Sunday, November 22, 2009

On The Commodification of Folk:
Billboard Adds Folk Charts; Public Radio Drops Folk Programming.





Facts first: chartmaker Billboard announced last week that starting with their Dec 5th issue, they will be adding a Folk Albums chart to their sales-tracking activities. Snip:

…The Nielsen SoundScan-based survey will house new releases from traditional folk artists such Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco and Monsters of Folk, as well as appropriate titles by acoustic-based singer-songwriters such as Carly Simon, Rosanne Cash and Joshua Radin. The 15-position chart, to be managed by Gary Trust, will run periodically in print and appear weekly on billboard.biz and billboard.com.

“Billboard’s Folk Albums chart will reflect retail activity of a niche genre with a rich history. Folk artists are among the most insightful songwriters and intimate storytellers in music, and we’re proud to offer a chart highlighting their sales achievements,” says Trust…

Noble language, that. But even at first glance, Billboard’s inclusion criteria is oddly suspect. Though I happily welcome Radin, Cash, and DiFranco, all of whom we’ve included in our pages recently, I doubt most of us count Carly Simon as folk; similarly, referring to popular indie collaborative Monsters of Folk as “traditional folk artists” seems to indicate a comprehensive disconnect between the modern moniker “folk” and both its historical meaning and its modern sonic norms.

Still, the news here seems initially heartening, if a bit late in the game. Billboard deserves some credit for their recognition of the staying power and market measure of the modern folkscene; it may have taken over half a decade for Billboard to acknowledge the genre, but it’s hard to imagine that having these albums off the popcharts and on their own page will not have some positive effects. If nothing else, the change in chart recognition validates folk in ways which - for better or worse - will likely bring greater awareness of the term and those who follow it to a larger audience, and that’s not nothin’.


But the mainstreaming of folk comes with its darkside, for sure. Here in New England, even as communities devote themselves to celebration of folk’s past, and even as most folk clubs continue to survive in the midst of a drawn-out recession, local folk radio is slowly dying out.

Recent news of programming changes at once-seminal folk and roots vehicle WGBH has drawn severe and justified concern from local folkfans, artists, and promoters. And though we here at CLD think of folk as a much broader tent, WGBH’s recent insistence that “the Boston audience for folk and blues will continue to be served by other stations, particularly WUMB“, has offended folk purists who insist that the AAA format which WUMB adopted in 2007 leaves little room for either older folk artists such as Seeger and Guthrie, or the modern inheritors of such traditional forms.

In this light, we might also suggest that Billboard’s move carries a significant risk, in that it changes the tone and tenor of folk marketing to a more commercial-oriented one - or, more accurately, that it confirms already-ongoing changes to the perceived relationship between folk and mass culture, just as the mainstreaming of folk threatens to leave behind the vast majority of what folk is.

If so, then our lot must not be despair, but action.


Not all action is well-plied, however. In this case, some people have responded to the abovementioned c-change by pushing back against public radio, and while I admire the urge, I cannot condone the approach. For better or worse, the current financial model of public radio depends on a substantive listenership willing to donate; it is through those donations that public radio learns what its audience desires, and if those running the stations have learned from past fund drives that their listenership is no longer willing to support folk and blues programming, then it’s hard to justify arguing that they should run themselves into the ground to serve a minority.

Instead, I maintain that, as the modern fragmentation of microcultures and audiences owes much of its current existence to digital media, so must digital media take up the mantle of resolution. And though local media may not be able to sustain sufficient interest in folk programming to support themselves, if there is enough of a global audience present to support traditional folkforms - and I believe there is - then it is to that global audience that we must turn.

Specifically, I believe that blogs such as ours, and the ones we’ve mentioned recently in these pages, must work harder to carry the underground, artist-centric nature of folk forward, through writing, sharing, house concert hosting, and other activities - lest the “Billboardization” of folk transform the conceit of “folk” into a mere marketing designation in the popular mind, thus pushing back against the very power of the folkways, and of the diversity of those artists who quite legitimately claim not just its sales designation, but its history and sentiment.

