Modern folk musicians have perhaps a bit more complexity and layering than their 1960’s predecessors. Rather than relying on guitar melodies, the occasional mandolin and tight vocal harmonies, folk singers today work with many different instruments, synthesizers and other tuning devices and sassier subject matters. The only thing that ties them to their older folk brethren is the continued reliance on storytelling, the continued dominance of the guitar and an often-political bent. Here are some of my favorite folk musicians playing today:

Belle & Sebastian. Summer and beachy pop music perhaps more than pop, this Scottish group produces interesting and slick tunes about teen love and gay baseball players. Stuart Murdoch’s lovely voice singing deceptively simple lyrics belies the group’s more complex, and often sinister, motives underneath their sunny-sounding songs.

Monsters of Folk. The super group of folksy heroes Conor Oberst, M. Ward, Jim James and Mike Mogis probably only made one album in 2009, but I’m sure that everyone is hoping that they’ll come back again to make another. Blending original songs from the artists’ original bands and some new arrangements fooled out on their tour, the result is an amazingly complete self-titled CD. Listen to the tracks “Temazcal” and “Man Named Truth.”

Erin McKeown. I always wanted to love Erin McKeown from her earliest albums. Her quirky lyrics, insane talent at a number of instruments and involvement with what seemed like the entirety of music history, she seemed like she ought to be great. She wasn’t, though, until her album, Hundreds of Lions, when she put all of her talents to work for the finished product, rather than to illustrate that she had a bunch of talents. Listen to the wonderfully sincere “You, Sailor” or “Santa Cruz” for an elementally perfect travel song.

Ingrid Michaelson. I didn’t like Ingrid Michaelson at first because I thought her music was too obvious, simple. But her catchy—perhaps simple—are likeable and easy, and that isn’t meant as an insult. Rather, easily accessible music can be a welcome respite from esoteric music, and Michaelson perhaps serves as the most obvious homage to her ‘60s counterparts.

Cave Singers. The Seattle-based band mixes folk with what sounds to me like the sounds of an old-fashioned religious revival. There’s something primal about Peter Quirk’s vocals, and the simplicity and effortless lack of preciousness in their music is what sets them apart from other bands that try to replicate what’s in the past. I’m obsessed with their song “Seeds of Night” right now.