Heavy sigh. . . .

There is nothing wrong with a classically trained singer singing folk songs. The only real problem is the singer's judgment when it comes to matters of interpretation.

I have seen a film clip of bass-baritone George London singing "Lord Randal," which, to my mind, he butchers. He gets very dramatic with the song and he makes it sound like "The Death of Boris" scene in "Boris Godunov," an opera he sings so well that he was invited to song it in Russia during the Cold War. But NOT the kind of handling you want to hear in folk song or ballad.

I have heard "folk singers" butcher songs in a similar manner, so it isn't the fact that a singer is classicaly trained, it's a matter of judgment and interpretation.

What is the difference between a trained classical singer singing folk songs a ballads and a "folk" singer who is city born and bred, who listened to Frank Sinatra and Perry Como and Elvis Presley while growing up, AND who learned their first folk songs from the records of Burl Ives, Cisco Houston, Kingston Trio, and New Christy Minstrels records—and who screws up a perfectly good natural singing voice by doing his damnedest to sound like he just rode into town in a pick-up truck loaded with potatoes?

Frankly, I get a bit fed up with members of the self-appointed "folk police" who arrogate to themselves the right to determine who should and should not be allowed to sing folk songs, and try to dictate how those songs must be sung!

I have been yapped at by such because I use a classical guitar rather than a beat-up old steel-string guitar, which is the only kind of guitar, they say, is right for accompanying folk songs. I've also been yapped at because I've taken voice lessons (to be sure I don't develop back habits and mess up my singing voice) and I've studied music theory in college.

"Folk singers shouldn't be allowed to do that!!" Oh, really!??

On the other hand, over a period of years I have sung college concerts and concerts in other venues, I've done several educational television programs, and I've sung in one coffee house or another—for regual pay—for years. So besides the the carping from a few individuals, I must be doing something right—despite by classic guitar, having taken both voice and classical guitar lessons, and studied music in college.

I think exposing folk music enthusiasts to classical approaches to folk music is a good idea. You might just learn something.

Don Firth