For if the new mainstreaming of folk music which Billboard’s changes represents does not trickle down to all folk artists, regardless of sales power, in the form of renewed interest and attention - and I predict it will not - it becomes even more necessary for us to celebrate those who would target a more honest and human connection than chart sales and mass appeal.

Today, then, in honor and anticipation of these changes, and in recognition of the pitfalls and perils which they embody, we present yet another collection of new and recent work from a few less-than-mainstream artists just recently come to our attention.

These artists may not be on the top of the charts, and maybe they don’t belong there. But each, in their own way, deserves your attention, too. And in the end, I think you’ll find that their connection to the folk world is undeniable, though they come from all corners of the rich tapestry we call folk.



Left With Pictures performs heartwarming folk with a nod to several folkforms; this Richard Thompson cover, for example, combines singer-songwriter guitar, delicate nufolk vocal mannerisms, british folkrock instrumentation, and sea shanty harmonies to great effect. The band calls its work “chamber pop”, and it’s true that it has a touch of the indie sentiment which follows the designation, but I challenge you to call this anything but folk at heart.

If you like it, check out the video of them performing the song on the Black Cab Sessions, and then try on their brand new debut Beyond Our Means for more.



Queerfolk singer-songwriter Lucas Miré contacted me in response to our recent post on Kasey Chambers, offering to share a few more rarities he had gathered; I’m indebted to him for those novelties, which will surely show up in some future (Re)Covered feature, but equally grateful for his inclusion of several of his own covers in the mix, all of which turned out to be wonderful, delicate, richly layered, occasionally dischordant bedroom-folk takes on some surprisingly successful choices from the pop and folkworld.

Lucas has recently finished working on his second album, Never Regret The Night, and is offering free streams and full-album downloads for a name-your-price deal over at his bandcamp page; it comes highly recommended, especially for fans of Girlyman, We’re About Nine, and other alternately joyous and poignant folk festival fare.



I found the quirky anti-folk of NYC-based singer-songwriter and comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis through the recent recommendation of several readers, most notably for his 2007 tribute album to the punk band Crass, which sets the fast-paced songs against a tinkle of relatively gentle guitar, harmonica, harmonies and bells without losing a bit of their original energy. Lewis’ combination of croaky-voiced humor and finger-picking style is eminently charming, and after several weeks track-gathering I’ve amassed quite the collection of covers and originals. Here’s two favorites:



Rock Plaza Central made a splash in the blogworld a few years back with their cover of Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback, which brought bongos, subtle off-beat guitar chords, a flowing fiddle, and their lead singer’s uniquely broken emo whine to the table in style; since then, the Canadian indie band has become a darling of the Daytrotter and Pitchfork set, but despite a Myspace designation as a bluegrass and Americana band, most folkfans would be easily excused for assuming their coverage and delicacy were merely a one-shot reversal. Until now, that is: their recent release of an otherwise extracurricular cover of Dylan’s I Want You reveals a consistent sound with deeper folkroots than previously assumed, perfect for fans of The Decembrists, Clem Snide, or Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams.



The sounds of vaudeville and the wry humor of filk music feature most prevalent in Altogether Now (Birds Bees Flowers Trees), the U.S. debut release from the UK’s Patrick & Eugene - along with banjos, ukuleles, whistles, and other instruments traditionally found in the world we watch on your behalf. Put it all together in this particular way and it’s barely folk, but the polka rhythms of this cover of Kylie Minogue hit Can’t Get You Out Of My Head speak to a grounding in a diverse set of cultural folkforms, and overwhelm any hint of morning commute marginalia which are so often the inevitable lot of such fun romps through the popworld.



I cannot for the life of me remember where I came across “rediscovery artist” David Potts-Dupre, who in his fifties has rejuvenated his career the hard way, coming up through the ranks of political gatherings and coffeehouse folk via Maryland-based musical collaborative TakomaZone. The countrygrass/ Americana Wilco cover which dropped as if from the sky comes from last year’s The Preacher and the Teacher, which represents the culmination of that journey. Like many of the originals and other covers on that substantive album, it reveals a troubadors sentiment and a tradfolker’s heart, and though a few of the tracks on the album are a bit earnest for my taste, despite both song and its performer’s advanced age, it deserves to be shared and celebrated.



