The Influence of Featured Artists in Modern Folk Songs

By Grace Holland

Seen through Noah Kahan’s breakthrough into the popular music scene after his song “Stick Season” went viral on social media, there has been a recent resurgence of folk music in modern pop culture. Contributing to the widespread appreciation of this genre, artists associated with today’s folk scene have created a lot of buzz through collaborations, adding features to their new releases.

Artists understand the excitement that featured artists can bring to fans. Including a second voice becomes especially beneficial when telling stories through the song’s lyrics. Many recent releases have gained a lot of positive attention by adding an extra voice in order to get multiple perspectives across.

Features are nothing new, but with the significance of collaboration in recent folk albums, there must be a link between the genre and the addition of other well-known artists. When taking a closer look at the individual songs that define the recent popularity of folk features, this link becomes more clear: the presence of a second voice contributes to the impact of a folk song’s storytelling.

Noah Kahan’s Stick Season, Hozier’s Unreal Unearth, and Zach Bryan’s self-titled album all incorporate elements of folk music, helping to define the presence of the genre in recent popular releases. All of these albums also include at least one feature with another artist, giving fans yet another incentive to listen. Exploring the features on these albums can give us a glimpse into a featured artist’s ability to affect the listener’s impression of a song.

Zach Bryan

With The War and Treaty, Sierra Ferrell, Kacey Musgraves, and the Lumineers, four out of sixteen tracks on Zach Bryan’s album include a featured artist. Released on August 25th, 2023, the album received multiple Grammy nominations, two out of three for one particular track: “I Remember Everything” with Kacey Musgraves.

“I Remember Everything” goes back and forth between their two voices in order to build the two different perspectives of a strained relationship affected by alcohol use.

Bryan’s lyrics introduce the issue of using alcohol as a coping mechanism, with the song’s opening line stating “Rotgut whiskey’s gonna ease my mind.” Musgraves responds with “You’re drinkin everything to ease your mind / But when the hell are you gonna ease mine?”

Without this back-and-forth, the song’s portrayal of the impact of alcoholism would not come across quite as strongly. Musgraves conveys the emotion of a person concerned about their partner’s alcohol use, unable to keep moving forward with the relationship; in response, Bryan’s lyrics illustrate a desperate attempt to get his partner to stay.

This particular feature clearly proved effective, as the track won “Best Country Duo / Group Performance” at the 2024 Grammys. It also became the first Hot 100 #1 song for both Bryan and Musgraves.

Soon after the successful release of his self-titled album, Bryan released an EP titled “Boys of Faith” on September 22, 2023. The EP includes two more features: “Sarah’s Place” with Noah Kahan and “Boys of Faith” with Bon Iver.

Preceding these longer projects, Bryan released “Dawns” ft. Maggie Rogers on January 27th, 2023. The single explores a past relationship, with Rogers and Bryan each expressing a different perspective on faith, but a similar feeling of regret. There’s a sense of both distance and unity conveyed through the two sides of this song’s story, only possible through the inclusion of a second voice.

Hozier

While the 2023 album Unreal Unearth only includes one feature, Hozier collaborated with one of today’s most influential folk artists. On his song “Damage Gets Done,” Brandi Carlile joins Hozier in singing about youth and the possible recklessness that comes with it.

When discussing “Damage Gets Done,” Hozier praises Carlile, revealing the motivations behind his choice to include her on the track: “Brandi has one of those voices that is powerful enough to really achieve that feeling of a classic, almost power ballad. There’s very few artists that I know that have voices like that, who can just swing at notes and hit them so perfectly with this immaculate energy and optimism.”

“Energy” and “optimism” are keywords here, as they imply that the song’s themes would not come across as strongly without these aspects of Carlile’s voice. She creates almost a conversation with Hozier during the song’s pre-chorus by singing the italicized lyrics:

The first car was like wings on an angel (You flew away)
Before the whole wide world got too thin (From me then)
I swear goodwill kept up the engine
You were steerin’ my heart like a wheel in your hands (Turn back, darling)

It is clear that the song intends to create an interaction between two perspectives, using pronouns “you,” “us,” and “we,” and ending the track with both Hozier and Carlile singing “All I needed was someone / When the whole wide world felt young.” Hozier describes the track’s lyrics as a “‘these are hard times but we’re gonna get through them’ type of sentiment,” emphasizing the need for Carlile’s voice to sing this reassurance back to him.

In his most recent release, the Unheard EP, Hozier includes Alison Russell on the second track, titled “Wildflower and Barley.”

Noah Kahan

Following the 2022 release of Stick Season, Noah Kahan continued to release updated versions of his songs with new voices accompanying him. Stick Season’s featured artists have included Post Malone, Lizzy McAlpine, Gregory Alan Isakov, Gracie Abrams, Hozier, Sam Fender, and, once again, Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile.

The addition of Post Malone to bonus track “Dial Drunk” shows Kahan’s openness to bring in artists outside of the folk, indie, and singer-songwriter genres. Gracie Abrams furthers the love story of “Everywhere, Everything” by singing “I wanna love you / ‘til we’re food for the worms to eat / ‘til our fingers decompose, keep my hand in yours” alongside the song’s writer.

By adding Kacey Musgraves to “She Calls Me Back,” almost a year after the song’s initial release, Kahan provides listeners with the other side of the story: Musgraves embodies the frustrated woman on the receiving end of excessive devotion. In response to “everything’s alright when / she calls me back,” Musgraves sings, “You love me and I don’t know why / I only call you once a week.”

Conclusion

The overlap between Noah Kahan, Hozier, and Zach Bryan’s releases – seen through multiple features of Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile, as well as Noah Kahan’s work with both Hozier and Bryan -demonstrates the prevalence of collaboration in the careers of many modern folk artists. By adding harmonies to further the impact of the track’s themes or creating a back-and-forth between two different perspectives, features bring the narratives within modern folk songs to another level.

Photograph of Hozier and Noah Kahan by Tyler Krippaehne.