The first book concerns modernity, the American ‘Folk,’ and contemporary
singer/songwriters. Having been either directly or indirectly involved in
writing and performing in the genre that can loosely be called ‘folk music’ for
most of my adult life, I made a decision to direct the focus of my critical gaze
toward what Phillip Brett, in referring to the subjects of his own research
calls, “our own tribes.”
There are few
examples of academic cultural studies devoted exclusively to contemporary
American folk music. Most of the available material concerns itself primarily
with cataloging “traditional” folk songs or presenting historical accounts
of individuals and/or specific regional sub-categories of folk music. Indeed,
several scholars have questioned the existence of ‘the Folk.’ In 1978
Charles Keil wrote:
“…there never were any ‘folk’ except in the minds of the bourgeoisie. The entire field is a grim fairy tale…Culture versus counter-culture, ‘high art’ versus ‘folk art’ represents a dialectic that is almost completely contained within bourgeois ideology. One requires the other…Can’t we keep ‘the folk’ concept and redeem it? No! and no! again. You can’t, because too many Volkswagons have been built, too many folk ballets applauded, too many folksongs used, too much aid and comfort given to the enemy” (Keil 1978 as quoted by Middleton 1981: 5).
Keil’s
somewhat dismal perspective on “the folk” is consistent with the views of
various other popular culture scholars who are clearly dismissive when it comes
to contemporary folk music. It seems that most of them can hardly wait to
relegate the total production of "FOLK" to the dust-bin of obvious nostalgia
on their way to the richer cultural ground of such popular icons as Prince (or
‘Glyph’ or whatever he’s not calling himself these days) and Madonna. And
yes, the notion of "folk," particularly in what Karen Kaplan has called the
“postmodern moment,” is problematic. However, the dialectical nature of the
connections between the folk and postmodernity (or at very least "late
modernity")—the apparent conflict between folk’s idealized rural
simplicity and the globally interconnected world of the early twenty-first
century—is a part of what makes the new-folk phenomenon so fascinating.
The realm of the imagination, nostalgia, and what Benedict Anderson has
famously called “imagined communities” are integral to the development of
contemporary folk music. However, it is a mistake to assume that today’s
“folk community” is simply responding to nostalgic fantasy. There is
decidedly more behind what has, owing in no small part to the Internet, become a
widespread "unbounded community" of performers, fans, and aficionados.
Indeed, this music has become an important (and in some cases the most important) part of people’s lives.
My research wrestles with these issues as well as the roles of
technology, globalization, gender, power, and “tradition” in the context of
the Folk. I also discuss folk spaces
(the proliferation of acoustic-specific venues), and provide an ethnographic
look at people who make, present, and consume this music.
NEW
RESEARCH:
The next book project deals with music (yes, folk music will play a role, but not an exclusive role) and sexuality.