Issue 3, Article 8
I was once asked to identify what group or community I felt I belonged to most strongly. Without hesitation, I replied, "The folk music community." I grew up listening to folk music--that is, I grew up listening to my dad play guitar in the basement every night. When I was in eighth grade, he started to teach me guitar, and now I’m a folk musician too. And when I’m performing and I ask the people in the audience to sing along, then they’re folk musicians too. It’s that easy! No down payment, lifetime guarantee, with nothing more to buy, EVER!
But if everyone is a folk musician, what is the "folk community"? Well, in a sense it’s everyone.
Maybe that’s a bit simplistic, but it also reflects what I love most about my community. Anyone can be a part of it, even if they don’t sing along at concerts. The folk community encompasses all people because it is music about all people. Folk music isn’t too cool for anyone. And sometimes, it’s good for everyone. Folk music is the music that changes the world and makes us more human.
So now you might be asking, "Just what is folk music?" Are you ready for this? It’s anything you want it to be! Folk music is everywhere, and it’s different for everyone. Folk music is the music that has special meaning for you. It’s folk music, because you relate to it, and you--yes, you--are folk.
For me, folk music is the music that my dad used to play in the basement at night. It’s songs like the Beatles’ "Come Together." It’s songs like "The Titanic," the real verses and the ones we made up. (Any song you make up words to is automatically folk music.) And, of course, it’s songs like "Puff, The Magic Dragon" and "This Land Is Your Land," which are pretty much universally recognized as folk songs. It’s also the songs we sang at my summer camp, songs by the Kingston Trio’s "One More Town," Suzanne Vega’s "The Queen And The Soldier," the Violent Femmes’ "Blister In The Sun," and Dave Matthews Band’s "I’ll Back You Up."
For you, maybe it’s the songs that you learned in kindergarten. Maybe it’s the album you didn’t stop playing for weeks when your boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with you. Maybe it’s the song that inspired you to run for student government, to organize a beach cleanup, or to write your own songs. And maybe it’s the song your best friend taught you to play a couple of nights before you both left for school.
The most important thing about folk songs and folk music is the connection they allow people to make, to their inner selves and also to each other. Folk music is the music that brings us together. I’m on an e-mail list for fans of Dar Williams, and out of the 1500 or so folks on the list, I’ve only managed to meet about 30. But all of us on the list have been brought together by our shared connection to and love for Dar’s songs, and strange as it is sometimes, I feel quite close to the people on the list, even the ones I have not met. What we do most of the time on the list is talk about our own personal experiences with Dar’s music. People have shared beautiful stories of love and hope, and terrible stories of pain and loss. All of these emotions have been evoked by Dar’s songs, and we share them in the knowledge that we are not alone.
And that is the folk community. The knowledge of a shared feeling or experience that brings us closer to each other--that is what holds the folk music community together.
Maybe right now you’re thinking, "How cheesy! Sharing feelings, yeah, sounds like a lot of fun to me!" But I don’t mind; I’ve said all that I can say. Maybe it’s the kind of thing that can only be expressed through music.