Generation X Does Folk

Subject: Generation X Does Folk
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 12:26 AM

I introduce this topic with the full knowledge that the thread name alone could cause banishment to the CDP( Christian Deerhunters Page) In 1995, I heard a traditional tune on NPR by a group called Cordelia's Dad. The song was "The Sun and Moon" and is a variant of the very old song "Edward,Edward" a conversation between a mother and son about a crime he has committed.

"How come that blood all over your shirt my Son please tell unto me... It is the blood of my gallant gray hawk that haunts the wood with me..."

What struck me was the starkness of the vocal , the spare instumentation,the unusual rythm structure and most importantly the feeling of authenticity that is always there in the best folk music.I picked up the CD"Comet" and was pleasantly surprised to find the quality and power was consistant throughout.I was also pleased to note that all the members were in their 20's.Brings me ,at last, to my point. When I think of Folk Music I often picture the classic age of the 60's and figures like Seeger,Ochs,Paxton,Baez and others,as well as early archetypal figures like Guthrie and Leadbelly.But it occurs to me that for Folk Music to continue and thrive, the torch will have to be passed to the kids.Groups like Cordelia's Dad give me great encouragement. If anyone is familiar with other Gen-X Folk Groups, I would be interested to here about them.I am also wondering what other Mudcatters' views on the future of Folk would be....LEJ

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 12:44 AM

You couldn't be more correct. I sure do remember the sixties, but Cordelia's Dad (apart from having a wonderful name) are a big part of the future. Believe me, you won't get banned to the christian doe hunters.

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 06:21 AM

At the DC Getaway, I heard a group calling themselves The NexTradition. Mostly they do acapella work songs. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Bill D. might even like 'em. I know Barry does, he mentioned them in a recent thread and his group sang with them, perhaps at Mystic Seaport.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Aldus
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 09:13 AM

Nova Scotia is brimming with your folk musicians..Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie MacMaster to name but two. I am sure that the twenty-somethings will,like every other generation, provide us with excellent music. Also, I recall the "sixties" revival...but so much great music has gone on since then that I never feel obliged to look back at it as the only source of creative folk. I think the music has a great future and no one should be surprised by the talents of a new generation of musicians.

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Willie-O
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 10:22 AM

Yeah, they do folk alright. They do it better than us!

Cordelia's Dad was here a couple of years ago. Our local concert series usually books pretty "safe" acts for the small town crowd, but there was a cancellation, CD was coming through...I loved their show. Some folks were just downright mystified. Boundaries were stretched. It was more newsworthy than having Garnet R. here again, for sure; that's not a slur against Garnet of course.

This fall I booked a young bluegrass band called Heartbreak Hill for a show at our community hall. You might not know the name, but you've heard them sing if you have kids, cause two or three of them grew up singing in the childrens' chorus on all the old Raffi albums (they are scions of a famous Cdn folk family, surname starts with W, a rep they try to live down because its the only thing all those boomer-age music journalists focus on). Now they bill themselves as "Generation X Kic-Ass Bluegrass", and they do, too.

Second-generation folk-scare offspring tend to have better chops than their parents and most of their peers. You can just tell they were raised up right.

Bill

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Rich and Dee (inactive)
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 10:30 AM

Hi,

The Pogues did a lot in the mid-80's to bring a renewed interest in Irish-ish music to a younger audience.

I must've been in college when I heard them sing "Dirty Old Town", in that snarling, half-drunk tone of voice my punk-drenched friends and I were used to hearing in the popular music of the times. It was the first non-Unicorn Irish song I'd heard and it made me pause and reflect maybe folk music is about real emotions and events that effect people commonly. Maybe it's not all about a half-clever turn of a phrase or self-congratulatory social awareness. Maybe it's about love and home and family and luck for well or ill.

More and more younger people are hearing that in acoustic and folk music these days. I recall seeing Cordelia's Dad play several years ago and they are a powerful act.

Here in NYC a couple of years ago we had Four to the Bar, and Irish act with a couple of cd's available. Look for them. The Oyster Band has also managed to mix a folkly styling with a rock n roll sensibility.

And, while I don't need to hear traditional songs played at ear-splitting decibles on trash-can lids just for the sake of it, I do like the thought that these songs are perfectly suited for re-interpretation generationally given their universality of human emotion/experience.

If the contemporary ear is accustomed to hearing music played through electric guitars, then why not see what songs will hold their own in that setting?

Rich

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Pete M
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 03:28 PM

I don't think there was ever any doubt that the current crop of youngsters would pick up the torch, they may not have the public profile that their opposite numbers did during the Great Folk Disaster(aka revival) but we sometimes forget that in the '60's we were in our twenties and think that only those with our mature (giggle) and considered viewpoint are interested in folk. The only thing my two twenty odd year old sons would disagree with concerning your contention Lonesome, is being labelled "generation X".

Mind you Rich and Dee, I hope your folk education has now progressed to the point where you no longer think a song is Irish because it is recorded by an Irish group.

Pete M

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 05:40 PM

Your point well taken re: the term Generation X, which is probably even more inaccurate than the term "Baby Boomers".Both labels do have the value of giving some kind of handle to two generational groups that is identifiable by most everyone.Interesting that in the last ten years,as we "boomers" enter the gray hair stage, you rarely hear "baby" included in the term.

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 05:49 PM

Roger...yep. I heard 'NexTradition'...I did like 75% of what they did...and the other 25% was not bad...just not to my particular taste...(too 'hard-edged' and driving perhaps...something a lot of the younger groups seem to cultivate)....but certainly well within even my purist definitions...*grin*...now, if there were only MORE young folk doing something similar..

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Barry Finn
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 08:20 PM

Bill D & Roger, I'd have to say I went for them (NexTradition) 110% & I'd say I'm pretty much for old roots style. It's wonderfull to hear young ones keeping stride with their elders & more than just holding their own. Bill I think the hard edge in their worksongs is what I enjoyed & when they got to sucking in other voices the joint got to rocking, couldn't keep my broken feet from dancing when we were with them. We went to Old Songs last year & there was this gathering of very good Irish musicians, all kids (younger than 'X'er's, that's earlier than 20 right?) who didn't really know each other, starting up sessions & leading on while the aged sat in on the fringes pleased as punch. Still, I don't know why I hear more young ones playing than singing? Barry

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Anne
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 07:50 PM

Cordelia's Dad also performs Shape-note singing. Living in the Vicinity of Northamton Mass has allowed me to hear/see CDad many times. They are simply amazing. Also, they respect the music entirely. Some other "Folk " acts from the NOHO area which are The Nields, Peter Mulvey, Jim Infantino, not your typical Folk Musicians.

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: Will (inactive)
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 08:50 PM

I just got a couple of CDs by Eliza Carthy (of Waterson/Carthy parentage); one called Red, 'tother called Rice. Truly good stuff -- clean vocals, straightforward clear fiddle, enough other instruments (accordion, melodeon, piano, djembe, guitar, and so forth) to make it interesting. Its a wonderful continuation of the Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy heritage.

Subject: RE: Generation X Does Folk
From: BK
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 10:19 PM

The Unicorn, in spite of over-exposure in some times/places (& the wacky pantomine that often accompanies it) was a perfectly great Silly Song. I kinda think we can all use a silly/wistful song once in a while. "Irish," though, it isn't. (Not exactly; the Rovers did smooth the words a bit.)

On stage we usually say it's from the pen o' that great American-Irishmen, Shel O'Silverstein. (Vaguely sort of a "black Irishman?")

Cheers, BK