The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #46239   Message #685585
Posted By: GUEST,jonesey
08-Apr-02 - 02:14 PM
Thread Name: OBIT: Is your folk club dieing
Subject: RE: OBIT: Is your folk club dieing
My nephews and I have a loose party/jam band we call 'The Fabulous Saddleblasters' in which we play snare(w/brushes), acoustic guitar and mandolin. Our songs range from 'El Paso' to 'Welcome to Paradise'. 'White Wedding' seems to be a crowd favorite, also. We play at keggers and open stages around town. My nephews are 22 and 20. We make no distinction between 'Loch Lomond' and 'Pretty Woman'(which BTW never fails to make people laugh when the mando breaks into that opening riff). We do 'Good Times, Bad Times' bluegrass style and a funked up version of 'Don't Think Twice'. The point I'm trying to make here is that we are accepted by the entire generational spectrum because there is no pretense or rule of repertoire. We play music for 'folk' not just 'folk music'. As a result we've introduced young people to Hank Williams and the older ones to Green Day, etc. When we duplicate the instrumental break in 'Welcome to Paradise' people laugh and applaud. The only thing 'I' insist on in relation to the music is that we do it 'well'. My nephs and I have a great deal of mutual respect for one another. They've got a band in which I'm not even good enough to play in as their 'serious' project and my younger neph is a fine songwriter. The main thing was making the investment in terms of time and supporting and encouraging their efforts when they were in their early teens. As a result I've got people to play and sing with for the rest of my life and my 17 year old son is a pretty fair bass player! lol Hope this meandering response is helpful...What was it Graham Nash said about teaching your children?