Old friend looking for acoustic folk inspired music

The first couple of albums by Iris Dement. Kinda Folk, kinda Country, kinda Bluegrass, way more than kinda great!

The line between Folk, Hillbilly, and Bluegrass is not real clear. It's hard to know what someone else is thinking of when they say Folk. At one time it even included Rev. Gary Davis, Leadbelly, and Mississippi John Hurt.

Wow, good one lp2cd! I hereby rescind my Mary Gauthier suggestion, and admit that after considering what you said above agree she should not be considered Folk. But let me point out that the op's request was for suggestions of "acoustic Folk inspired music". That sets a far lower bar than did you in your definition of the term Folk. But yours is a good one!

Yep Slaw, Mary Gauthier is one of the best somewhat new artists, imo. But after lp2cd suggested she and some of the other recommendations aren’t really Folk (according to his definition), I could see his point. I guess she could be considered Singer/Songwriter (though that's two words ;-), which includes Folk, whereas not all Singer/Songwriters are folk. lp’s definition is from and of a purist point-of-view, whereas the request was for, as we’ve noted, Folk "inspired" artists/music. Is Mary inspired by Folk? Seems like it to me, but I’m no Folk music authority!

Slaw, Mary Gauthier on an amateur night?! Ya gotta start somewhere, I guess! Living in L.A. for as many years as I did, I saw some surprising things. One night I arrived at a little club I was playing at in an instrumental trio, and as I loaded in my gear I recognized the drummer then playing on stage: Don Heffington. Don was in Lone Justice, and has played with Victoria Williams, Buddy Miller, and other really high-quality artists. Playing for fifty bucks that night, same as the rest of us ;-).