http://notlobmusic.blogspot.com reports and reflects on news that affects the traditional / revival / labor / social justice folk, old-time, bluegrass and Celtic music communities in the greater Boston area.
"In this era of pop-driven acoustic music, notloB is keeping the folk tradition alive."
~ Jack Hardy
Big Jon Short is the man behind the Worcester Art Museum's Country Blues Summit, featuring some of the genres' top artists, including Blues Music Award winning duo Paul Rishell and Annie Raines, acoustic blues icon and 12 string guitar master Paul Geremia, 2012 Boston Music Award winner Erin Harpe, Marylou Ferrante, Big Jon Short and Zack Slik. Sunday, March 30: 11:30-12:30 - Renaissance Court - Big Jon Short and Zack Slik 12:00-1:30 - [remastered] - Marylou Ferrante 1:00-2:30 - Renaissance Court - Erin Harpe 2:00-3:00 - [remastered] - Paul Geremia 3:00-4:30 - Renaissance Court - Paul Rishell and Annie Raines
This is part of the KNIGHTS MUSIC FESTIVAL which features electric blues Friday night and Saturday and country (acoustic) blues on Sunday, When: Friday March 28, Saturday March 29, Sunday March 30, 2014 Where: Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609 See the full schedule at http://www.worcesterart.org/
...NPR Music claims "The Coen brother's sparked a bluegrass revival with their 2000 film 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'"
Oscar Isaac (left) and Justin Timberlake in a scene from Inside Llewyn Davis. Both are featured on the movie's soundtrack. Photo by Alison Rosa
NPR music has very twisted sense of music genres. O Brother was a fictional film which featured traditional, old-time music and popular tunes and songs and tunes...
...that was set in the the Great Depression of 1930's in the American deep south. This makes the setting , one decade and some 600 miles to the south of where bluegrass was conceived and born. Thank you for perpetuating the fallacy that old-time music is the same as bluegrass, NPR!
Proceeding on this faulty foundation, NPR Music infers a movie about a country blues and folk revival artist, Dave van Ronk, will cause new interest in folk music. Here we go again. Dave Van Ronk played country blues music and was a member of "the great folk scare", meaning he was a folk revival artist. As purported subject matter experts, NPR Music does not understand music genre definitions very well and as a result, intentionally or not, confuses the general public. Here are generally accepted definitions of the genres:
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. Bluegrass was inspired by the music of Appalachia.[1] It has mixed roots in Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English[2] traditional music, and also later influenced by the music of African-Americans[3] through incorporation of jazz elements.Immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland arrived in Appalachia in the 18th century, and brought with them the musical traditions of their homelands. These traditions consisted primarily of English and Scottish ballads—which were essentially unaccompanied narrative—and dance music, such as Irish reels, which were accompanied by a fiddle.[4] Many older Bluegrass songs come directly from the British Isles. Several Appalachian Bluegrass ballads, such as Pretty Saro, Barbara Allen, Cuckoo Bird and House Carpenter, come from England and preserve the English ballad tradition both melodically and lyrically.[5] Others, such as The Twa Sisters, also come from England; however, the lyrics are about Ireland.[6] Some Bluegrass fiddle songs popular in Appalachia, such as "Leather Britches", and "Pretty Polly", have Scottish roots.[7] The dance tune Cumberland Gap may be derived from the tune that accompanies the Scottish ballad Bonnie George Campbell.[8] Other songs have different names in different places; for instance in England there is an old ballad known as "A Brisk Young Sailor Courted Me", but exactly the same song in North American Bluegrass is known as "I Wish My Baby Was Born".[9]Continued at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_music
Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers; another is music that has been transmitted and evolved by a process of oral transmission or performed by custom over a long period of time.Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This form of music is sometimes called contemporary folk music or folk revival music to distinguish it from earlier folk forms.[1] Smaller similar revivals have occurred elsewhere in the world at other times, but the term folk music has typically not been applied to the new music created during those revivals. This type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional folk music, in English it shares the same name, and it often shares the same performers and venues as traditional folk music. Even individual songs may be a blend of the two.Continued at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music
Hey NPR Music, bluegrass is not old time, and folk revival is not folk!
And NPR Music needs to revisit its own mission statement... The NPR Mission The mission of NPR is to work in partnership with Member Stations to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures. ...to remind itself to write articles that better inform and educate, rather than mislead, the public.
Andy Cohen grew up in a house with a piano and a lot of Dixieland Jazz records, amplified after a while by a cornet that his dad got him. At about fifteen, he got bitten by the Folk Music bug, and soon got to hear records by Big Bill Broonzy and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, both of which reminded him of the music he grew up to. At sixteen, he saw Rev. Gary Davis, and his course was set. He knew he had it in him to follow, study, perform and promote the music of the southeast quadrant, America¹s great musical fountainhead. Although he's done other things- a certain amount of writing, and physical labor from dishwashing and railroading to archaeology, playing the old tunes is what he does best.
What I do mostly any more, is a sort of Country Blues 101. It¹s broader than that, of course, covering material from before the twenties to about the fifties, and ranging over the several states to which Memphis is adjacent. I grew up during the Sixties Revival in Massachusetts, but I¹m a Southern boy at heart. I made a point of acquainting myself with all the blues players I could, on record and in person. In my shows, I do material by Rev. Davis, John Hurt, Big Bill, Gus Cannon, Frank Stokes, Memphis Minnie, Bukka White, Barbecue Bob, Charlie Patton, Ted Bogan, Henry Spaulding, or any of a hundred other blues people.
