This has been interesting, but I don't see my complaint mentioned. In my opinion too many of the people writing music today don't write good tunes. I don't know what the words are because I can't stand listening to the music long enough to pay attention.

I first noticed this when I signed up to an early e-mail list devoted to 'folk music.' I feel like I live in a backwater & wanted a source of who to listen to apart from my annual trip to Old Songs. Lots of performers were discussed as being really hot. Every time I actually got hold of a recording of these folks, I found I could not listen to it. Then I reread the charter (or whatever) for the list & saw that it was intended to be discussion about singer songwriters. It was really only after this that I started making a distinction.

One of the first Real Audio feeds I found was the 'folk' program out of Kent State. I haven't listened in a long time & don't know if it's still on. It seemed to be mostly singer/songwriters & the list of singers I don't care about grew. I did discover a couple that I really liked as well.

Somewhere in all this I actually caught some of these singer/songwriters in a life show. In a live venue I sometimes found them very entertaining. They were funny, good guitar players & did have good things to say in their songs. It was just that there was no strong tune & taking a CD home from the performance was a waste of money. I really think some are almost more performance artists. I suspect there are people I've heard on the Web & disliked that I may very well enjoy live.

A few years ago I attended Clearwater, Old Songs and Falcon Ridge just a couple of weeks apart. I had a really good time at all of them. It's only at Old Songs that I was exposed to anyone who's recordings I wanted to own. I knew when I went that Falcon Ridge was more SS than traditional. I went wanting to give them a good try. It was the bands I liked most and just in general what went on at the workshop stage.

I think it was on the shuttle to Clearwater that I came to understand part of my disconnect. I told another passenger that I wanted songs that had choruses or that I could learn to sing along with. This other passenger told me he likes message songs & doesn't even notice the music. I think maybe that as people are more passive in their music consumption, especially if they don't sing, the importance of a good tune just becomes a whole lot less.

There's a coffeehouse series locally that books about 20 shows a year. The person who does the booking has taste that matches mine well enough that I have seldom been disappointed. I'll often go just based on the ad. I consistently enjoy Old Songs. There's a venue farther away that I only attend when I already know the performer.