Oh, and then there’s this current folkrock tour finale from Irish singer-songwriter and one-time Damien Rice back-up singer Lisa Hannigan, which speaks for itself:



We’re proud to do our part to keep the folkworld honest, broad, and rich by continuing to present and support a diverse set of artists, old and new, who claim the folk designation as their own. And we plan on doing so every Wednesday and Sunday for as long as we have strength to carry on.

But if you believe, as I do, that all branches of folk are worth preserving, then I call on you to do your part, too. DONATE to blogs which you feel serve the broader definition of folk, book tickets for summer festivals in advance, make it a point to support local folk venues, coffeehouses, and house concerts in your area - in Massachusetts, that would include such spaces as Passim and the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, the Iron Horse in Northampton, and the Notlob concert series in the Greater Boston area - and, most importantly, consider purchasing the works of those listed proudly in these pages and others.


For further reading, and to support the folk community writ large in all its incarnations, from roots and Americana to nufolk, we also recommend the following blogs:

Tell ‘em boyhowdy sent you.

Category: New Artists Old Songs, Tradfolk

10 Responses to “On The Commodification of Folk:
Billboard Adds Folk Charts; Public Radio Drops Folk Programming.”

  1. Paula
    November 22nd, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    Folk also seems to be on the edge of trouble in the land of satellite radio. After XM and Sirius merged, the folk channel “The Village” was often taken off the air, replaced by whatever holiday theme was current. Things have been more stable lately, but you get the feeling that it ain’t over.
  2. Smansmith
    November 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    Good read, I didn’t know “folk” was entering Billboard. Kind of validating but makes me wary at the same time.

    In a time where “folk” is starting to be a generic word like “indie” - it is the places and people you mention that are in it for the good of the genre and it becomes folk when you “know” it is folk music, ya know?

    Back on topic, I always have an internal struggle with popular culture and my preferred “folk” niche. Is it still a niche? That is another question, but I always remain a bit protective of the genre - its not for everyone, and I selfishly like it that way. While I still want success for the artists, I always like keeping them close and always fear something like a Billboard chart will lend to a watered down MTV version of the music I hold dear. just sayin’ ;-)

    F(olk)TW.

    S.
  3. lexy
    November 23rd, 2009 at 2:03 am

    as always… i’m so happy when the rss feed shows you have a new post. thank you for this blog and the great music! happy thanksgiving!
  4. Rock Plaza Central Cover Bob Dylan “I Want You”…Plus a Cover of Van Halen « Rock God Cred
    November 23rd, 2009 at 7:31 am

    [...] Click here to go to CLD to check Rock Plaza Central covering “I Want You”, and Van Halen’s “Panama” [...]
  5. Dan
    November 23rd, 2009 at 11:40 am

    re: “particularly WUMB“, has offended folk purists who insist that the AAA format which WUMB adopted in 2007 leaves little room for either older folk artists such as Seeger and Guthrie, or the modern inheritors of such traditional forms.”

    The problem with those “purists” is that their complaining seems to be disconnected from reality The reality seems to be that WUMB started a shift to AAA, and then apparently reconsidered, because their current playlist (if one ignores what’s on the syndicated show World Cafe) contains almost nothing that wouldn’t be legitimately called “folk”. The playlist is now pretty much the same as it’s been for the past 25 years, and if anything there’s a greater variety of both artists and selections than in the past few years.

    I think the most vocal “purists” are probably carrying a grudge against the station for some other reason.
  6. fran snyder
    November 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am

    Funny that the most promising media channel for folk music is the most modern - the internet. However, folk music is live performance at it’s heart, so thanks to the continuing growth of house concerts, we can help these artists find meaningful (and yes financially rewarding) places to perform.
  7. Jeff Boudreau
    November 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    On the use of the word “traditional” in relation to folk, as in “…The Nielsen SoundScan-based survey will house new releases from traditional folk artists such Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco and Monsters of Folk…”, Billboard and “Cover Lay Down” should be more careful. “Traditional” has a very specific meaning when coupled with “folk”.

