Despite what some may believe, there's plenty of new music that still sets the spark in our souls ablaze today. With all the various genres and their ever-expanding subgenres, it will continue to grow. One in particular has been growing and at a very rapid rate: sprouting from the seeds of punk has emerged folk-punk, or more specifically, DIY folk-punk.

People everywhere are picking up acoustic and traditional folk instruments, writing their own music and tracking them out in smoke-filled basements, or on cramped tour vans with an old Microsoft PC and a shitty used karaoke mic. From old work vans to box cars, more and more kids are hitting the road and living the vagabond lifestyle, traveling town to town making friends and fans alike, playing house shows and venues in abandoned buildings and fields occupied by the local scene.

The lifestyle seems to entail the genre but you don't have to be quote on quote homeless to be in the folk-punk scene. It's just the idea of the freedom and living how you want in a society today which demands we follow its protocol. This is a big portion of what many artists write and talk about in their music. Finding who you are on the inside, breaking away from the ideals forced upon us and living a more simplistic lifestyle. They talk about equality for everyone, anti-racism, drug abuse, police brutality and fighting the Man. No Gods, No Masters.

Some of the earliest traces of folk-punk go back to the 80's with Cranford Nix and Daniel Johnston.

Cranford was more on the punk side of things. Fast-paced, high-energy music played on an acoustic. Nix wrote extensively about his drug abuse issues and what it was like growing up as a young punk battling his inner demons. Cranford was originally the vocalist and guitarist for a punk band by the name of The Malakas, which never managed to hit it big. It took only a few years after his death in 2002 for his music to really take off with the growing popularity of the internet and the ability to share music more widely. Much of his music can be found all over the internet, but there is only one LP for sale through the record company Rockin' Bones. A few of Nix's bigger hits are "Cigarettes and Heroin", "Spiders and Snakes", "Too Many Problems" and "Klonopins".

Daniel Johnston was more on the folk side of it all but has been a huge inspiration to many artists, and not just those in the punk scene; Kurt Cobain from Nirvana was often seen sporting Daniel Johnston's "Hi How Are You" album t-shirt at shows, and had also been seen attending some of Johnston's live performances. Recognizable by his slightly off-key singing and odd time signatures, Daniel had a beautifully odd way of composing the songs that have given birth to many artists' inspiration.

Perhaps the best-known artist who put folk-punk on the map is Pat the Bunny. Originally writing and playing music with Johnny Hobo and The Freight Trains, his sounds spread like wildfire with hits from the album "Love Songs For The Apocalypse", such as "DIY orgasms", "New Mexico" and "Acid Song". Pat's early stuff was all about hopping freight trains, doing lots of drugs and fighting the Man. He is a well-known anarchist, but as he grew, he realized that getting mass-twisted and living the hobo life wasn't all that he wanted. He chose sobriety, documenting his struggle for it through music. Pat just released his last album, "This city is killing me", a split with a kickass new artist on the scene: Ceschi. Pat currently plays the lead vocals and guitar in the band Ramshackle Glory residing from the West Coast.

There are, however, many new thriving bands on the scene that were given life by the godfathers of folk punk. Some of these bigger names include Days N' Daze, Cud Eastbound, The Ghost Mice, Jesse Stewart, The Rail Yard Ghosts, The Lost Dog Street Band, and Mischief Brew. The list could go on and on; these are just a few examples, and if you decide to check a few of them out and fall down the rabbit hole, you'll find an abundance of amazing songs written by kids just like yourself.

One of the biggest most recognizable names on the scene is Days N' Daze, with a super unique mix of punk, bluegrass, reggae and metalcore. Yes. You read that right. They have a superb way of blending the different styles together to give birth to a whole new subgenre, breaking down the barriers given to music by the industry. Writing and recording all their own music and booking their own shows, they make their own destiny possible without help from mainstream record label giants, who seem to only suck away artists' true inspiration and force their industrialized sounds on the record. DIY folk-punk is the war on those giants, showing people you don't need someone with money and a fancy name to make yourself heard and hit it big. Days N' Daze is currently in the middle of their European tour. Keep on rocking, guys!

There's new artists emerging on the scene every day. With more and more people listening to songs and watching videos posted by their friends, they're inspired to write and record something themselves on their smartphone or laptop. There's an almost endless number of artists out there. Many of them can be found on Bandcamp. A few other awesome new names on the scene to check out would be Bobby's Oar, Bat country, Local News Legend, Daniel Emmet Hart, and The Elephants. So, after you're done surfing your Facebook or Instagram newsfeed, check out some of these artists: I promise it'll change your life. I can't tell you about a punk rock song that changed the world but I can tell you about a couple that changed me.

Who knows--one day, you, too, could be riding in a boxcar to Sacramento with nothing but a change of clothes, your banjo and your dog, traveling to play a show at the punk house downtown, or being heard by millions of kids across the world every day singing along to your tunes on YouTube. So, pick up a guitar and press record, or just listen to these guys and go see a few shows. Either way, you won't regret it.