John Michael Talbot in NJ

Subject: John Michael Talbot in NJ
From: FriendOfFrancis
Date: 18 Aug 04 - 08:02 PM

Catholic musician/monk John Michael Talbot will be performing only 2 dates in NJ this tour. I am planning on going to the Freehold, NJ performance at St. Robert Bellarmine church. Anyone wanting more info, please PM me.

    Speaking of JMT, can his hybrid of classical and bluegrass playing styles be considered 'folk'? What about other liturgical or worship music that is more 'folkish'? How do you all feel about songs created for the church? Do they necessarily need a life of their own outside the liturgy, or can they/should they be considered a genre of their own?

FoF+

Subject: RE: John Michael Talbot in NJ
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Aug 04 - 10:28 PM

Well, I've been known to term some of Talbot's stuff "smarmy" when I'm in an ungenerous mood, but I have to admit that many of his songs work very well in a liturgical setting. Many songs I love to sing in church, sound overdone when recorded. Maybe it's the same with Talbot's stuff, that it has to be done in a live setting. I admit I kinda like his live recordings.

I think that most of us here at Mudcat would say that if it's "folk," it has to be at least in traditional style. Talbot occasionally uses traditional melodies and lyrics, not necessarily in the same song. His "traditional style" is 1960's Folk Mass - meaning that most of his songs work pretty well with three chords. You could probably play an electric drum machine and automatic handclap for percussion accompaniment.

Gee, I guess I'm in an ungenerous mood today. For my sins, I guess I'd better fire up a Talbot CD and see if I can find something good in him.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: John Michael Talbot in NJ
From: GUEST,Guest, FriendOfFrancis
Date: 19 Aug 04 - 02:01 PM

Joe,

          Thanks for your candor. I know that he and many others are what is considered an 'acquired taste'. Me, I enjoy the idea that his music is so totally removed from anything else I have ever listened to in my life... I was once a metal head, then into gangsta rap in its earliest days, then once I started living as a Christian I devoured first the hymns, then the way-out contemporary rock stuff that's so light on the lyrics, and finally I have come to rest in a place musically (both in listening and in my playing) that crosses and sometimes even works to eliminate the divisions between people... it's just the gentle, easy-going folk stuff now. Kind of hard for a conservative to be offended by the lyrics, and kind of hard for the rest of them to be put off by a rather jolly and round guy with a guitar.

    Anyway, I didn't think this post was going to see much action... nice little give-and-take all the same.

FoF+

Subject: RE: John Michael Talbot in NJ
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Aug 04 - 05:24 PM

Hi, FoF - I guess I have trouble with Christian musicians who seem a bit too "sincere," and Talbot is one of them. I think we need a little spice in life, and we need to be able to laugh at ourselves. Too much sincertity leads to single-mindedness, and that leas to closed-mindedness.
-Joe Offer-