< screed on >

One can draw a distinction between a "folk singer" and a "singer of folk songs."

And one may quibble 'til hell freezes over about who is which (as is the wont of many who inhabit these threads here on Mudcat), but bear with me for the moment until you see where I'm going with this.

A "folk singer" would be a member of "the folk" (whatever that is). But to clarify that, let's go back to the root of the term "folk song." It was first used by the eighteenth century German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder. Among other things, Von Herder was into matters of nationalism and national identity, and he recommended to composers of classical music that if they wished to imbue their music with a national character, they study the indigenous music of the country, and incorporate its elements and themes in their own compositions.

Such as Sibelius did with works like "Finlandia," or Rimsky-Korsakov did when he tried to capture the flavor of Spain with his "Capriccio Español," or Ralph Vaughn Williams, an English composer, does with "Fantasia on Greensleeves."

"Volkslieder" (folk songs) was the term von Herder used. And this, as far as scholars have been able to determine, was the first use of the term "folk song" as a specific category of music, i.e., the music and songs of, again according to von Herder, the "rural, peasant class."

A "folk singer" is a member of this "rural peasant" class who sings folk songs of his or her own region.

A "singer of folk songs" would be a person of any class or locality who sings folk songs of any region or nationality.

There are other terms that may be even more appropriate in this latter case. Richard Dyer-Bennet, born in England, the son of a member of the English peerage, and raised in the United States, and a classically trained singer and guitarist, included many folk songs in his repertoire. But he did not refer to himself as a "folk singer" or even use terms like "singer of folk songs." He also sang songs of his own or other's composition which are distinctly not folk songs, but most of the songs in his large repertoire were folk songs.

He prefered the term "minstrel." A minstrel was a singer who often travelled from place to place, singing—and accompanying himself on a small, portable instrument—in the courts of the nobility, or in the town square (we call this "busking" these days), picking up songs as he went. He was a professional musician, because in order to keep doing it, he had to make a living at it.

Dyer-Bennet—and many other "singers of folk songs" who are not members of the rural, peasant class—make their livings basically the same way. One can still sing on the streets (busk), but there are also clubs, coffee houses, concert halls, television, folk festivals—and house concerts, which is getting close to performing in the halls of aristocrats who hired minstrels (or even such august musicians as Mozart or Beethoven) to perform in their salons for the entertainment of their guests and friends. One need not be prince or aristocrat these days; but one does need a house with a large enough room.

Minstrel. Or the French equivalent, troubadour. Or the Scandinavian skop or skald. Or the Celtic bard.

I am not a "folk singer" because I am not a member of the "rural peasant class." I was born in Los Angeles and, with the exception of a few side-trips such as Denver, the San Francisco Bay area, Vancouver, B. C., and Kingston, Ontario, I have spent most of my life in Seattle—hence, not "rural." Both of my parents were health care professionals and would be considered "professional class." Most of the jobs I have held, other than singing, although singing, too—engineering aide, technical writer and editor, radio announcer and newscaster—would also be considered "professional."    Including performing and teaching music.

But this does not preclude my right to sing folk songs and ballads. Or anything else, for that matter.

I do not have to have been on the deck of an English man o'war in the midst of a pitched battle with Barbary pirates to sing "High Barbaree," or have spent time in a logging camp to sing "Blue Mountain Lake," or be hanged to sing "McPherson's Fareweel." Or spent time in prison to sing "The Midnight Special." And I don't have to be a woman to be able to sing "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" or "He Came from his Palace Grand."

As long as I understand the song myself, and can put that understanding and emotions across to an audience.

I do not try to pass myself off as a member of "the folk." Frankly, I take a dim view of those city born-and-raised singers who learned all their songs from records and song books—where, incidentally, I learned the vast majority of the songs I sing—who try to pass themselves off as "rural peasant class" by dressing in their "scuzzies" before going on stage, or who affect a dialect or accent not their own. I have known singers who did that, but I've never done it myself. Save in some of the songs themselves, which may require dialect or accent if the song is to make sense. Singing "The Bonny Earl of Moray" without affecting a Scottish accent would be pretty damned lame!

Out of respect for my audiences, I dress well before I appear on stage. Not a tux, like Dyer-Bennet, but frequently in grey slacks, a light cotton turtle-neck sweater, and a navy-blue blazer (no brass buttons so as not to scratch the back of my guitar). Not quite formal, but not informal either.

However, I see nothing wrong in, say, Mike Seeger, Tom Paley, and John Cohen dressing in plaid shirts and bib overalls and doing a lot of "hayseed" clowning around on stage as "The New Lost City Ramblers." This is their "act," and they're not trying to fool anyone into thinking that they're genuinely "country boys" rather than guys from the big city.

Whether a song is a folk song or not is determined by the song. Nor by the person who sings it.

And—I reserve the right to sing any song I damned well please. And if someone doesn't like it, he doesn't have to listen to me.

< screed off >

Don Firth

P. S. Trying to put someone down for singing folk songs when he or she is not a member of the rural peasant class and not having been in prison and not laboring their life away in a hot, sunbaked field, etc. is a bit like bitching at Sir Lawrence Olivier for playing Hamlet when Olivier is neither a prince nor a Dane!

Sorta stoopud!