Homegrown Music... and Musical Instruments

Image Gallery Down-home musician Marc Bristol sings and strums a tune at a local music festival. PHOTO BY BRENT THORGREN

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musical festivals... and more!

Even homesteaders need to relax and enjoy themselves from time to time, right? And almost everybody these days wants to cut his or her cost of living. So how about a little do-it-yourself entertainment?

And that's what this column is all about. Down-home music that you can make ... and the instruments (which, in some cases, you can also make!) to play that music on.

The important thing is that this is your column. If you like it, write to me and let me know. If you have some ideas for this feature, let me know that. I'm open to any suggestions or information you care to contribute. I'll even try to answer your questions about down-home music ... but—both for the benefit of all MOTHER's readers and to ease my correspondence load—I'll deal with those questions, whenever possible, here in this column ... rather than in personal letters.

Address your correspondence—for this column and this column only—to Marc Bristol, 18520 312th Ave. N.E., Duvall, Wash. 98019.

Here's good news for all you fans of folk music gatherings: The festival season is about to get underway again! Starting to the spring and extending through the early fall months, such celebrations provide super opportunities for musicians to get together ... and—as you probably know if you've ever attended one of these "shindigs"—the action on stage isn't necessarily what makes a festival great. The spontaneous jam sessions that spring up in parking lots and picnic areas (where you can get a chance to try out a few licks) often turn out to be the most enjoyable features of the events.

One of the best places to find out when the various music festivals are scheduled to be held is the Calendar of Events produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. If you were reading this column a couple of years back, you may remember my report (in MOTHER NO. 57) that the Council had decided to discontinue their annual listing because of the time and money required to put out the calendar. At that time, I encouraged everyone to write and ask the group to resume publication of the valuable schedule, and—thanks to your effort—sit's now being offered once again!

The new NCTA calendar is the largest and most complete catalog of Its type ... and the 1981 edition will contain listings of over 1,500 traditional events—such as ethnic festivals, craft fairs, bluegrass "hootenannies", fiddlers' conventions, and folklife festivals—in the U.S. and Canada. You might expect the large book to cost somewhere in the $15-$20 range, but it sells for—surprise!—only $4.00 postpaid. The new calendar should be available soon after this issue of MOTHER hits the stands ... and you can order a copy from the National Council for the Traditional Arts, Dept. TMEN, 1346 Connecticut Avenue N.W., No. 1118, Washington, D.C. 20036.

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