Postcards from Folk Alliance 2017, Episode 3
Thursday, February 16, 4:33pm.
Staying up until 2:45 in the morning? Not something this folk dj does on a regular basis. So therefore, we got off to a rather later than anticipated start this morning.
I did make it to one of the panels I wanted to attend – “Radio and Folk Brand Awareness.” It was a fascinating discussion headed by four very engaging presenters: Mike Pengra from Radio Heartland/Minnesota Public Radio; Linda Fahey from (yay!) Folk Alley/WKSU; Joe Swank from Swank Promotions and Michael Park from The International Americana Music Show.
The questions from the moderator came fast and furious – what makes folk music folk music? How do we market or sell ourselves to other stations and listeners? How do we program, how do we choose what to play, how can we combat the perception of the word “folk” with the reality of what it is? Single versus full album, what does “international really mean”? It was an interesting conversation with some very perceptive questions from the audience, too.
After the panel, more coffee of course. (Maybe too much today. Will consider this tomorrow.) I wandered through the merchandise area and drooled over some guitars. Then I decided it was time for more music so up to the British Underground room I went to try and catch another performance from The Changing Room, a band from Cornwall. I saw them last night and mused that perhaps they’d be more impressive and affective in a smaller room. Guess what. I was right. In this space, you could really hear how well their voices mesh together. AND – they answered the question I had about their name. Why are they called The Changing Room? Because they envisioned a sort of rotating cast of musicians joining them on tour and in the recording studio, leading to different instrumentation and different vocal harmonies that would back up the two lead voices of Tanya Brittain and Sam Kelly. Answer!
After that satisfying discovery, I wandered down to room #529, the “Break Out West” room. And, once again, magic happened.
It was sort of a Canadian round robin this afternoon – several talented musicians from Canada taking turns performing for a very appreciative crowd. There were two standouts for me:
JP Hoe. He’s a youngish guy from Winnipeg and he played a song called “Run Away From Me.” The whole time, I just kept thinking: “What a beautiful voice this guy has.” It’s clear but not thin, rich and warm, but not muddy. It was a joy to listen to him…plus, the song was a sort of kiss off/heartbreak song which always drags me in.
Belle Plaine is a musician from Saskatchewan and she’s got a voice that’s filled with blues and soul. When she sings, she sounds absolutely effortless – and that’s a real treat for a listener. Playing guitar with a double bassist friend of hers (I didn’t catch her name, unfortunately), she had the audience swaying along to one of her songs called “Good Heart.” I snagged one of her CDs on the way out and cannot wait to listen to it when I get home.
Oh, as a postscript:
You want to know why the Edinburgh duo The Jellyman’s Daughter is called The Jellyman’s Daughter? I asked them. You can hear what they said.
And I got to nerd it out a little and chat with a musician I’ve admired for a very long time – since I first heard her at my last Folk Alliance International Conference, as a matter of fact. Corrine West. I’m going to try and catch her performance tonight!
Stay tuned…
