The University of Illinois Press has been busy recently with the publication, in a short of space of time, of two books that focus on the American folk music scene.

The first of these is The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance by Michael F. Scully, in which the author capitalizes on the recent upsurge in interest in “roots music” and “world music.” He examines the roles of Rounder Records and the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance, both organizations that have sought to make folk music widely available, while simultaneously respecting its defining traditions and unique community atmosphere.

In the late 1950s through the 1960s, the folk music revival pervaded the mainstream music industry, with artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez singing historically or politically informed ballads based on musical forms from Appalachia and the South. Subsequently, it became commercialized and the basic thrust of this book is Scully’s examination of the ongoing controversy surrounding the profitability of folk music. He explores the lively debates about the difficulty of making commercially accessible music, honoring tradition, and remaining artistically relevant, all without “selling out.”

The author, an attorney by profession and holder of a PhD. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, combines interviews of music executives and practicing folk musicians with his own personal experiences to reveal how this American subculture remains in a “never-ending revival” based on fluid definitions of folk and folk music.

Scully speaks of his intent in one concise paragraph in his introduction …

“This book does not examine every manifestation of post boom revival activity. My approach is thematic and focuses on ongoing intellectual and commercial issues common to revivalism as a whole. For the most part, I examine such issues through the vehicle of the Folk Alliance and Rounder Records. As an umbrella organisation that annually brings together roughly two thousand folk entrepreneurs of varying stripes, the Alliance is a living laboratory that illustrates the revival’s continuing concerns. Rounder, in the words of the New York Times, is ‘folk music’s big small label.’ Begun as an ‘antiprofit collective’ by three left-leaning students who romanticized the folk, it has grown into one of the world’s largest independent record companies. That growth helps illuminate commercial revivalism’s development in the postboom years, a period that encompassed the countercultural movements of the late sixties, the music industry upheavals of the 1990s, and the digital revolution of the twenty-first century.”

The Never-Ending Revival (259 pages, ISBN:0252033337) was published on April 14 and is available from the University of Illinois Press and all good book stores.

The second of the two University of Illinois Press books to which I alluded above is Sing It Pretty - Bess Lomax Hawes: A Memoir. Bess, a folklorist and musicologist herself, was daughter to John Lomax and sister to Alan Lomax. I will turn my attention to that book shortly.

The Third Annual Folk Alliance Awards were presented during the 20th Annual Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, TN, on Wednesday evening, February 20, 2008.

We have already mentioned the Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients:

• Mavis Staples
• Tommy Jarrell
• Rounder Records

Other winners that may be of interest to bluegrass aficionados include …

• Legacy Recording - Woody Guthrie The Live Wire (Woody Guthrie Archives)
• Emerging Artist - Carolina Chocolate Drops
• Album of the Year - Uncle Earl - Waterloo, Tennessee
• Small Folk Venue - Freight & Salvage, San Francisco, California (Tied with Cafe Lena - Saratoga Springs, NewYork)
• Large Folk Venue - The Ark, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Unsuccessful Nominations include ….

• Legacy Recording - Various Artists - People Take Warning: Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs (Tompkins Square)
• Traditional Artist - Uncle Earl and David Bromberg
• Large Folk Venue - The Birchmere - Arlington, VA, and Kennedy Center Millenium Stage - Washington, DC

The award for Album of the Year was chosen based on Folk-DJ Chart airplay.

Hot on the heals of the success of Rounder recording artists at The Grammy award show on Sunday comes news of an award for the label itself.

The North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance (Folk Alliance) will honor Rounder Records as a recipient of the 2008 Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards (LAAwards) at the Folk Awards Show Wednesday, February 20, 2008, in Memphis, Tennessee.

The awards, a highlight of the Folk Alliance’s annual conference, are given to those who have inspired others, achieved definitive leadership in their field and contributed to the advancement of folk music and/or dance. Each year the LAAwards honor two performers, one living and one legacy, and a person or institution involved in the business or academic side of the folk world, who have devoted their life’s work and talent to the advancement of the performing folk arts. Mavis Staples and the late Tommy Jarrell take the award in the living and legacy categories, respectively.

The Rounder story is well-known, indeed we have recently posted a link to a press article in a Massachusetts newspaper. However, here’s what the Rounder press release says about themselves.

