Granted, it's probably much harder to come up with traditional music and musicians these days, but you can still find wonderful music making folks who have been (largely) isolated from pop trends. I'll briefly introduce you to three of them that I've become familiar with.

Maureen Cambell came to me for dulcimer lessons about 6 years ago. She had a huge repertoire of traditional songs but was completely unaware of any of the folk booms.(having lived in Silicone valley for thirty years) When I mentioned that I remembered one of her songs as having been sung by a wonderful old singer named Fred Redden, she said "He was my father!" I've introduced her to as many folkies as possible , had her on my radio show a number of times, and now she's sharing her wonderful repertoire with a lot of Canadians.

Glen Reid is a woodworker who lives in the tiny village of Burk's Falls Ontario, and writes wonderful contemporary folk-style music. He's just made his first CD (at about the age of 50) and although he might be considered to "folkie" or not "celtic" enough for most festivals, he's well worth hearing.

Currently I'm trying to coax a 78 year old woman with the wonderful Austrian name "Freidelina" to bring her Zither on to my show. She's quite nervous and feels that nobody would want to hear her "lttle Viennese folk songs". When I told her that there were virtually no concert zither players left in North America, she laughed and said "who wants to hear this stupid little instrument anymore?" Well, I do! and I think others would as well. It's a hell of a hard instrument to learn to play so no wonder it's dying out.

Sorry to be so long winded Joe. Good luck with your collecting. P.S. "wouldn't mind growing up to be Art either!"

All I ever find in the field is cow shit and you won't find much on the road except traffic. Seriously though maybe you are looking in the wrong places and for the wrong things.

The world has changed as it always was changing and to expect to find some old genius producing wonderful music, untouched by all the trappings of the modern world is surely unrealistic today? The music is still being produced but the collector of old is a thing of the past.

If it's any consolation, I want to grow up to be you (except for the 'single' part). You've got an amazing knowledge and great wit.

Interesting thread, just last week I was complaining to my wife that no one in my life has ever exposed me to any "traditional" songs (except for my uncle that taught us "Henry the 8th" and a couple other such ditties).

The Granny and Grandpa sitting around passing on the songs of their childhood have vanished to be replaced by, as some composer said on NPR, the "tyranny of rock-and-roll."

But, I'm doing my part. I'm making a binder of songs to give to my daughter someday. When I see something interesting in a thread, in it goes.

Thanks to all of the 'Catters that toss off titles so effortlessly. Trust me, people are listening.

E.

"Huh," I said.

[Years later, I sang my father's McCaffery for an uncle through marriage, Jerry Burns of Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan. Gerry played the harmonica and loved a sing-song. "Very good," he said, "but you're missing 2 verses."]

As I remarked on another thread, my father liked opera, all sorts of Irish National Music which could be everything from I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen to Thomas Moore songs. He also liked Elvis singing Are You Lonesome Tonight. Not being an academician, he made no distinction between them. They were songs to sing.

This, I think, is very important!

I was down in Co. Kerry at the family homestead one time in the early 70s and we had a party. One of the singers that night came out with a great version of The Little Ball Of Yarn. He followed it up with the Grand Coulee Dam!

There's my point again! They were just songs he liked. He didn't care where they came from.

I would say, try to find people who like to sing and who have never heard of the expression, "Folk Song," and you might have a chance. Don't expect to hit it big. Just hope to get a song here or there.

Sandy mentioned Fiddlers' Conventions. I think if I were you, I would start there.

The ongoing saga of Billy O'Shea is well detailed on the Mudcat. In addition to my partially composed "Billy," there are now 3 other closely related versions of "Billy" out there. This is a folk song that had safely evaded the drag net of collectors for years and years! It was only dogged curiosity and damn good luck that brought the long submerged "Billy" back to the surface.

Don't give up! I hope this is of some encouragement.

All the best,
Dan Milner

If we oursel's dinnae find muckle gang on aroond us, aiblins we ocht tae be settin' oot a bricht licht for th' endangered, bricht-backed moths o' Sang an' Story tae come flittin' aroond. Witness th' upsurge o' Scots Gaelic music, language, an' culture in Seattle, for example, by luikin' at th' followin' websicht: www.slighe.com. Some frustratit language students an' sangsters gaet taegither an' startit haudin' events amangst theirsel's, an' noo we've discovered a hantle o' native speakers in th' regional wuidwairk, tapsalteerie wi' joy at th' prospect o' sharin' what they ken wi' folks whae appreciate it. I'm nae langer amang th' Seattle Gaels, exiled tae Denver for fowr years o' Grad Schuil, but Slighe nan Gaidheal is a grand example o' folk takin' th' matter o' dwindlin' tradition-bearers intae their ain hands, wi' wondrous results. In ither wairds, tae quote th' button I ance saw on anither folkie's jacket, "If ye don't like th' news, gae oot an' mak some o' yir ain!"

--Cuilionn

I have just started reading Lomax's "The Land Where the Blue Began" (After twenty thousand recommendations on the Mudcat). As I read what Lomax did, it sounds like Sandy has the right idea. You have to ask who knows the old songs.

Of course, one of the things you might look for are little pockets of the country where life has not changed so much. And of course, you should be looking for the older generations.

Good luck.

Roger in Baltimore

Some things just happen by accident. Coming back from a session in Boston about 5 yeras ago I spotted a piano accordion player I hadn't seen in some time lugging his box. I pulled up said hop in I'll give you a lift. He's on the way to play at a birthday party for a 90 yr old woman & would I be interested in joining in & splitting the money. This woman knew words to about every tune we played, saying "that's a lovely old song". Never heard so many tune sung to. I gave her name & number to a friend whose a sean nos singer & Gaelic is her 1st language. The woman & her daughters where just so excited that someone thought the songs were worth the tape to record them on.

