Do you know any singer-songwriters or solo folk musicians who use a band name versus their real name?

NIN = Trent Reznor
Iron & Wine = Sam Beam
Trombone Shorty = Troy Andrews
Badly Drawn Boy = Damon Gough
Girl Talk = Gregg Gillis
RJD2 = Ramble John “RJ” Krohn
Mos Def = Dante Terrell Smith
The Notorious B.I.G. = Christopher Wallace

Lots of other rappers, too.

Not folk, but Five for Fighting is actually just one guy.

Sting
The Edge
Meat Loaf
Vanilla Ice
M.C.Hammer
Prince
Pink
Ice Cube

A Fine Frenzy=Alison Sudol
The Weather Station=Tamara Lindeman
Stellamara=Louisa John-Krol

Dallas Green goes by City and Colour (get it?) when he performs solo (i.e., not with Alexisonfire).

Bob Dylan isn’t a band name. It’s a stage name. He was no “band” when he started performing as Bob Dylan. He wasn’t even really a “folk” singer. He was just a guy with a guitar, a harmonica, a raspy voice, and some original lyrics.

Many performers who aren’t bands use names other than their birth names onstage. I suppose you could also call them the names of their acts, as opposed to their personal names. Here’s a list of some such. Authors also often use pseudonyms.

If you’re asking about stage names instead of bands, you may be looking for a different kind of answer.

@Jeruba And of course, his band went on to become The Band, which is barely a band name at all.

Oh, also Final Fantasy, who is singer & violinist Owen Pallett.

@wildpotato Can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone refer to Reznor as NIN. Otherwise, some good examples there.

@glacial It’s an interesting question which will make for some fine researching and listening to music, however, @Jeruba is correct. (And The Band is a great name for a band, as is The The, eh? But that’s just my opinion).

I thin we have to fine-tune your question. You asked singer-songwriters or solo folk musicians who use a band name versus their real name? Were you thinking, perhaps, of Jethro Tull which sounds like a guy’s name but is in fact a folk-rock (ish – please don’t shoot me) band?

Or perhaps something like Yazoo, or Dollar(band) who are (were) a duo, Dollar not being their surname, as opposed to Womack and Womack, or, in a sense, Simon and Garfunkel to name but two?

Tom and Jerry. Before Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were convinced to use their own names they went by that moniker.

This is off-the-cuff – so if you’d elaborate I’d dig a little deeper into both my musical memory and Google’s. ;-)

GQ. I’ll be returning to it.

@uberbatman I don’t take your meaning – unless you are objecting to my inability to reverse the second “N”. Oh hey look, I can copy and paste from Wiki: NIИ. There we go. Better?

@glacial I don’t have anything to add to the thread, but City and Color is actually the first one I thought of. He’s so great!

@wildpotato No, what I mean is people dont look at Trent Reznor and say “Ohhh look there is NIИ” or whatever, at most they’ll say he’s the lead singer of NIN. Not like with your other examples like Gregg Gillis who is most commonly referred to as Girl Talk

I meant, of course, @pleiades the OP. Sorry @glacial – my eyesight has been really off lately.

@Haleth Yes, I’ve seen him live a couple of times, and he puts on a good show. Not quite as good as Iron and Wine in my opinion – I was jealous that @wildpotato beat me to that one!

@zensky I love the The Band’s name! Especially since it recalls their origins. But… I stand by my description as “barely a name”, since it really just describes what they are. =)

I think it’s the coolest thing in the world that they grabbed it, so to speak, and had the gusto and foresight (IMHO) to call themselves The Band. Sort of like Corn Flakes. They are just flakes made of corn, but only Kellogg’s is registered to use it. Here, any breakfast cereal, before specifying a particular one, is called Corn Flakes. It’s become a generic term. But you’re entitled to your opinion.

Would you mind, @pleiades referring to my more specific questions vis a vis what you are looking for?

@zensky Yes, exactly! It is so wonderfully simple.

@Haleth Since you gave me a link, here are a couple. Are you also a fan of Alexisonfire? I couldn’t believe how different his style is in his solo work. I find Comin’ Home always manages to come up on shuffle when I’m driving across my country. It makes my heart ache a little.

For singer/songwriters, there’s The Mamas and The Pappas, The Byrds, and Wings.

There are others but it’s late and my brain is blanking.

Universal Hall Pass is one person, Melissa Kaplan. (Not sure, by the wording of your question, if you’re only looking for folk musicians.)

@Buttonstc But all those bands are comprised of multiple people, not a single person going by that band name like the question asked…

I guess the wording of the question Leaves a lot of ambiguity on precisely what is being asked for .

I’ve really not encountered any bands comprised of just one person :)

There is Possessed by Paul James. He is a solo folk singer named Konrad Wert from Autin, Tx. He plays all his own Instruments and sings. No other members. He also starred in a movie called The Folk Singer.

Morrissey
Union Station

Also White Antelope, which is the name under which Robin Pecknold releases his solo work (he’s the lead singer of Fleet Foxes).