I see what you meant way back with your first post Ed. I don't think it is a problem with under representation. Consider us run of the mill folkies. How many of us are there as compared to the main stream?

The Side Door Coffeehouse in Brunswick, Maine, brings in as many as 60 to 75 people when there is a popular featured performer. The same space is packed to the rafters for a concert by a mediocre local rock band. We do not represent the main stream, we are in a very small minority.

Now translate that to the black population. How many of them go to folk clubs? I would guess a smaller percentage the whites who go to folk clubs. If 5% of whites enjoy folk music perhaps 2% of blacks do too. (Just guessing at the percentages) And there are fewer blacks in these Untied States (intentional misspelling) than whites. (Definition of minority) Consider the number of black artists you know of. I have not been able to attend a large number of festivals but I have seen black performers and I have seen blacks in the audiences so I know there is some representation.

You also have to consider that one of the reasons we like this music is that in some way or another it speaks to something inside us. I like sea music. I have had a strong connection with the sea all my life. Much of that music is derived from black culture across centuries yet there are few black performers of this kind of music. Why? I don't know. Or consider the subject of many of the so-called Anglo folk music. How many black performers do you think would get that special feeling singing about a red haired girl or cheeks as pale as lillies? Sure the singer may be attracted to a person from another race but the song suddenly acquires other meanings in the ears of the listeners and some of those interpretations are ugly. And the song does not necessarily relate to his/her cultural background anyway.

Folk music connects us to our past. Much of what we are calling black music was either work songs or songs of hope to help an overworked, terribly mistreated people cope with their difficult circumstances. You need to remember that it wasn't very long ago that, in some southern states, a black man would get lynched for certain behaviors. None of this is conducive to a desire for black people to connect to their past. Thus the representation of black culture is bound to be small.