Last week, in a thread on "traditional musician," Sandy Paton wrote, "Later, of course, when money becomes a factor in the equation, "ownership" of a tune can become a matter of some importance. Among the non-professional folk musicians, no one thought about that sort of thing. Oh, one singer might say, "Yeah, I know that one, but that's Charlie's song," speaking of another local musician. This happened in the Miramichi Festival in New Brunswick. James Brown would never sing his own fine version of "Hind Horn" at the festival because that particular ballad was considered to be another singer's special performance piece but it was not a question of "ownership" in the sense of holding a commercial copyright to the material."

I have been experiencing this same thing at the Friday sessions from almost their inception. Essentially, the way it works is like this: a singer brings in a song new to the session and it becomes "his" or "hers." No other regular singer will do that song if the owner is present. Of course, if the owner is absent on a given night, the song is up for grabs.

From time to time, a newcomer will unknowingly sing someone elses song and that's fine; everyone will clap and otherwise thank the singer and nothing more is said. Now if the newcomer starts coming on a regular basis, someone is likely to commend the singing, but politely explain the custom of ownership. And sometimes, the original owner will relinquish all rights, especially if the new version is obviously better.Do bear in mind that this custom has just evolved by itself.

This topic is very relevant to us right now. Last week, we lost our wonderful friend and singer, Jay Smith. Jay had a rich and varied repertoire. Thus, some of us are trying to remember what his songs were so that others may take them up and keep them alive and strong and so that they may be passed to a new generation.

But, to the point of this thread, does this sort of thing go opn in your musical circles or anwhere else you know of?

Thanks -- Tom