The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #75592 Message #1331299
Posted By: GUEST,Russ
18-Nov-04 - 01:55 PM
Thread Name: Why do 'folkies' dislike 'old-time'?
Subject: RE: Why do 'folkies' dislike 'old-time'?
Greg,
I feel your pain.
I was a member of the PFSS for one year because they had a series of concerts that I planned to attend and it worked out to be cheaper to buy a membership. Apparently whoever scheduled the concerts was fired or realized the error of his/her ways. They haven't scheduled anybody I am interested in since.
Anyway, the people who appeared to be in charge all seemed to be boomers or older. My age. So my guess is that the PFSS shakers and movers have gone the way of all us boomers. Their interests have narrowed and focused. However they used to feel about old time music, it floats no boats anymore.
Unfortunately, I see the same pattern elsewhere. I am thinking of another group in the Philly area formerly noted for its support of old time music that will remain nameless. Most of the people who make the decisions seem to have lost interest in old time music. Probably for the same reasons.
One contributing factor appears to be an increasing emphasis on beancounter considerations rather than music. Of course it turns into a vicious circle. Old time events are not scheduled because they won't attract a large enough audience. Because old time events are not scheduled the music does not have a chance to build an audience. When the goal becomes a bigger festival every year, the rules change, and not in ways to favor music with smaller audiences.
It doesn't help matters that the old time community in the area is so unpredictable. A group of us have learned the hard way that the local old time music community cannot be counted on to consistently support the music. It wouldn't surprise me if the PFSS has reached the same conclusions.
Old time music in the Philly area has always seemed to me to be something of a hot house flower. It has never been a part of the "indigenous" musical traditions of the area the way it is a bit further south. Maybe the surprising thing is not that its local popularity has declined but that it was every popular at all.
Old time music started as "fringe" music. It seems to have returned to that state. Not necessarily a bad thing.