Folk Music is Good for Ya!

It's going to be hard to escape the Bruce Springsteen buzz over the next couple of months. The E-Street Band is back on tour. Magic, the first Bruce & the E-Street band album in five years is about to be released. And let's not forget the highly publicized concert on the plaza at Rockefeller Center on September 28th for the Today Show. I am thrilled by all of this. I even had a very tiny anxiety attack while trying to score tickets through Ticketmaster for the shows at Madison Square Garden. (Never a fun time)

One thing that will unfortunately be overshadowed by all of this is the new release from the influential indie label Appleseed Records. Sowing The Seeds -- The 10th Anniversary is a 2 CD set of politically charged songs from such esteemed artists as Jackson Browne, Joan Baez, Steve Earle, Roger McGuinn, Judy Collins, Donovan, and the aforementioned "Boss" on an exclusive new recording of his own "Ghost Of Tom Joad," with folk legend Pete Seeger.

Along with this release is another star-studded compilation called Give Us Your Poor, featuring newly recorded tracks by the likes of Jon Bon Jovi, Natalie Merchant, Madeleine Peyroux, Bonnie Raitt, and again, a duet by Bruce and Mr. Seeger on "Hobo's Lullaby," a song attributed to, but not written by, Woody Guthrie. This CD will be released on 9/25, and both of these CDs are devoted to the plight of the homeless.

These two releases are worth your time and money. The artists involved have all been politically active throughout their careers, and unlike so many benefit CDs, which seem hastily thrown together, every performance here is heartfelt and inspired. The unlikely combo of folkie Eric Andersen and head Fugee, Wyclef Jean is magical. Jackson Browne and Joan Baez sound as if they've been singing together their entire lives on "Guantanamera." Pete Seeger's "Bring Them Home," with additional lyrics by Appleseed Records founder Jim Musselman, gets a beautiful read from Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, Anne Hills and Seeger himself. There truly isn't a clam on either of these CDs.

So while we all wait patiently for the "proper" release of Bruce's "Magic" on 10/2, I suggest we devote some time to the Bruce-approved Sowing The Seeds. Don't be afraid. Folk music is good for ya!

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[Shake-A-Spear]

Remember Burl Ives. Listen to On Top of Old Smoky. Remember the Marlboro Man.

[Rand]

"It's ALL folk music 'cause it's all played by folks" - Attributed to Louis Armstrong

[rektruax]

Folk Music is Good for Ya!

It's just your ears it's bad for.

[arethabaez]

listen to baez sing ave maria vs streisand,aretha,whiteny,celine. joanie's the best for your ears by far.

[MICHAEL1836]

©© BUSH-WAH BLUES (Key of E); Music (Bourgeois Blues) by Huddie Ledbetter, Words by Michael Scolnick
Come on all you people, listen to me
Don’t put your faith in "Dubya" down in Washington, DC

CHORUS: ‘Cause he’s a Bush-wah clown
In a Bush-wah town
He’s got that Bush-wah crew
Let’s spread the news all around.

Now if your name ain’t Enron or if you’re not sellin’ oil
You’ll never have prosperity, no matter how you toil
They own that Bush-wah clown,
They own that Bush-wah town,
They own that Bush-wah crew
Let’s spread the news all around.

He went and turned our surplus into a deficit
But to Cheney’s Halliburton he’s nothin’ but a hit
CHORUS

If you’re a big corporation, he’ll have you doin’ well
But if you’re just a citizen, well you can go to hell,
CHORUS

We needed to find Osama, he fought Iraq instead:
No weapons of mass destruction and thousands dead
Cause he’s a Bush-WAR* clown,
Now it’s a Bush-WAR town
He’s got that Bush-WAR crew
Let’s spread the news all around.

Survivors of Katrina can clearly see
They can’t get help from DUBYA down in Washington, DC
He hired Michael Brown,
Another Bush-wah clown
One of that Bush-wah crew
Let’s spread the news all around.

He’s s’posed to be the leader of the Land of the Free
But he sent the NSA to spy on you and me
‘Cause he’s a Bush-wah clown
Yeah, he’s a Bush-wah clown
He’s got that Bush-wah crew
Let’s spread the news all around.

Be happy all you people,
It just had to be.
We're gonna get them Bushies out of Washington, DC
We drove that Bush-wah crew
From House and Senate, too,
Next it's the Bush-Wah clown,
Impeach him right out of town.

Let’s take that Bush-wah clown
Impeach him right out of town.
*Thanks to James Durst for "Bush-WAR"
Sing it any time, anywhere. Just mention my name when you do.
Michael Scolnick

[Michael Giltz]

Thanks for the recommendations. But DID you get Springsteen tickets?

[Michael Giltz]

But DID you get Springsteen tickets?

[hiprogloho]

Folk music used to be good for you when it expressed truth about what's happening in the world. It no longer does that as much like it did in the 60s. All the so-called folk singers are really soft rockers who are too elite to rock the boat and tell the truth in their music anymore.

[arethabaez]

Steve Goodman, Emmy Lou, Janis Ian, Iris Dement, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Ani DeFranco, Tom Waitts, Kris Kristofferson and even Elvis Costello (who once said being a Joan Baez-type protester was the worst thing he could think of) have all written wonderful anti-war songs.
Now that king, sorry prince, of 60s folk, Bobby Dylan, seems like the one who is tooo elite(Mr Malibu)to rock the boat. Oh yeah, I forgot he says he's never been anti-war.