Winterfolk XVIII A Roaring Success

The 28th edition of Toronto's annual wintertime music showcase, Winterfolk Blues and Roots Festival, celebrated music, activism and creativity at its new home this past weekend (February 21 to 23).  Moving from the festival's traditional home along the clubs and pubs of the Danforth to its new home in the Annex at the Tranzac Club and Annex Hotel, the switch proved to be popular among festival-goers as the artists played to consistently packed rooms all weekend. Over 100 artists played in five separate rooms.

The festival began with a stellar ticketed event highligting the musical diversity of Winterfolk with a showcase of Blues and Blue Grass featuring sets by Toronto blues mainstays Ken Whiteley, Chris Whiteley and Diana Braithwaite, along with old-school country artists The Layrite Boys. This show highlights the history of modern North American music as blues and bluegrass are among the earliest forms of popular music this side of the Atlantic.

Saturday's highlights included a wonderful set by Alfie Smith and Nicole Christian. Alfie treated the crowd to some great blues guitar with "Sitting on Top of The World," while Nicole shared the story of receiving author Steven King's blessing for a song titled "Barn Dance." This show was heavy on the blues and Americana. Both artists are a treat to watch and will be playing a couple of shows over the course of the summer in Hamilton and Pelee Island, Ontario. 

Saturday evening sessions were highlighted with a special showcase featuring some of the country's finest folk and Americana musicians, with Jon Brooks delivering a beautiful guitar heavy performance. Singer-songwriter extraordinaire Lynn Miles, along with guitarist Wendall Ferguson, delivered a stellar performance which highlighted Miles' fantastic songwriting. "Merle," a song inspired by the passing of the great Merle Haggard reminded everyone of the importance of Mr. Haggard as an artist and influencer to musicians and songwriters everywhere. Special guest Clare Lynch appeared for two songs and provided high harmonies on "Old Soul," a track from a previous album.

Pure folk duo Sue and Dwight played a few sets over the weekend with a special performance that paid homage to 1960's era folk on Sunday afternoon. Sue and Dwight had the good sense to provide the audience with lyric sheets to all of the songs to be performed during this session, which resulted in the first sing-along of Winterfolk weekend. An additional set featuring the greatest hits of Peter, Paul and Mary was very well received, as the duo featured hits by the groundbreaking 60's group, such as "If I Had My Way," "500 Miles," and their version of the John Denver classic "Leaving on a Jet Plane." Sue and Dwight perform similar sets regularly at the Free Times Café in Toronto, the third Wednesday of every month.

Perhaps the finest showcase of the weekend took place with the Sunday blues performance of Jack DeKeyzer. The first half of the show consisted of Jack taking the crowd to school, with a history lesson based on the evolution of blues music in North America. Taking fans through the early blues and highlighting many influential musicians such as Lightning Hopkins, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy, Jack blew the crowd away by showing the guitar techniques of these groundbreaking blues guitarists. Jack then provided the link between those musicians and the evolution of modern rock as British rockers Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page introduced white America in the 1960s to the blues music of Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy, through their interpretation of the blues style of guitar playing. Examples were provided with snippets of the Clapton classic "Crossroads," and the Led Zeppelin classic "A Whole Lotta Love," which prominently featured Jimmy Page on guitar. A blues jam followed this set, featuring other guitar greats Mike McKenna, Danny Marks, D'Arcy Wickham and Donnie Roberts.

Winterfolk is always a great kickoff to the folk festival season. If the success of Winterfolk is any indication of what 2020 will bring to the festival circuit, music fans are in for a huge treat this coming year.

Country vs. Americana Music

A couple of weeks ago this space discussed comments made by Loretta Lynn on Martina McBride's podcast, where Ms. Lynn stated she believed country music is dead. As alluded to in the article, this is a discussion that has been going on for decades and is not likely to be solved any time soon. A debate that also continues, however, is one that Tyler Childers has brought about, and that is a country music versus Americana music conundrum. 

Since his national and international breakthrough, Tyler Childers has been promoted heavily and heartily as an Americana artist, which includes a win as the Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Music Awards. In this Rolling Stone Country article, Childers bristles at the suggestion he's an Americana artist, insisting and identifying only as a country music artist. While I don't agree with Tyler Childers' seemingly hostile attitude to the Americana Music Association and the Americana movement as a musical genre, I do agree with one of his main arguments. That argument is that country music, and I'm talking of pure traditional country music, is now being referenced and referred to as Americana. Which, as Childers rightly points out, is wrong and doesn't solve the current issue with the state of mainstream country music today.

