Not a daily blog, just an aside

So I was havin' some trouble getting to bed last night,
my mind kept churning over Folk Music
So I decided to do an Interim Blog, which I guess wont count for yesterday or today
since it doesn't have much to do with my project, I'm just sharing a long winded train of thought.

so Folk Music
Who is it
What is it,

Well before I tackled anything major like that
I had to figure out, like, who Was it
and so
These are my "who was it"; guys,

The classics;
Robert Johnson
Bob Dylan
Townes Van Zandt.
The Beatles
James Taylor
Crosby Stills Nash and Young

and I thought about some roots too;
you know
old Appalachia folk
Old Country
Slave Spirituals,
Gospel,
The Delta Blues
Story Telling
Romantic, Victorian, Contemporary ect. Poetry

then I sort of put it together, with this travelin,
"Crossroads", mentality. You know your good old Walkin Shoes way;
If it doesn't work out here just keep moving on.
Bohemian Life Style
Vagabond Life Style
Gypsy life style
then I thought...
Flamenco!

I mean Flamenco is just about as folk as you get when you think about it
Get your buddies together in the park, after midnight, bring a guitar and clap along if you know it.
So now all of the above, was "Folk" and most if not all of it still lives on today.


That was good, so I began thinking about some more Contemporary Folk

these are some contemporary Folk Artists that came to mind.
Sean Hayes,
Brett Dennon
Bon Iver,
Bright Eyes
Animal Collective
Nina Violet,
The Shins
Kimya Dawson
Willy Mason,
Devendra Banhart.

hmmm....

so then I got to thinking, well here we go, I have to get some where right?... So
what is Folk Music any way?
What makes a song a folk song, what makes an artist a folk artist.

what is folk music???

K Here goes....

it's music for folk.......(some would say; yeah for folk who can't read real music, (which I guess in a sense is true))

but theres more to it then that
It's for people, by people

I mean it's picking up a banjo, hiting two sticks together, claping along,
there aint no secret language to it

There's no Julliard, or years of training at a prestigious "Academy of Folk"
There's no P.H.D. in Protest Songs, or drop thumb finger picking
there's no Plane Tickets, or Fancy Cars
there's no Disney Contracts, and definitely no purity rings.


It's Hitchiking, heart breaking, being rich, being poor, Cheating, Running, Walking, Wandering,
It's about old guitars, cat's puke, Love, Tin Cans, bag pipes, Pain, Porches, Boots, Depression, and Corn Bread.

"Carmen" the opera Can not be done justice, on a porch at sunrise in Rural Texas.

It's raw, It's real, It's Folk Music

(I really got no where didn't I)
oh well.
bed time.