Image problem? What image problem?

The idea for starting this blog came out of a discussion that developed on my Screaming Headlines blog. The item referred to folk music's image problem and while it was relevant to the blog's overall theme of PR and journalism, the responses encouraged me to establish Folk Forum as a place to build up links and open up discussion on the practices of folk and amateur music.

Of course, some folk enthusiasts would argue that the image problem is only there if you want folk music to be mainstream and that part of the charm (and power) of folk is that it doesn't conform to the demands of the major labels. This point was made by Tom Paxton when I interviewed him several years ago - he talked about the problem of commodified 'ersatz' folk music (he gave the Kingston Trio as an example) and how he and his friends would sit outside in the evening, drinking wine and thanking God that they hadn't been 'discovered' by the major labels.


Filed under:
folk image   commodified music   Tom Paxton