Recently I saw an ad in the entertainment section of the Denver paper listing an upcoming concert by "Folk Outlaw Steve Earl". Now I like Steve, but certainly never considered him a "Folk Outlaw", or even a folk musician. Some of his tunes,example The Devil's Right Hand are terrific, and have the story-telling specifics and feeling of a Parable of one of life's lessons, that are trademarks of many of the best of folk and traditional songs. But the ad bears witness to the application of a label of convenience by the newspaper- an attempt to pigeonhole an artist.Folk Music has in many cases become an umbrella term, much as Rock Music, Jazz, Country-Western and Classical Music. Those five Genres, with perhaps the addition of the new term "World Beat", are made to encompass all songs and artists. Folk is further sub-divided into traditional, acoustic, Singer/songwriter, etc as a means of making sure that people like Bill D and Art, when fishing for new tunes and musicians , are at least dropping their lines in the right pond.

It is certain that "Folk" no longer means what it did in the mid 60's when the trad music revival was in full bloom. But I contend that that may not be a bad thing. It may be the means for a 16 year old fan of Jewel to discover Ian and Sylvia, or the Childe Ballads. That kind of cross-pollinization is perhaps folk's best chance to gain converts among the young.

LEJ