In 1970, with only their passionate enthusiasm for American roots music lighting the way, three Cambridge, Massachusetts college students, Bill Nowlin, Ken Irwin, and Marian Leighton Levy, cast their lot into the perilous music industry. The tenacious trio went the distance: from humble beginnings to what is now America’s premier independent record label. From its early interest in rural American music (via fiddle, stringband, blues, and bluegrass recordings) to an expansive catalogue of more than 2,500 titles running the gamut from folk to world, soul to socas, jazz to juju, Cajun to Celtic, and beyond, Rounder has emerged as the pre-eminent source for vital, uncompromised music of all genres.

Rounder’s award comes in the Business/Industry Lifetime Achievement Award category.

I asked Marian Leighton Levy for her reaction to this news

“It’s wonderful to be honored with Folk Alliance’s Lifetime Achievement Award. It came as a complete surprise and is the kind of recognition of Rounder artists, the label’s history and catalogue, that makes us both pleased as punch and very proud. While it’s always nice to have Rounder recognized within the industry, it’s particularly meaningful when it comes from an organization so devoted to the music and make up of fellow-music lovers like ourselves.”

Two Rounder artists, The SteelDrivers and Vienna Teng, will be performing at conference showcases throughout the week.

The 2008 International Folk Alliance Conference runs from Wednesday, February 20 until Sunday, February 24. The full schedule is available on their web site.

The Folk Alliance was founded in 1989 and seeks to create new and better opportunities for all those involved in the performance folk arts. With thousands of attendees annually, their conference offers a complete view of the business world of traditional and contemporary folk music and dance through showcases, educational seminars, films, and a networking-rich trade show.

If you scour the web for general music industry news, you may have noticed that the most recent successful recording artist from another genre to embrace bluegrass is Tommy Ramone, from The Ramones, the notorious alternative rock band of the 1970s and ’80s. They are often described as having ushered in the punk sound, in much the same way that Nirvana defined the grunge sound a decade later.

Ramone, along with Claudia Tienan, has formed Uncle Monk, an acoustic duo whose debut eponymous CD release is due May 22, 2007. The two first got together intending to form an electric jam band, but their joint appreciation of traditional bluegrass and old time music won the day. Tommy plays mandolin, guitar, banjo and dobro, while Claudia contributes guitar and bass. Both sing on the project.

We wanted to get some input from Tommy (born Tommy Erdelyi) before posting about this, and were able just recently to nail him down for some discussion and comment on Uncle Monk, and his turn at acoustic string music.

While those of us in the bluegrass world generally welcome such forays into the music from folks who have made a name elsewhere, I wondered whether his passion for the music was newly minted, or had perhaps been longstanding.

“I have been a big fan since my older brother brought home some recordings of stringband music when I was about eight years old, and soon after I heard Earl Scruggs, and I could not believe anything could sound so good. But it was the voice of Carter and Ralph Stanley that sent chills up my spine and opened my eyes to how special bluegrass music was.

My father and brother were big fans of the music, so it was around me all the time. I have always had a special connection to it.”

I also wondered what about bluegrass appealed to him at this point in his musical life and career.

“It is very real music at a time when there is a lot of plastic sounding music all around us. (more…)

Modern Guitars Magazine has posted a press release from Folk Alliance which states that Earl Scruggs will be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award when they host the Folk Alliance Awards Show in Memphis, TN on February 21, 2007.

Posthumous awards will be given as well to fingerstyle blues guitarist Dave Van Ronk and Boston folk music promoter Manny Greenhill.

You can read the full press release on the Modern Guitars site. It also lists the final nominees for all the Folk Alliance Awards, which include multiple nominations for Crooked Still and one for Old Crow Medicine Show.

Thanks to our banjo pickin’ buddy Rick Briggs for the heads up on this.

The 2007 International Folk Alliance Conference has invited two bluegrass acts to their official showcases, both female or female-fronted bands.

The Claire Lynch Band and The Lovell Sisters will represent bluegrass music at the conference, held in Memphis, TN February 21-15, 2007 at The Cook Convention Center and The Marriott Convention Center Hotel. Unlike the IBMA’s annual convention, which is held each year in Nashville, Folk Alliance chooses a new convention site each year.

You can find convention information (registration, schedule, etc) on the Folk Alliance web site.

The 18th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference, For The Sake Of The Song, will be held February 10-14, 2006 at the Austin Hilton Hotel in Austin, TX. Showcase opportunities are available and the deadline for application, which had originally been set for May 31, was extended to allow for more artists to be involved. That new deadline of October 3 is rapidly approaching so any acts that would like to be considered had better get moving. There is a $35 application fee for Folk Alliance members and a $50 fee for non-members.

Showcase applications forms can be downloaded from the Folk Alliance web site.