For some music lovers, the state of today's mainstream country music is just fine. I would not agree. In an interview, Marty Stuart stated that, when asked by young aspiring newcomers to Nashville what's the most outlaw thing you can do in country music today, he tells them "play country music." Today's country music bears little to no resemblance of the original artform. Which, it can be argued, is a sign of musical evolution. No genre of music is the same now as it was 50 years ago. But what's happening in country music is head scratching, yet it's nothing new. The genre, or rather those in charge of the business side of the genre, have been chasing their tail for generations in an effort to be liked by the "cool kids" without ever really knowing who the "cool kids" are. They found the right formula in the 1990s with arguably country music's most successful commercial period with hundreds of millions of records being sold during a roughly 15 year timeframe. Now it seems the bottom has fallen out, with country music as a genre struggling to figure out what it is and who they are trying to appeal to. Steel guitars have been replaced with electric drum machines, pop hooks and a pseudo-rap sound that sometimes makes it difficult to discern whether the music belongs on a country station or pop station. 

No other genre seems to wrestle with this sort of "identity crisis." For example, it would be hard to imagine Jay-Z saying in the studio while producing a rap song, "You know what this rap record needs more of? It needs more steel guitar to bring in a country sound."  And, that's okay. Because it's rap - a different art form. Jay-Z is an amazing rap artist and recognized long ago that rap is his creative outlet and is confident enough in his art that he's not trying to have that art be something it isn't.

With this evolution of mainstream country music to its current state, it's no wonder country music purists are turning to a category/genre where elements of traditional country music can flourish. Enter Americana. Americana is a genre which is a melting pot of blues, country, folk, soul, and rock and roll. Artists are encouraged to experiment and produce the strongest material they can without the restrictions of Music Row contractual obligations. As the aforementioned Marty Stuart has said, Americana is about the heart and the art, not the charts. This blog site is primarily dedicated to the the Americana genre. Americana has experienced an astounding amount of growth over the past three to five years, as I believe people will always gravitate to what is real. Americana provides that real music to the masses. 

That said, it does become concerning when traditional country artists are automatically considered Americana. It's concerning for the country music genre. An article I recently read identified The Highwaymen album as an Americana record. That's not an accurate assessment. That 1985 album was a watershed moment for country music in the 1980s, as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson were very much country music artists. The album was a number one country music album and the title track was a number one song on the country music charts. There was nothing Americana about that album at the time of its release. If the narrative is now going to be delivered that traditional country music is really Americana and this narrative is accepted, then the genre of country music really is on life support. Which will be tragic as I believe country music is as worthy of a musical artform as pop, latin, rhythm and blues, and rap. If country music could just get out of its own way and stop trying to be something its not in a tireless effort to appeal to people that will never support country music, then the genre could get to a point where it could flourish again like it did in the 1990s. Country music doens't need to pretend that it's something else, including Americana. 

Album Review: William Prince, Reliever (Six Shooter)

The world is opening up for William Prince. Fresh from opening a series of shows for Americana powerhouse Yola, William Prince has released a stellar sophomore record, Reliever. This 11 song collection comes at the conclusion of a challenging time for Prince, with the themes of these significant life changes finding their way on the album. What results is a record that can provide healing, hope and inspiration to the listener. This project is a great reminder that all things do pass, including the dark chapters of life. 

The album presents itself almost as a book, with chapters of the pain and disappointment of divorce and separation captured in songs "The Spark" and "Always Have What We Had" being followed up immediately by "Wasted", the title track "Reliever" and "Old Souls" showing the listener that once you get through those life changes, better is waiting for you. "Old Souls" in particular provides a brilliant transition in this project, as we move from the pain and promise of old and new relationships to life itself. Prince's son was the inspiration for "That's All I'll Ever Become", while the death of his father was the inspiration for "Leave It By the Sea." The writing, context and song placement is among the best I've ever heard on an album.

William Prince is poised to become the next big Americana artist that we'll all be talking about. It's much deserved. The voice is there, the songwriting is there, but most of all the person is there. The only time I've met Prince is to shake his hand and say "well done" on a great performance. But in attending the record release for Reliever last week it became apparent that this gentleman is an amazingly good person. Prince's outlook on life is so positive that it's infectious. It's my great hope this excellent record and the artist receive all the accolades they deserve.

Is Country Music Dead?

It's been a week since one of the pioneer's of modern American music, Loretta Lynn, voiced her concerns regarding the state of country music. "I think it's dead ..." was the response Ms. Lynn provided when asked by the amazing Martina McBride during an episode of McBride's "Vocal Point" podcast. If anyone has listened to mainstream country music for roughly the last decade, and you're a longtime fan of the genre, it's hard to argue against the point. And I'm not going to argue against a living legend who blazed the trail for so many performers to take up the mantle of country music going forward. Rather, I think country music is, once again, in the middle of a prolonged identity crisis. Such crises are not foreign to country music. As Sammy Kershaw once said - country music is the only genre that hates itself. 

