I've been meaning to read this thread for some time... just to say, Here! Well, I'm a bit older now, but I've been amazed... all the little kids I knew as a teen, and occasionally mentioned that they should come to a contra dance, or concert... are going to NEFFA without me! (well, so I'm in Scotland... wet walking.)

I do, however, wonder exactly what caught them. I think it was the dancing, and since there's not much to do in our small New England area for young people that doesn't involve getting really drunk, or driving a long way, the contras are pretty popular. I had the advantage of having folkie parents, Saturday nights we'd all sit around and listen to Garrison Keilor, and the few folk programs that were on PR... otherwise, I heard their recordings, borrowed from their collections, listened to my mother sing, and (perhaps most importantly, indeed!) we went to folk festivals... Champlain Valley, although I haven't been in years, Storytelling Festivals, and certainly the Clearwater, which I've worked for the past... 12 years? maybe more. My friends at school thought the idea was cool, most of my peers laughed. But they always laughed anyway.

Now in college, there are enough of us with similar tastes that we group together, we have a session Wednesday nights, in my house, because the pubs don't like us to sing over the footie matches. There's so much young talent to be inspired by, as well... I remember discovering Dar Williams, hearing Rachel Bissex do her "When I was a Boy," and then buying the album, long before she went on Lilith... and meeting her and working with her at Clearwater. Every young performer I've seen at festivals and such, or had the money to buy recordings of, has been very talented, and very inspiring.

I think what has been being said about schools and music teachers is a valuable way to try and get this out there... but my music teachers made valiant efforts with little to no enthusiasm in such a small and sometimes close-minded community.. especially close-minded among the youth. (I understand now why my eccentric family was never accepted. MY BROTHER and I didnt fit it - the adults could deal with my parents, but their kids couldn't.) Not only that, but Peter Amidon and his family even came to us every year... I felt we were lucky, everyone else hated it. Perhaps, if no one can think of a way to spark enthusiasm about what kids don't think is cool (in middle school, anyway), you'll just have to put up with us - the kids of folkies, and all our friends. But I'm not losing hope!

-Jessica