Yeah for Art!! (Thieme, that is)

I personally dislike virtuosity for its own sake. Showiness and flamboyance? I have noted that often (but not always, certainly) those who are so incredibly able in their playing can't sing worth a hoot. To ME (who cares, right?) Old Timey is the WHOLE package. The instruments, the singing and the poetry! Folk music (again, to ME) is music that has come from and survived through oral tradition (or kitchen tradition) There are "folk" songs which aren't. I think that these are what might be called "synthetic old timey". Music created to sound like old time or traditional music but which were created last month or are created to speak to a particular event, political position, social injustice, etc. These can be wonderful and powerful but I try to keep these seperate from what I call old timey and don't really like "folk" as a description of that catagory.

I have a large white lapel button which says "Folk You!" I'm not sure where I got it but I know I have had it since 1962 or so.

I think that "folkies" are those people who like "Puff the Magic Dragon" or "Blue Tail Fly" (as opposed to Jim Cracked Corn). They don't like Old Timey because it is "bonafide" (to quote Penelope McGill-Warvey). I think that people who perform folk music, oral tradition music, music from other cultures etc. are performers and presenters of music which moves or informs us or both. I guess it is easier to call them 'folkies' than "people who perform and present music which moves and informs us".

I spent a lovely evening listening to the Ozark Hens (last Saturday) who sing and play old timey string band music and old style country gospel and confess that they do it because they have fun when they do. Me too. I had fun listening to them, I had fun playing in the jam after the performance. People who get jacked up about what is right, correct, impressive, showey and flashy are missing out and missing a point. In the old days, people played music because it was fun. How many of you expect to become "stars"? Reach fame and fortune? Secure a "following". And why?

Coyote Breath