Could you call Tom Waits songs "folk songs"?

Cafe Society
1

Granted they are mostly set in the urban wastelandbut aren’t they really folk ballads in their most elemental sense?

2

I have him in the genre Avant Folk in my iTunes.

3

Maybe, up through Heartattack and Vine. After that, I don’t know what I’d call him. But I love both “phases” of his catalog. I suppose his themes were somewhat similar to the early stuff, even in his 80s and 90s stuff. Just not what I’d call “folk.” Doesn’t really matter, I guess.

Joe

4

I disagree. His earlier stuff was more jazz inflected; I think his later stuff is far more “avant folk” than his earlier stuff.

5

No.