Those of you in Australia, Canada, Ireland, England, anywhere---please try to imagine a situation where your own special traditional songs that you exalt -- the story songs of your history--the outback songs--songs of Lawson and Banjo and the unknown shearer's bards--songs done by MacColl and A.L. Lloyd--Lou Killen, Dan Milner, the Black Family, the Copper Family, the McPeake family------just about anything with your history involved--the semantic word-pictures that show us, vividly, where we came from and even how we got to the place called here and now----these songs are so invisible except in a few wondrous places like the F.S.G.W. Getaway and certain (but definitely not all) festivals that entire generations have been unaware of the songs for so long, due mostly to monetary engineering of "pop" that they are not heard regularly enough to become respected or have it be known that they even exist. That is, and possibly always has been, the situation with the native traditional songs of the U.S.A. We in the subculture called the U.S. folk revival have been insulated to a large extent from the mainstream popular music world. That was by choice, but we have often B.S.ed ourselves, by our very insulated musical existences, into thinking there's a huge world of interest in the musical gems we love. To my eyes, that surely isn't the case here in the United States.You in places where an interest in your music is a normal thing, you ought to truly appreciate your situation.
You here in the U.S. who are in places that you've found where the music is appreciated (like Mudcat, the Getaway, the Old-Timey music world and the North-East scene)---BE THANKFUL FOR YOR GREAT LUCK!
We in the U.S.should all realize that to a large extent the Tradition we care about is not safe.
Love,
Art Thieme