The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #119547 Message #2601511
Posted By: Phil Edwards
31-Mar-09 - 03:06 PM
Thread Name: 1954 and All That - defining folk music
Subject: RE: 1954 and All That - defining folk music
If you can't spot a difference in scale between "sung by Donovan before he went electric" and "every song with the word 'trad' after it", either you're badly misinformed or you need new glasses.
But I'll gladly take the opportunity to clarify. The only thing I've really disliked about going to my local FC was the realisation, after five years of regular attendance, that traditional material isn't just another specialism, a little store of a couple of dozen songs which one performer can make his/her own - like "songs sung by Donovan before he went electric" or "songs made famous by Hank Williams" or "songs about my recent relationships" - but a vast ocean of music, with enough songs to keep any singer going for a lifetime. The realisation that I'd been missing out on all that music - I didn't like that.