The Sagebrush Rebel: How To.... Be a Modern Folk Artist in 5 Easy Steps!

Being a musician is getting easier everyday it seems. With home recording become a very viable solution, and sound equipment becoming more affordable all the time, music is becoming easier to invest in.

In the past ten years, a new, lo-fi brand of folk music has become very popular in the U.S. and folk musicians are becoming respected and adored once again. This resurgence has brought with it many different artists playing very different types of music, but there are a few simple steps to becoming successful just like them. We've collected a few you may not have thought about. Things like learning to play the guitar and such are pretty obvious, but there are some other things it will take to become successful.

Here's our top five ways to become a folk artist :

5) Use nature metaphors to describe everything.

Every folk artist is in tune with nature. Don't use modern metaphors that center on modern, post-industrial age objects. Describe everything as if it were an animal, rock, or other object found in nature. Love becomes roses, a cloud, a great elm tree. You decide what the metaphors are, but the MUST and I repeat MUST be animals, plants, or other things found naturally. Man made objects that are exceptions to this rule are things like buggies, plows, maybe a truck or two or a tractor.

4) No song is complete without birds/horses.

Every famous folk singer puts these two animals in every song. If a man shows up in a story you're telling in song, he comes on a horse, not in a car. People wake to the cock-a-doodle-doo of a rooster, not an alarm clock or the sun. When standing outside, there are always eagles soaring through the air. The ocean is full of seagulls. The river is dotted with ducks and/or pelicans. The road is crossed by birds. Trees have nests. Worms are caught by early-birds. These are universal truths and cannot be forgotten or forsaken.

3)Every artist needs facial hair.

There really isn't much to say on the subject. Examples of appropriate beards in folk music:

Sam Beam of Iron and Wine

Ray LaMontagne

Jim Croce

2) Audiences will NEVER take you seriously without an awesome hat.

This doesn't include baseball caps. Cowboy hats, sheepherder hats, and other western styled hats are acceptable. Examples:

Gregory Alan Isakov (also sporting appropriate facial hair)

Conor Oberst AKA Bright Eyes

Jakob Dylan (also with appropriate beardage)

1) To get that authentic, folky appeal, only beat up guitars will do.

A brand new guitar will not get you street cred. It would be like wearing the opposing gang's colors at your initiation. It just is not a good idea. If you own a new, or a guitar that looks new, you should promptly sand off some of the finish, smack the top with hard objects, and spill liquids that will stain permanently on its surface. One great example is this:

Glen Hansard of The Swell Season (complete with tidy beard)