    I submit none of these artists, save Ms. Baez’s rendition of Childe ballads, qualify under the definition given by Wikipedia:

    “Folk Music, Folk Song and Folk Dance are comparatively recent expressions, being extensions of the term Folk lore, coined in 1846 by the English antiquarian William Thoms to describe “the traditions, customs, and superstitions of the uncultured classes.” The term is further derived from the German expression Volk, in the sense of “the people as a whole” as applied to popular and national music by Johann Gottfried Herder and the German Romantics over half a century earlier….”

    Ms. Baez subsequent works, of her own pen and covering Bob Dylan and other, are to me post-folk revival, the revivalists being Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Jack Eliot and their ensembles and fellow travelers. To the same extent, Ms. DiFranco’s works covering the folk revivalist make her a post-folk revivalist.

    I think of artists like “Monsters of Folk”, who come more from the world of commercial pop and rock, and whose past records have been marketed towards a wider AAA audience, are beyond even those terms, what, I do not know, but certainly not “traditional”. Again, from Wiki, “The post World War 2 folk revival in America and in Britain brought a new meaning to the word. Folk was seen as a musical style, the ethical antithesis of commercial “popular” or “pop” music…”. “Monsters of Folk” may be “contemporary-folk” or even “pop-folk”, but do not call them “traditional”. Even Geoff Muldaur does not have a term. In his words, “The whole singer-songwriter thing has blurred the lines…A person standing there with an acoustic guitar is not necessarily playing folk music”
    ~ source - a recent interview with Betsy Siggins on Eli Polonsky’s “60’s and 70’s Revisited”, WMBR, Cambridge.

    I’ll leave the wordsmithing to other, I just ask they do not corrupt and misuse established definitions of the terms “traditional” and “folk revival”.

    The “Cover Lay Down” article goes on to mention the demise of folk (and blues, too) programs on WGBH-fm, suggesting the broadcast of live programs is inevitable. Hooey. WGBH is keeping two other genres, Celtic and jazz, because they are cash cows. More information about that can be read at http://notlobmusic.blogspot.com/2009/11/wgbh-drops-folk-and-blues-programs.html, from which I quote Jim Kweskin: “I can only assume this has something to do with the almighty dollar. Isn’t this supposed to be public radio and aren’t we the public. Folk music has been a mainstay on WGBH for as long as I can remember. Acoustic artists are as popular as ever and in some ways even more popular then in days gone by. I don’t get it. WGBH should be ashamed of itself. Well, as Ma Joad said, “We’re the people and you can’t stop us and you can’t lick us. We just keep coming, ’cause we’re the people.”

    Many of us are not willing to lay down to the suits running WGBH, NPR and their corporate cronies. We will be making our position known at the WGBH board of directors’ meeting

    Wednesday, December 2, 2009
    4:00pm - 7:00pm
    WGBH, Cahners Room
    One Guest Street
    Boston, MA

    More information at
    http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174621907156&ref=ts
  8. boyhowdy
    November 23rd, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    I’m not really comfortable with Jeff’s use of me as a straw man, since it misrepresents my position seriously. So, beyond what is apparent in the article, two short notes:

    1. Ani difranco’s work with Utah Phillips and in interpreting Pete Seeger’s own interpretations of traditional ballads gives her some cred in the world of folk revival, as Jeff notes. But the concept of a tradition is not a static one, and as such, using wikipedia’s definition here is especially suspect. I reject Jeff’s grant of ownership of the term “traditional” to me, when it was Billboard that used it - and I note that I had the same response to Monsters of Folk that he did. But I also note that to expect Billboard - who is clearly not speaking to “folk purists” such as Jeff - to use the term “traditional” in the way that he means it is to misunderstand what Billboard is trying to do, and who they are speaking to and for - better luck getting pro-lifers to use the term anti-abortion; in both cases, it’s the minset which sets the terms for language use, and opposing sides are entitled to their own use of it, for after all, language - like folksong - is fluid.

