As Stretch Pyott, one of the organizers of the Philadelphia Folk Festival (and the industrial electrician responsible for wiring up the big screens which flank the stage) once explained it to me, “It’s the ‘magnet’ theory of programming. People will be attracted to the big name musicians on the bill. And then – we hope – they’ll stick around for the traditional musicians, the old-time bluesmen, the a capella singers, and be introduced to the other kind of ‘folk’ music.”
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Clearly, the magnet theory was in operation at this year’s Philly Folk Fest, with Rodney Crowell, Jackson Browne and Hot Tuna, acts many people don’t especially think of as ‘folk’ musicians, alongside the amazing Siberian throat singers, Huun Hur Tu, and by-now traditional musicians like Saul Broudy, making a case for a capella balladry on the main Martin Guitar stage. The flanking Crafts Stage (adjoining the Crafts Area) and Tank Stage (near the site of a long-departed water tank) were filled all day long, Friday thro Sunday, with more or less “folk” musicians – folk is an elastic term, ask any folklorist – like Canada’s Arrogant Worms – gotta love that name - Dog on Fleas (doing a Bo Diddley backbeat to “Poppa’s Gonna Buy You a Diamond Ring”), and the thrashing punk bluegrassers Hoots & Hellmouth and Boris Garcia – getting Philly definitely out of any old-folkie box.
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| Above: Stretch Pyott and John Right: Borris Garcia Below: Drexel's Hoots and Hellmouth |
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Right: Saul Brody
Left and Below: Huun Huur Tu |
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Of course, there will always be people upset about any such departure from an old definition of “folk music” - music learned and passed on in family circles by non-literate musicians - but Philly has never been the place to let that stop them from experimenting with lineups intended to break the mold, from its earliest days onwards. Any festival which will welcome Judy Collins and Janis Ian to its main stage, as it did a couple of years ago, is headed in another direction entirely.
So with Philly. Another year of ear-bending music, genre-shifting musicians, kids’ jugging and concerts, square-dancing – an entire tent turned over to the dancers, near the front gate – and scorching weather this time around (linked to the shift in dates?), it was a success in the only sense that makes sense, from the audience reactions to its offerings. From where we settled ourselves – the only way to “cover” such an event is to find a space and try to stick to it as much as possible, and we squatted down at the Tank Stage one afternoon, at the Crafts Stage another – the crowd was not only large but noisily appreciative, from the toddlers thro the grandparents in attendance. Thanks once again to a programming committee willing to take a chance, we got the feeling that people whose fancy was caught by the juxtapositions on stage will be back again next year, for Gene Shay’s 46th year as MC on what by now must be one of the longest running festivals in the United States. We appreciated the chance to attend and catch some sense of where Philly was heading in 2006, and look forward to many more such years – John McLaughlin (editor) and Jamie Downs (photographer), The Digital Folk Life.Org.
SATURDAY
