
I know that Taylor Swift has dropped a new album this week. Folklore. You've got to stay on top of corporate music releases.
I just want to say that I wonder if a pop star can really make a folk record. What is a folk artist? And what is a folk event?
I think you are going to have to check out Terry Paul Roland and his Roadhouse programs. Terry knows his music. He is also connected to the idea that Music is connected to Society and that Folks are just regular people who work jobs, question what life is all about, and care about other people, animals, the planet. Just care.
The three-hour extravaganza we were a part of just yesterday was demanding in respects. At times, the sound was garbled, and the picture on the screen blurred. Videos submitted by the various artists did not always transmit with clarity.
And I know you might think this a bit odd to say-- but the wee problems in transmission were, in a way, part of the whole charm of the event. On Facebook, you could watch and comment on every video. Your comments would broadcast at the bottom of the screen.
Artists were diverse. Some naive and tremendously sincere. Others impeccably skilled and riveting.
And you could see people of all ages. I would have liked, maybe to see more in the way of 20-somethings. Still, isn't it refreshing to see older musicians who really commit and sing with great heart?
At this juncture, I don't want to single out performers, because everyone chosen to be on the bill contributed something to what is really FOLK MUSIC.
I do want to mention Dolly Ramirez. Who is this person? I have not heard a voice like this, well, ever. She has that quality that Ronnie Gilbert from The WEAVERS (Pete Seeger's fab group in the 50s) had. That power. She has that Joan Baez clarity and vibrato. But she is hip, too. She has that Angelino cool that I have long lusted after. With her partner JJ Schoch, Dolly has a project called CoolHouse. She does a lot to feature other artists, too, with her Divine Rebel site. Check it out.
It would be tempting to dismiss these efforts as more LA hipster poser-ism, but this just isn't the case. These people are inclusive, they have heart, they know Woody Guthrie music, and Terry Paul Roland, who has contributed to god knows how many music magazines, partners with them so nicely.
It's just rare to feel kindness in a music scene.Not competitiveness. And to hear well-made protest songs. To feel that all of the videos have been curated by someone who listens and loves what he hears enough to want to proudly share it with the world.
The internet is providing an excellent place for us to connect, to listen, and to unplug from the constant corporate messages we are getting all day long.
At 10pm last night, I felt like I had been at a music festival. I was so buzzed with all I had heard, I felt like a teenager who just discovered a soul mate in a song.
I have never had that experience listening to Taylor Swift. Even though everything about her seems perfectly arranged.
I'll go with a wee bit of mess, and mayhem, for those slices of perfect musical delight that happen when Terry plays the host, Dolly sings, Matt Lomeo plays his mouthie, Pat delivers a killer protest song, and all my soul sings is "Hello!!!" and then "More!"
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