What's In a Name?

By Rachel Bissex 

There is a need in our country to categorize music. The obvious reason is so that the record stores who need to sell the music can display it conveniently and efficiently and sell it effectively. And they can polarize the audience that either dislikes or enjoys that category of music. More subtle, though, is our need for “buzz” words because of our short attention spans (fax/voice-mail/email/call waiting/Press 2 if you’re sick of all this.) People really feel they need something to compare you to. Now. 

Labeling music can be a little sticky, especially with all the world-music and cross-over styles happening today. Most people’s work is unique, and lumping it into groups may give the wrong idea. For some, “folk” music is traditional songs that are passed down from one generation to another that you can hum or sing along with, usually involving banjos and fiddles. This isn’t what a lot of us who end up in this category do. The term “singer/songwriter” is  so overused it’s beginning to have no meaning. It’s the limbo-land that performing songwriters, especially the ones with guitars, get sent to…you are singing and struggling on the tour circuit. Oh-a singer songwriter? You must be another folkie (yawn) whining about love or your dog or trains or the road or love or your car or love or love or love. 

Patty Larkin recently got a lot of grief from people in the folk community because she dared to say that she wasn’t really a folk musician. She plays jazzy rhythmic guitar with completely original and unique songs. One woman who books a coffee house said she'll never book Patty again because she has “turned her back” on the loyal folk audience. 

I saw Nancy Griffith play to a full house at the Flynn recently. Is she a folk singer, a country singer, a rock/pop crossover, or a singer/songwriter? Wasn’t  Bob Market a singer/songwriter? How about Bob Dylan? Certainly people like Adam Duritz or Mick Jagger could be classified this way. Lyle Lovett is gospel/rock/country/strange (“penguins are so sensitive to my needs…” What category is that? New Arctic?) Paul Simon is the king of this stuff with his African/pop/rock/Elvis/ South American influences.

My friend Bobby Hackney once said to me, after I sort of apologized for being a folk singer, “Hey Rachel, everything is folk. You start with a melody, a rhythm, maybe you play guitar or not, but it’s all about the song. Rock, punk, reggae, it comes from the people, it’s all folk music.” I will always thank Bobby for reminding me that being ‘labeled for packaging’ is one part of the life of a musician. It does matter somewhat in terms of exposure, airplay, concert opportunities, but it doesn’t - or shouldn’t - really make a difference in the heart of the artist. 

The people I’ve named earlier started out standing up and singing alone in front of an audience. I hope in our VCR and MTV and OJ and GOP type society we will still take the time to go downtown to rooms like the Burlington Coffeehouse, the Metronome, Nectar’s, Club Toast, and the Last Elm to listen to the new voices. The new songwriters of today will be tomorrow’s “stars' ' and they’ve taken the risk to get up and play their stuff, taking the time to come here on tour from far-off places. I especially hope that we get our friends off the couch to go out and support the many talented people who live and create right here in Vermont, and very importantly, ro support the businesses that have live music. Forget the labels…go see for yourself. 

Rachel Bissex is a singer-songwriter from Burlington with a new album called “Don’t Look Down” due out in June on Waterbury, Vermont’s Alcazar Productions.