Do you want to talk about.....I didn't think so!!

[LouieB]

One additional totally curmudgenly comment about all this. Yep I am old, older than most folks here. Part of the reason that this era of music is no longer in fashion is that old school songwriting is also not in fashion. I mean songs with melody you can sing, words that have meaning, structure such as verse chorus verse, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with freewheeling, non-structured songs, which are the bread and butter of indie rock/fok of the current era. it was just a different time when people wanted something different from the music they listened to. I don't know that any one sits around anymore and strums on accoustic guitars and sings with other people singing along. (Well maybe at the Old Town School.) I doubt it happens much at all. But songs that have recognized structure and melody are what people who do that sort of thing want, rather than something abstract or unexpected. Since most music is now produced to be consumed by folks (like me too) on iPods rather then leaned for later group participation, songs that are mostly words set to music is a perfect commodity. There is a reason that Bob Dylan was called the "voice of a generation". Yes he sang stuff that people wanted to hear, but clearly he also wrote material that people wanted to sing. Even now, covering Dylan is still something people do, but they were also covering Patxon, Hardin, Anderson, etc. So some of these singers were singersongwriters and others were singing the songs of the the singersongwriters. Now folks only sing their own songs mostly. Occasionally someone may put out an album of covers, but it is more of an event than a regular occurance. Times have changed, have they not?

 

(Sorry for the ramble, I have a kidney stone again and took half a painkiller.)

 

LouieB

[GtrPlyr]

Discovered the record "Colour Green" by Sibylle Baier a few years back. It's basically guitar and voice recordings she made at home in the early '70s in Germany. Sort of has a Nico/Leonard Cohen vibe. This record didn't get released until 30+ years after the initial recordings were made. Apparently J. Mascis heard a tape of her music and helped get it released.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_F0mPq7ec

[MonkeyhHanger]

Great thread by the way.

Long forgotten by many, the Late Great Karen Dalton.

[slice_oftheday]

here's a really cool documentary on Mike Seeger and his influences

 

as a fan of old-time, I love the bit with tommy jarrell

 

http://www.folkstreams.net/pub/FilmPage.php?title=153

[LouieB]

 

as a fan of old-time,

Will eventually get to old time music, also one of my interests.

 

I find it interesting that alot of comments here are about artists who didn't really record much (or at all really), rather than musicians who were established and no longer are in favor.

 

LouieB

[spongebob]

I'll play. I feel like Johhny Thunders gets overlooked quite often.

 

[GtrPlyr]

Sticking with the folk theme, this time someone that has had a long career and a fairly big discography: Julie Felix. She performed with the likes of Leonard Cohen (I think she was one of the first people to cover him) and Phil Ochs. Maybe not an essential folk artist, but she did some good stuff.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIZIymsLUdQ

 

 

Not her folkiest song, but this one is probably my favorite of hers: Julie Felix - Snakeskin (pretty funny, someone used the Star Trek clip of the green dancing woman for the video)

[PopTodd]

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

They grabbed a pretty big cult following in the mid-90's: one of those bands that you would have gotten sick of hearing about on boards like these (had they existed at the time). But now? They just kinda went away, even if they still are making music.

[LouieB]

Sticking with the folk theme, this time someone that has had a long career and a fairly big discography: Julie Felix. She performed with the likes of Leonard Cohen (I think she was one of the first people to cover him) and Phil Ochs. Maybe not an essential folk artist, but she did some good stuff.

 

 

You learn something new every day. I had not heard of this singer at all I don't think. While she may have been early to sing Leonard Cohen I am guessing Judy Collins beat her to it. Not sure though.

 

LouieB