For generations, country music has been attracted to "crossover" appeal; the great search for that elusive hit song that cracks not only the top of the country music chart, but the pop chart as well. So much so, that I would argue the genre has allowed itself to be compromised in almost every possible way to chase that dream. As I say, this is nothing new. The 1960s had what's referred to as "the Nashville Sound" where lush string sections and crooning vocals were all the rage. Sometimes it worked beautifully, as was the case with Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold. Other times, it failed miserably, as was the case with the earliest records of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. But that last sentence should raise eyebrows and pose the question ... what the hell were they doing pairing Willie Nelson with string sections? The answer is as true then as it is now. And it's the same miscalculation: if Cline, Reeves and Arnold are making big money with that type of crossover material, then everyone is going to do it. 

Record labels and their producers try to make a particular sound the standard as opposed to allowing the artists to set themselves apart with a different sound. It usually takes some renegade artists to move the needle back the other way. When that happens, it's usually a torrent going back to a more traditional sound of country music. The cure for the Case of the Crossover's was two guys that based themselves out of Bakersfield, California named Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. It was their electric guitar-heavy sound mixed with country twang and rockabilly, as well as some killer songwriting, that brought things back around. This in turn allowed Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings the opportunity to sing, write and perform as they always wanted to perform and before anyone on Music Row could see it coming, the Outlaw movement was off and running. This movement altered the country music landscape with a more traditional sound throughout the 1970s. During this time, there were country artists who were still crossing over to the pop charts, but it was with their own sound, not something manufactured by the power brokers on 16th Avenue. 

Then the 1980s hit. This was a bit of a dark period for a lot of genre's of music. Synthethizers dominated the songscape and country music - once again - couldn't help itself from turning to a more pop-oriented sound. Some country artists were experiencing  crossover success and the genre as a whole suffered. But all was not lost in the 1980s. Some guy from Texas named George Strait was just getting started, and another guy from Kentucky named Ricky Skaggs made a point to keep the traditional sound of country music on the airwaves. During that time, Dwight Yoakam was also reminding everyone that Bakersfield was the site for the last revolution in country music in the 1960s. 

It wasn't until Music Row placed a bit more focus on the three artists just mentioned that they hit the jackpot with one of the most traditional country vocalists in its history: Randy Travis. Travis blew open the door and brought country music back to its traditional base in the late 1980s, moving it away from the pop-oriented sound that permeated the landscape in the early part of that decade. The way Travis was embraced by fans and, perhaps more importantly, garnered record sales once again caused a major shift in focus. Tradition sells, so they went and found traditional sounding artists. This resulted in the famed Class of '89, which gave the music world Vince Gill, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt and Garth Brooks. These artists, and several others of this ilk, would dominate country radio for the better part of the next 15 to 20 years. Other artists who were successful in the 1980s, such as Reba McEntire and George Strait, became massive stars in the 1990s. Country music would go on to become the most listened to and most popular genre during this time, not for the way it sounded like pop music, but because it sounded like country music.

Now here we are in 2020 and for most of the past 10 years it seems country music finds itself in an existential crisis - trying once again to say to its detractors, "Hey, look at me, I really am cool!" The problem is, like with most things, if all you're doing is trying to please your critics by appeasing their every critique then you've already lost your way. The truth is, you will never win those critics over, no matter how many lyrics you rap in your country song, or how many electronic drum beat machines you utilize to record your album. They will just find something else to criticize. These days it's tough to tell if your local country music radio station is playing country music. It sounds the same as your local hit music station, and your local easy listening station, and your local pop station. Where there once was a way to differentiate the art, the lines have been steadily blurred. This change hasn't resulted in any increase in record sales, or even really a bump in radio ratings. 

Perhaps Music Row is starting to clue into the fact that what's going on in the genre isn't really working out as hoped. There is a bit of promise in the fact that a straight ahead country singer like Jon Pardi has managed to score a few number one songs over the past couple of years. It's encouraging that the power brokers are at least givng Pardi a chance, considering they blew off the best male country artist they've had in a generation by dismissing Jamey Johnson off radio and all their record labels. Chris Stapleton remains one of the top concert and record sellers in country music, although radio continues to embrace him sporadically. To Ms. Lynn's point and the original question of country music's mortality, I would suggest that it's not necessarily dead, although we've come quite close to witnessing its passing. We're currently in one of the more prolonged flows to the pop-side in recent memory. Much work will need to be done to get it back, but it's not impossible and I believe it will happen. People will always come back to what's real, they will always purchase and consume what's real. And country music is as real as it gets. I close today, with a clip of the talented lady that started this discussion and put McBride's question to you - what do you think about the state of country music today?