FOLK MUSIC’S BACK STRUMMING

MELISMA | FALL 2012 | FEATURES 21 FOLK MUSIC IS BACK AND STRUMMING

By LAUREN WITTE

Back in the relatively olden days of music-making, people sang and played instruments. Plain and simple. There was no auto-tuning, there were no egotistical producers or special effects, and there certainly was no Justin Bieber (I know, right?). There was just a man, or a woman, and a guitar. This was the heyday of folk music, when Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle, and Cat Stevens were topping the charts with their awesome vocal harmonies and simple instrumental accompaniments. Well, I’m happy to say that folk is back, and it’s rocking. Take a look at the music scene today and you’ll see that the landscape is fraught with folk, specifically folk rock. This musical resurgence has helped bands such as Mumford & Sons, The Decemberists, and The Avett Brothers find fame in the mainstream music world—something that hadn’t really been done since the days of Dylan and Stevens (much to my California-hippy Dad’s dismay).

Arguably beginning with Wilco around 2002 and continuing into the present, folk rock has come out of hiding and into the spotlight, garnering more and more of a popular liking, more attention from industry critics and institutions, and more legitimacy as a genre, instead of just “some indiemusic that the kids are listening to these days.”

What gives folk-rock bands such as Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers a following is a self-removal from the pop-saturated, kitschy style that has dominated the radio waves. These bands favor string instruments and subdued simplicity over complex electronic beats, mixes, and purposeful distortion. Of the three bands mentioned, Mumford & Sons features a banjo, upright bass, mandolin, and piano. The Avett Brothers add to this instrumentation with a harmonica, tambourine, light drums, and a cello. The Decemberists attach an accordion and melodica to the list. These instruments give the bands their distinguishing oldtimey, down-home feel, which has proven to draw a crowd that is looking to get away from programmed pop tunes, yet still listens to the pop stations.

What’s so attractive about the music itself is that the sounds are raw and un-tampered with—they bring us back to a simpler musical era. The songs are refreshing—a nice contrast to the grating radio hits that have been played ad-nauseum for the past few years. Many people gravitate towards folk music for this authenticity. You don’t need slick moves, synthesizers, or elaborate costumes to emulate folk music. It’s accessible and anyone can create it. In fact, folk music began as a simple combination of using one’s body as an instrument—both vocally and percussively.

Yet, there are still some held conventions that make the music accessible to the everyday radio listener—the songs generally adhere to a standard musical form and are catchy and singable, albeit in a different way than the earworm radio pop singles. In fact, folk rock has begun to upstage the aforementioned pop standards. Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers turned out two of 2012’s most anticipated albums: Babel and The Carpenter, respectively. And, most importantly, the dudes can play. At the soul of the bands are a group of capable musicians who have true talents, and haven’t been molded into artists by the music industry (no names will be mentioned . . . )

All of these factors have given folk-rock more than just a comeback—they’ve made it popular. This popularity has caused a bit of a tussle, though. Some supporters of “original” or “classic” folk music—the Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger fans—think that the new stuff isn’t authentic and has become commercialized. They think that the fact that the music has become radio-playable is detrimental, as folk is supposed to be of the people and not of the media corporations.

In response, or perhaps as an homage to their roots, some folk bands have played on their genre’s traditions. In April 2011, Mumford & Sons, along with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and Old Crow Medicine Show embarked on a train tour, called the “Railroad Revival Tour,” across the American Southwest. Along the way, the bands stopped at various locations to give outdoor concerts. The tour was an embracing of American roots, the roots upon which folk is based. Whether it was meant to appease old fans or new fans or neither, the tour was a hit and definitely brought some attention to the rising bands.

As I see it, bands like Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers are simply pioneering a new era of folk music in which popularity is good. It is not selling out and it is not breaking conventions. It’s simply ushering in a new generation of music listeners who are craving and appreciating great music, hearkening back to beloved musical ways of the past.<