The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128206   Message #2876250
Posted By: GUEST,Rob Naylor
31-Mar-10 - 03:48 AM
Thread Name: What is the future of folk music?
Subject: RE: What is the future of folk music?
Will

(Jim C: it's my post above, too)

I definitely agree with you that it's easier for modern tunes than for modern songs to become part of the "canon"....and to be adapted and to morph with usage. My version of "Drummers" for instance, is very different to Russ's original, though it bears a strong resemblance to yours.

Incidentally, although the Russ B clip seems to have disappeared from YouTube, I do have the Transatlantic Sessions DVD set. However, Russ's guitar playing is beyond my skills to emulate, and with the other instruments adding to the mix, I found it much easier to pick up the tune from your own version. In fact, I've used your YouTube clips to pick up several tunes, for which you have my thanks again.

Some vocal stuff does mutate, though. For example, Tom Paxton's "Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation" has become "George W Told The Nation", and the 3 versions I've heard are all quite different....some different words in some verses, and in one case an entirely new verse added by someone English, but unknown.