FOLK MUSIC FOLKS. . . THE NON-POP PERFORMERS

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HOMEGROWN MUSIC

Marc Bristol — a homegrown musician who performs regularly throughout the Pacific Northwest — began sharing his knowledge of do-it-yourself entertainment with MOTHER readers back in issue 50. Marc's columns have touched on everything from access information for recorded music to detailed instructions on how to make your own instruments. Marc is interested in hearing any suggestions, comments, or questions you may have about the subject of do-it-yourself music, and he'll try to write about requested topics in future columns. Address your correspondence — for this column and this column only — to Marc Bristol, Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 25, Duvall, Washington 98019.

"I guess all songs is folk songs," Big Bill Broonzy once commented. "I never heard no horse sing 'em."

That's one of my all-time favorite quotes. Yet regardless of the fact that we are all "folk", I suspect that most people think of that particular kind of music — and of the artists who perform it — in somewhat more narrowly defined terms.

I, for instance, perceive a "folk singer" as someone whose repertoire includes mainly traditional tunes and/or topical songs that deal with political, social, or simply very personal views and feelings. Folk music is often considered less commercial than "pop", too . . . but that can't be considered a hard and fast distinction, because sometimes material not specifically intended to have "top 40" appeal does strike a chord in the hearts — and pocketbooks — of the masses. (Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" are two examples.)

In any event, I think most of MOTHER's readers will agree that — as a rule — popular songs have less depth and significance than do folk tunes. And because the best sellers tend to continually present the same old stereo-typed attitudes, rather than individual beliefs and emotions, there's more variety in folk music, too.

For proof of' those statements, you need only listen to today's many fine "non pop" artists. Now I certainly can't mention all the talented contemporary folk performers in this limited space, but I would like to acquaint you with a few of the lesser-known individuals and groups that typify the rich and diverse talent displayed by this country's current crop of folk singers.

STEVE LEHNER AND MAUREEN MAY

I first heard of Steve and Maureen when I received their Ballad of the Buffalo album in the mail, along with an invitation to attend a local concert at which they were scheduled to perform. When I listened to the record — and later heard them "live" — I felt that the pair had somehow been able to capture and communicate in song the very soul of the great prairies. Their music — which features Steve on banjo and mandolin and Maureen on guitar, fiddle, and an unusual zitherlike instrument known as a ukelin — doesn't shout for attention . . . instead, it speaks with a quiet passion of the love for life that all people who are close to the earth know.

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