Folk rock band to incorporate psychedelia in their sound and themes.
In the UK, folk artists who were particularly significant included Marc Bolan, with his hippy duo Tyrannosaurus Rex, who used unusual instrumentation and tape effects, typified by the album Unicorn (1969), and Scottish performers such as Donovan, who combined influences of American artists like Bob Dylan with references to flower power, and the Incredible String Band, who from 1967 incorporated a range of influences into their acoustic-based music, including medieval and eastern instruments.DeRogatis (2003), p. 120. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, solo acts such as Syd Barrett and Nick Drake began to incorporate psychedelic influences into folk music with albums such as Barrett's The Madcap Laughs and Drake's Five Leaves Left.
In 2022, Uncut magazine published a CD called Blackwaterside: Sounds of the New Weird Albion, featuring artists including Jim Ghedi, Henry Parker, Jon Wilks, Sam Lee, and Cath Tyler. This led to the publication of an extensive exploration of Britain's new "weird folk" in Japanese music magazine Ele-King. The lead article looked at artists including Nick Hart, Burd Ellen, Elspeth Anne, Frankie Archer, Shovel Dance Collective and Angeline Morrison.
Vashti Bunyan has been labeled "the Godmother of Freak Folk" Nypress.com for her role in inspiring the new crop of folk experimentalists. David Crosby's 1971 album If Only I Could Remember My Name has been described as an early progenitor of the genre. Other major influences on later freak folk artists include Linda Perhacs, Anne Briggs, Karen Dalton, Shirley & Dolly Collins, Animal Collective, the Incredible String Band, Xiu Xiu, and Pearls Before Swine. Devendra Banhart would become one of the leaders of the 2000s freak-folk movement, along with Joanna Newsom.
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