    Which is to say: Billboard says “traditional folk artists”, not “traditional folk” artists, and the difference is an important one. As such, the magazine does not need to be “careful”, as Jeff suggests, because the very notion of a traditional folk album is impossible under the older definition; clearly, those who would be sensitive to the term in the way that Jeff means are not expected to read the article, let alone reject it. Instead, it is clear from context that the Billboard folks mean “traditional” in the lower-case sense, to refer to a more modern tradition, and in that vein, while I STILL reject Monsters of folk in that category, I agree with Billboard that both Joan Baez and Ani belong in that category, whatever you call it.

    2. I have in no way suggested that the BROADCAST of live programs in inevitable at WGBH or elsewhere. I have, instead, suggested exactly the same thing that Jeff does - to wit, that WGBH has abandoned all but the most profitable music forms, and that live music in live VENUES, among other outlets, will now need to carry the torch for the music which both Jeff and I support.
  9. Linda - SE PA
    November 23rd, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    Interesting commentary.

    I have an eclectic taste in music ranging from a love of Big Bands, Ella, Folk Music, Classic Rock, Jazz, and you can toss is some Tony Bennett etc. I like to think it is all good and fav’s from each genre.

    However, first let us take a look at commerical/mainstream radio and where that has gone - I no longer listen so my thoughts go back sometime ago. I came of age with the free-style format in which DJ’s chose the music and talked about it.

    It seems to me that the best of the best from the music library comes out when it is fundraising time. After fundraising, often folk, blues gets their airplay in their own show. Yes, we have a blues show on Sat evenings and a Folk show on Sunday evenings. An eclectic mix is for early Saturday and Sunday mornings. These shows are staples. Yet, friends and acquaintances, I know do not contribute because of the changes and cutbacks on airtime of the folk music. During the week, they may or may not listen, and only continue to listen as this is the only venue that has the weekend programming.

    While the economy isn’t helping, the age-ing out of the audience isn’t helping either. Very sad to comment on this aspect because the age-ing out should not be a factor. One aspect of folk music is in passing the music from generation to generation. Perhaps, redefining, is in order… meaning delete the country-folk, folk-rock etc. I sense this could create some interesting hours of debate as to where to reshuffle this. Consider what happened with cool jazz when they added Celine, Whitney, and movie/show tunes. Where was the jazz. In my area, we have enough R&B, that it certainly didn’t have to cross-over.

    I, for one, do not have a solution. Clearly,if a station isn’t making money or shall we put it gently, reaching a fundraising audience, then we have to either open our hearts and pockets or take to whereever it is one purchases their music and create or complete their library.

    As to the magazine and charts, it may help, it may not. Only time will tell. With so little of a push from the “industry” this may help the folk artists gain some exposure. If anything, those who read and have a need for charts will learn that folk music is still happening.

    There is room for everyone and most genres on a radio station. It takes a creative programmer and radio people who know how to generate excitement and that means being enthusiastic, as well as being knowledgeable.

    In closing, folks, start writing letters and make them good… folks tend to understand bad better than good so make sure you have solid reasons of why they should.
  10. Chris
    November 24th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    Hi,

    Sorry to barge in, but I am so thrilled to have discovered that somebody has a copy of the Green Eggs and Ham by Moxy Früvous…

    I left a note on your Jan 2008 posting, but thought that maybe I would leave one on your most recent page.

    I have been searching for the Moxy Früvous Green Eggs and Ham for ages!

    Would you be willing to repost, briefly this piece? Or to reenable the link, even if only very, very briefly?….

    I would be SOOO grateful… I show love to MF, and many other bands… I own scads of cds–but this tape is not available anywhere, and I have looked!

    When I still lived in Canada I did a weekly round of the Sally Ann and Value Village specifically looking for this and the tape demo of the Bare Naked Ladies (for the original of If I Had A Million Dollars version)…

    Never found either.

    Now I don’t live on the continent and my hopes had faded to nill…

    Make a dream come to life, please… :)

    Thanks,
    Chris

Leave a Reply