First Report from the 2009 Folk Alliance International Conference in Memphis, Tennessee
I am sitting here at the Folk Alliance, and Roger McGuinn just walked on to the stage. For those of you who don’t know about FA, go to www.folkalliance.org and check it out.
This gathering of acoustic musicians of every ilk and every ability. All are nurtured here and all are welcome here. Right now the founding member of the Byrds is playing a Bob Gibson song and he’s talking about the Old Town School of Folk Music (www.oldtownschool.org) where he learned to play guitar with other hopefuls like Michael Bloomfield, electric guitar player for Paul Butterfield and Bob Dylan.
Roger is giving us a history of the evolution of folk music into folk rock into contemporary acoustic music. You all must come to one of these conferences. The networking, the comaraderie, the music, the joy...I’m telling you, you owe it to yourself as a musician, or presenter or afficianado..
McGuinn just played the intro to Mr Tambourine Man and the entire audience began to sing along with all kinds of harmonies. Where are you going to get an experience like this? I have to stop typing. I’ll do this from memory afterwards.
It’s later, here’s the report:
When Roger broke into Turn Turn Turn, I got bumps on my arms. Just to hear that guitar lick and to hear that voice, I was transported to the first time that I heard it, over four decades ago. We all sang along and the harmonies abounded as all our voices rose in song. Everyone was grinning from ear to hear.
And what is remarkable and consistent at these gatherings is the level of musicality you will experience. Some of the best songwriters and best guitarists in the world. And even a few great singers. There don’t seem to be that many truly wonderful voices here, but the fact of the matter is, that’s a gift. A gift that some pursue and some develop, and yes, you can develop a good singing voice, but the basic instrument has to be given for you to be a truly great singer in my estimation. That being said, I am still having a grand time here, listening, absorbing and learning. I learn from every person I hear and every person I see. And that’s how you get from amateur to professional. You practice and practice, but you also listen and experience every kind of musician, performer and composer that you can. You can even learn from them if they are genuinely terrible. Everybody brings something to the party.
And you owe it to yourself to get to one of these Folk Alliance gatherings.
If you are new to all this and you do come to one of these, you may find it overwhelming, but all you need to do is to seek out the kind of music you like or play and go up to those folks. They will welcome you. You can hear the music you like and at some point they will let you play some on your own.
If you are a great musician, then it’s time to give back, with seminars, classes and interviews as well performance. And there is another way to give back. When a professional tells a neophyte, amateur or just someone not as far along the road as them that they will be at that person’s showcase and then you do it. It’s important. You give such a wonderful gift of validation to that person. And you will learn something, I promise. You give the precious gift of time. And that honors both the giver and the recipient.
james lee stanley
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Reader Comments (4)
James you talked about being gifted as a singer...i consider you to have that gift and also as a musician overall...when you sit back to evaluate yourself...be it for an album or a performance or just to see what you need to do and where you are heading...what do you see at this point in time and where do you feel you were when you started?
Namaste
Pax
Bobby
PS Your reports are wonderful you really get across the energy that you are experiencing. Excellent.
great post btw!
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