Artists like Odetta

Peter Seeger was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, especially their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, workers' rights, counterculture, environmental causes, and ending the Vietnam War.

Karen J. Dalton was an American country blues singer, guitarist, and banjo player. She was associated with the early 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene, particularly with Fred Neil, the Holy Modal Rounders, and Bob Dylan. Although she did not enjoy much commercial success during her lifetime, her music has gained significant recognition since her death. Artists like Nick Cave, Devendra Banhart, and Joanna Newsom have noted her as an influence.

Huddie William Ledbetter, better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines", "Pick a Bale of Cotton", "Goodnight, Irene", "Black Betty", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck."

Fred Neil was an American folk singer-songwriter active in the 1960s and early 1970s. He is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material, particularly "Everybody's Talkin'", which became a hit for Harry Nilsson after it was used in the film Midnight Cowboy in 1969. Though highly regarded by contemporary folk singers, he was reluctant to tour and spent much of the last 30 years of his life assisting with the preservation of dolphins.

Judith Lynne Sill was an American singer-songwriter and composer. She was influenced by Bach, and wrote lyrics drawing on Christian themes of rapture and redemption.

Christiana Elizabeth "Tia" Wallman, known professionally as Tia Blake, was an American singer-songwriter and writer. She recorded the 1971 album Folk Songs & Ballads: Tia Blake and Her Folk-Group, which was released in France in a small pressing and reissued in 2011. Later accounts have described it as a lost or rediscovered folk album, and commentators have compared Blake with singers including Nick Drake and Nico.

Elizabeth Eaton Converse was an American singer-songwriter, best known under her professional name Connie Converse. She was active in New York City in the 1950s, and her work is among the earliest known recordings in the singer-songwriter genre of music in the U.S. Before and after the period in which she wrote her music she was an academic, writer, and assistant editor for the Far Eastern Survey, and editor for the Journal of Conflict Resolution.