One more accident Joe (there's a point to all this, I hope). I had a gig at Fanueil Hall lined up with this guy Shay during the Tall Ships parade in Boston in 92. Last minute Shay couldn't make it so I went anyway. I saw this guy with a fiddle strapped to his backpack & a jug of water strapped to the fiddle. He says, yup, I play Irish & Sea music & I'd love to play but first I gotta sign on board. Shorten the story here, I ended up on board a ship where EVERYBODY played, sang, danced or did a combo of these. The fiddler it turns out I had met a decade ago in San Francisco & what a singer, another singer/musicain turns out to have collected & shared his share of songs & the mate, whose starts up with some shanties I yet to hear anyone else sing, turns out to be one who many consider to be the father of the Sea Music Revival in the Western Block Nations.
So Joe for me, the little I've had has all been an accident (the few that haven't put me in a hospital). Rick above had luck with his student. I think a good bit is putting yourself in the right spots & the right time may just come along with or without luck but the more you expose yourself & hound around the better the odds. I don't think you've been doing anything wrong but you might put yourself in opportunity's way more often now that you'll have more time for it. From the sounds of your up coming situation Joe it seems maybe your luck's gonna change. Happy Hunting, Barry

You can still hear some pretty fine roots music at the U. of Chi. Fest. And there's some wonderful roots sounds out there in the person of amazing incandescent younger singers like Jody Stecher, Tracy Schwarz, Laurel Bliss & her partner (can't recall his name), Alice Girrard & Hazel Dickens, Ginni Hawker, Cindy Mangsen, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Skip Gorman, Mike Seeger,Carol Elizabeth Jones, Kay Justice, etc. I wish instead of listing names I could let you hear these people. Younger folks who do the traditional songs SOOOO WELL! Whew!

But no collectors are beating on the doors of the modern younger folksingers. Why? I'm not sure! But I do know that the National Endowment For The Arts, while a wonderful organization, has never allowed folk revivalists to be taken seriously. That's a simple fact. And now is the era of singer-songwriters and business folkies who make mucho dinero by calling pop singers folk and sending them to Nashville where they abandon and denounce the "folk" moniker. (Not Lewinsky)It's just as well that they do drop the folk name because they never were folksingers.

Yes, the trad music is out there in the field (some pretty fine and some resembles the cow stuff mentioned earlier).

It's up to the folks doing the searching to learn where not to step!

With affection and respect,

Art

It reminds me of my days of earnest bird-watching. I would read all the stories of people finding rare birds, wish It would happen to me and wondering why it did not. The answer of course is that these things are rare and in the case of birds and this music, becoming more so. In order to find them you must spend hours and hours in the field (not the one with the cow shit in), finding mostly nothing of value at all. The only answer is having the time to do it.

Which hopefully Joe you will have after October and I wish you well and all the luck in the world. You may see a few good birds too. You will see a lot of cow shit.*smiles*

The cynic or realist in me would suggest that today though, if you were lucky enough to find a 99 year old genius singing wonderful material, on production of your recording equipment, you would find yourself being presented with their CD, Video or being referred to their `websicht' with all the arrangements under copyright and then be charged for the privilege of hearing them. It might contain the odd Buddy Holly song too *laughs*.

I suppose what I am saying is that there is no place today for the collector (or in some cases the exploiter) of old, as everyone can be their own collector and are doing so. There is a good and a bad side to this as in everything, but the times always were 'a' changing.

The answers you've got are wonderful - I wonder, though, if we've lost the point as we've digressed from listening to collecting, when I think I hear you saying you want be out there with the folks. With all due respect, Shambles, isn't it OK if an old-time musician who plays their music in the back yard has a CD because some young friend has seen the value in the music and already helped them to preserve some of it? I know there's plenty of room for cynicism in this area and so many others, and I don't mean to step on well-reasoned and well-seasoned toes.

I guess what I'm saying is there are plenty of places where the music is to be found. You might need to stay around a place for a while, though. On the bulletin board of that coffee shop you might see a notice for a community festival the next month, and there might be local music happening there. Is there a school nearby where people are in touch with musicians with deep local roots? Is there an arts council or library that is encouraging folks to bring out and share their music? THAT might be an interesting snapshot of our culture, to see where and where not that kind of thing is happening.

I'm fortunate to have settled in a place that seems to be making some headway into bringing music back into people's lives. At least there's plenty of it around here ;) for the listening and the invitation.

Have fun, Joe - Dani

I think you have got me wrong. What I was saying is that it is a very good thing that musicians/singers make their own CDs/collection.

By the way, two other folks that I've been trying to get an audience for here in Ontario: Jim Meeks, an Alabaman expatriate who tells stories and sings ballads passed down from his great great grandparents. They're mostly about the American civil war, and about a whole county that stayed loyal to the union. Aso Freddie Vine an acoustic blues fingerpicker from Rochester N.Y. who may be the best in that genre that I've ever seen.

http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/blue_mts.htm

Well worth reading. (And some of his collecting can be heard on RealAudio links, too!)

One bit of advice: bring along an instrument or something that indicates that you're willing to _trade_ songs. Some folks might open up more easily if the song-swapping has the possibility of not being uni-directional. You'll come of as more a sharer and less an exploiter.

--Charlie Baum