Amazing to see how much Canadian content makes up the Folk Alliance family – from the top down, eh? I must have watched 20 or 30 showcases & panels – Margaret Atwood not a likely choice for keynote speaker but had a lot to say. "Music is not a frill – it is at the heart of the matter"
Now who did I discover? I should have taken notes. You might
call her a "re-discovery" but one highlight was a session with Wendy
Waldman and friends. I knew she's an
"old-timer" at FAI, but I never heard her (though I knew she had
written so
me hit songs). She was just so much fun – and had some great tunes,
with good sound and "in-yer-face" video – she was living proof that
if it goes well (some would say "if God is in the room), your personality
can actually pierce through the interweb and your audience can be thoroughly
entertained – as if you were sitting across from them in your kitchen!
Production and personality did not shine that way in most showcases, but I don't have any trouble seeing past that if the music is interesting and groovy. There was a couple of times that I thought "we got lift-off here" Charly Lowry, Samantha Robichaud, Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics, Terrence Simian and daughter Marcella, Sean Ardoin and anything from Louisiana. "Far West" Folk Alliance had a lot of talent
Heard some fresh bluegrass, not enough blues for my liking. Blues Foundation presented Eric Gales and Dom Flemons (??). They also had Kevin Burt and reigning Queen of Contemporary Blues, Shemekia Copeland and a couple of others, but not a lot of representing from the (folk)blues community. Do we need to remind the Folk Alliance that Blues is Folk Music!
Southern Avenue are an interesting combo. I've seen a lot of them (less is more, kids). Most over-rated that I've run across is War and Treaty. I'm not even sure if it was at FAI, but they're playing everywhere.
Peter, Paul (but not Mary, RIP) had a lot of plays and words of wisdom. My old pal, Freebo seems to be over his "dog" days. The whole event was so….real – so "folky". The hardest working streamer must have been Dan Navarro (on-the-air 4 to 5 hours in one day) He hosted a great series with terrific guests I never heard of . I knew nothing about Dan either, but now I do.
Other artists who presented pre-recorded sets went from sloppy to slick. By next year everybody will have broadcast quality video (but it's all about the lighting :-)
But there's still some essential stagecraft required. I'm thinking of the guitarist who spent many minutes just noodling on the guitar between songs, and that's OK except when you finally decide on the next tune, it requires an ope tuning and you require another few minutes to re-tune the guitar…Argh!
One interesting note - The Folk Process is alive and well! A song that was just written in these recent days was performed in at least two showcases by folks who didn't even know the writer. It's called "Twenty Dollar Bill" and is about George Floyd. It was written by Tom Prasada-Rao, until now, a virtual unknown. But the song took flight, and more and more folks will be singing it, in kitchens and at campfires.
The technology demands of putting on 800 hours of showcases and workshops was damn near insurmountable, but they did it! Sometimes that website was kinda sluggish but it didn't crash on me. The platform is called Pathable and they really came through.