This post was written and submitted by our friend Bob Crain.
Folk Rock was the leading genre of music from the Mid ’60s thru the Mid ,70s, that genre in the simplest terms is meaningful messages put to rock music. The message was accompanied by everything from the soft acoustic rock of say James Taylor and Joni Mitchell to the rock hard music of Neil Young and Crazy Horse and the Jefferson Airplane. The list of bands and artists and the topics and issues they sang about is extensive – wars public and private, the environment, civil rights, social upheaval, love, relationships and music. There was always a message sometimes clear as a bell other times obtuse and up to the listener to decipher as they saw fit. What Dylan meant in Highway 61 Revisited is open to conjecture what he sang in The Times They Are A Changing is pretty clear both classic Folk Rock tunes.
Disco, the end of the Viet Nam War, drugs, improvement in social and civil rights, technology, apathy, Watergate and the Music Industry all conspired unknowingly in some way to inflict a debilitating stroke on the Folk Rock genre. The Music Industry is all about profits…not music, new buyers, youth, teeny boppers, the next generation of the carriers of disposable income is all that matters to the Music Industry. The Music Industry did not like Folk Rock from the beginning, musicians writing and playing their own material and then having the audacity to demand that they retain the publishing rights to their songs did not suit their business model. Foregoing managers and PR people to script their every move, damned educated drugged up Hippies who did they think they were cutting in to the profits of Big Music? They changed the Big Music business model forever but the genre was eventually pushed to the back burner.
The old stalwarts of the genre continued the tradition of Folk Rock, there were still issues to write and sing about but the “it’s all about me” “girls just wanna have fun” and the Disco Ball Generation soon became the target market. To soon Folk Rock old and new became the genre of the mature listener, youth were just plain not interested in messages. They were all about fun in the ‘80s, noise in the ‘90s and technology after the turn of the century…computer music the lyrics became a meaningless sequin, bling if you will, it was all about rhythm and volume.
But wait the old veterans were still hanging around filling up stadiums and selling CD’s and even some of their children took up the mantle of keeping Folk Rock alive, Jykob Dylan and the Wallflowers are a perfect example. Some pop artists began to mature and get meaningful lyrics in to their material Jewel, The Dixie Chicks, Florence and the Machine for example. The Music Industry wasn’t interested and they had for the most part taken back control of content and sound, “if you want to be famous and on the big stage then do what we want you to do” or else you would get nothing from the big money music publishers, it’s about profit not art.
Folk Rock survived Disco, survived video, survived Punk, Grunge, Metal, Rap and Pop. The veterans and up and comers sell out venues worldwide and continue to write meaningful and sometimes provocative songs. A new era of Folk Rock has emerged though not to the level of dominance it had in the Golden Age but it is still hanging around. Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, First Aid Kit among others and local and regional acts worldwide are holding the line performing and putting out good Folk Rock.
Folk carries the meaning with currently relevant lyrics and rock music of all nature holds up the tune. Discerning followers young and old, mature concerned music enthusiasts are still listening and attending local gigs, Folk Festivals and concerts.
To that end local Folk Rock will be the genre of the day on the outdoor stage in the Beer Garden at the Brunswick Hotel 140 Sydney Road, Brunswick from 5PM on Saturday November 15th. Featuring local Folk Rock purveyors, the fantastic singer songwriter recently arrived to our delight from Tassie Rod Fritz, the exquisite vocals and brain poking song writing of Priestessa & Dash and the always entertaining and fun new age Folk Rockers Ashbury Medicine Show peddling their socially conscious snake oil to young and old alike. Enjoy an afternoon and evening in the Brunny Beer Garden listening to the best original Folk Rock on offer in Melbourne. A great musical time is guaranteed and you may even leave with something to think about so tell your parents, bring the grandparents and the kids and enjoy a great day of the music from the genre that has survived it all Folk Rock.
[about Bob Crain]
Bob was born and raised in California and moved to Hawaii as a young adult, where he formed views and took up the lessons of life, molded by the people, times, events, waves and winds of the Pacific Ocean. He moved to Australia over 20 years ago with his wife, and together they have raised two daughters in the Bayside suburbs of Melbourne.
Influenced by artists such as Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Fred Eaglesmith and so many more, Bob’s original songs are born in the coffee shops of the 60’s, raised on Rock ‘n’ Roll, and tempered by a lifetime in the Pacific. His lyrics breathe and articulate his individual perspective on life, history, attitudes, society, consciousness and fun fused with his folk-based music and a unique blend of country, rock, soul, and the blues. http://www.bobcrain.com.au/index.php/profile
