What Susan says is what I say. I would like to add that I have received CDs from eight Mudcatters and I reviewed two in the January issue. I will be reviewing the others in the next couple of months. I'll be sending a copy of each column to Susan, who has offered to post it on Mudcat.
The columns appear in Tune Up, a publication of the Philadelphia Folksong Society available, only, to its members. The readership is around ten thousand, all of whom have an interest in folk music and most of whom buy CDs. The PFS produces the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the oldest, most successful folk festival in the USA. The society also presents such diverse programs as the Odyssey, which sends folksingers into public schools, a series of concerts, house concerts, workshops, library programs, children's concerts and community services, just to name a few.
I look forward to hearing more folk music CDs from Mudcatters. So far, there hasn't been an inappropriate one in the bunch. I love it when a plan works out.
For those who didn't get the earlier thread, I prefer traditional music but I don't reject traditionally based originals, out of hand. I am narrow-minded but lovable.
Best of all, I never write an unfavorable review. If I dont like a CD or, more likely, if I find the contents inappropriate for my column, I pretend I never heard it.
A pan serves no one except the reviewer. The purpose of the column is to encourage and reccomend. I dont have enough space on the one page to waste on stroking my ego at the expense of the artist. I save my strokes for more appreciative areas of my body.
So, if you think you'd like some publicity for your CD and, if you think it appropriate for my column, send it to me at the office.
Mike Miller, Philadelphia Folksong Society, 7113 Emlen Street, Phila PA 19119