The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #127292 Message #2837651
Posted By: Richard Bridge
12-Feb-10 - 07:08 PM
Thread Name: Do We Think We're Better Than Them?
Subject: RE: Do We Think We're Better Than Them?
Those of us who know what "folk music" means think we are better philologists than those who do not.
"Folk" is a matter of derivation. It is not a matter of quality or style.
Once upon a time, it was a matter of proving that one had respect for the paying of dues to sing a folk song in a folk club before going on to sing non-folk-songs. In that respect, folk-song-singers have roots that the performers of contemporary acoustic music have not.
Incidentally the remark attributed to Burl Ives above would have made him not a folk-singer but a folk-song-singer.