You don't make the rules but you certainly abide by them. =(

Album Rating: 5.0

forever depriving johnny of enjoying the greatest folk artist of all time is such a treat. reducing him to spite ratings is the cherry on top

(Don’t mind me, excuse me, pardon me. Pssst, Johnny, who would be your personal GOATs? Sounds like some recs I might potentially enjoy)

Album Rating: 5.0

the frequency with which you bust out the “this popular well liked thing sucks but this obscure asian artist is great” bit is bordering on self parody at this point

Album Rating: 5.0

anyway, best folk album of all time easily nothing else even has an argument. I mean what else is there. Blood On The Tracks? Blue? yeah no

I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard from The Tallest Mang, so I’m gonna have to listen in full and see what it do

Album Rating: 5.0

this album contains the essence of folk music in its purest form and then much more beyond that. doesn’t hurt that he’s the best guitarist to ever live

Album Rating: 4.0

Still my favorite TMoE album, although I haven't revisited it in some time. Gotta change that soon

Album Rating: 4.0

Joni's incredible for sure. Hejira and Blue are two of the all-time great folk masterpieces

And can’t go wrong with Leonard either. Definitely gonna check the others, thanks!

Album Rating: 5.0

honestly johnny my love for this album is so strong that I don’t even wanna have any sort of argument involving it, I would hope one day you can feel the same way about it as I do but if not I hope you feel that way about some other album

Album Rating: 4.0

@MoM: Have you ever checked out Joanna Newsom? She's a bit of an acquired taste due to her vocals, but I consider her one of the modern folk greats. Ys in particular is incredible imo

Album Rating: 5.0

yeah joni rules. never felt more sure about being part of apple music gang than when they took her off spotify. that’s brutal

@Koris
Been meaning to for the longest, but haven’t. I always enjoy folk and similar genres, but haven’t devoted much time to them. I’m definitely gonna check out Ys, thank you!

Album Rating: 4.0

I'll admit that my 5 for this is a very personal one. It came at a time when I was expanding my tastes beyond just metal and prog, and served as an excellent gateway album. I'd venture to say that this, Bon Iver's s/t, Ys, and Helplessness Blues were the most important folk albums for my personal musical growth

Album Rating: 4.0

I'd also include Blue on the list, but that one came just a bit later down the road

Album Rating: 5.0

jesus loves you johnny

Album Rating: 4.0

'cause jesus he knows me

and he knows I'm right!

I've been talkin' to jesus

all my life!

Album Rating: 5.0

btw johnny just wanna say, you acknowledging the talent, songwriting and musicianship… that’s how it starts

“every single facet of it just reeks of brittle white bread open mic pseudo-hillbilly concerted love-me-(puppy-eyes)-shitvoice naffness so rancidly that I don't think I'll ever come close to needing a rational pretext to hate it.”

Honestly, I’m probably just used to this self-seriousness from so many artists from so many genres. The put on, the act. So much seems to be this theater, that an intersection of identity and sincerity is great, but also a novelty that also feels like it’s then exploited and caricatured until I can’t tell what’s what and just hope I like the way everything feels at once.

Maybe I’m just misunderstanding the point or overthinking it either way!