Last Call

Nick Noble, host of WICN’s Folk Revival

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Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Nick Noble, WICN’s authority on folk music, will be hosting his 700th installment of “Folk Revival” from 7 to 10 p.m. Sept. 23. Noble officially became the show’s host in November 2007, and since then has strived to share the greatest hits of the folk revival period, as well as educate listeners on the sheer breadth and diversity of the genre. For his milestone show, which coincides with the end of WICN’s Fall Fund Drive, Noble has lined up 10 local folk artists to perform live at the station’s Studio 50 recording space. Noble sat down with Last Call to talk about the show, folk music and the genre’s enduring quality.

How does reaching 700 feel?

It feels wonderful. I’ve got three missions with that show — the first is to share music from the classic folk revival period (roughly 1950-1970) when they were No. 1 on the charts. On every show I do, I play at least 3-5 tracks from that era, if not more. The second is to support local contemporary acoustic artists and you can see some of those come on the 700th show. My third objective is education — to share the range of folk music. You can have protest music — very liberal — to gospel, which could be very conservative. I’m a big tent guy, that’s why almost all my shows are themed shows. I like that WICN gives me the freedom to curate my own shows. The only rules are FCC regs —- that’s the nice thing about being part of this public radio station.

How did you choose the lineup for the 700 show?

I went through all my old playlists (about 85-90% of my shows are saved) and looked for who are the artists who have been on my show the most. The fewest is 12 times and the most is 22. A lot of them play songs from the old days as well as original work so that’s a lot of fun. At least three of the acts are from the greater Worcester area. (The lineup is Colette O’Connor; P.E. James; Beth DeSombre; Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards; The Lied To’s (Doug Kwartler and Susan Levine); Dan & Faith Senie; and Ari Charbonneau)

Turns out that the date of my 700 show is the end of the WICN fundraising drive. So they asked if I could be the dramatic conclusion, sort of. They wanted a wild finish so instead of having two or three of these folks come in and play their guitar into the microphone at the studio, we decided to do a live show and audience. The only thing worse than nobody clapping is one person clapping — you need at least 5-6 clapping to make it sound good on the radio.

What is your musical background personally?

I’ve always loved all kinds of music. I was a choir boy in New York City. I’ve always sung all my life. I’m a vocalist, not an instrumentalist, but mostly I’m a radio host who talks so much. Folk songs from that period when I was growing up were one of the things I loved. I still sing — actually co-wrote a song with Beth DeSombre — she and I may perform that together but not sure.

How did you get involved in folk music?

Started with a connection with the band Highwaymen from the 1960s — my uncle actually went to college with them. They did the No. 1 hit, “Michael Row the Boat Ashore.” I got interested in writing about music and chose this band as my lens.

Do you ever dig deep into the archives of the revival period that aren’t as well known?

Absolutely. I’ve done shows on entire groups and artists talking about their tracks that weren’t always heard — the more obscure, lesser known albums. That’s the nice thing about themed shows — you can find a certain song that people don’t always know. About a couple times a year, I’ll do a show called “Singing in Tongues” playing tracks of famous artists singing songs in languages other than English. That’s just one though — I also do “Women Folk,” to highlight women artists.

Why do you think they had a non-English track?

Folk music is really international — you can find it everywhere and these people wanted to show this. Pete Seeger wanted African folk songs so he recorded the English version of what became “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” It was originally an African song. A lot of these artists were very much committed to showing the breadth of folk music. Oftentimes, they surprised themselves with how famous they became — nobody knew Bob Dylan when they recorded “Blowing in the Wind,” but then it shot to No. 2 in the charts. Folk music from those people, very rarely did they go out to record a hit and when they did, it wasn’t the hit on that album. Back then, they were putting tracks on their albums because they loved the music.

A lot of folk music is very focused on the times they were written. How do you pick songs relevant today?

What people are beginning to realize is that the messages of these songs are pretty universal. The fact is that “Blowing in the Wind,” lyric for lyric, could apply today as it could back in the ‘60s. “If I Had a Hammer,” with its message of peace, brotherhood and sisterhood, could apply today as much in the ‘40s when Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes wrote it. That resonates today as much as it did then — an anti-war song is an anti-war song — same for an anti-racist song. You have to listen to it though — one of the issues I have with contemporary music is that the words don’t matter. With folk music, the words matter. Pete Seeger once said you can adapt words to any era. You can decide what you want to do with those words and that tune to make it work today.

Do you think that certain times in history give rise to folk music more than others?

Yes, I think you’re probably right. You didn’t hear a lot of folk music during the era of disco. Different times and different eras give rise to people willing to listen to other voices. Since 2009 anyways, the Newport Folk Festival has been selling out less than a day of tickets going on sale. To me, that’s really indicative that in the last dozen years, the oldest continuing folk festival has sold out to younger and younger crowds as soon as tickets go on sale.

The thing is that folk and acoustic music is that it’s always been there — it had its trendy period but it never went away. You don’t hear many disco bands anymore but I could go out to any city in the country and find two or three acoustic bands. Partially because it’s easy to get into — you pick up a guitar and can be an acoustic performer. You don’t need an amp set-up.

Anything to add?

It is a community tied together by a half dozen festivals and concerts and common interest in music. It’s not hard to sustain a community on Facebook when there’s a common interest — it was much harder back in the day when you had to write letters. I have a very loyal listener base who I converse with via Facebook and email all over the world. I think you’re right, the times do bring a new commitment. Less than a year during COVID, all of a sudden sea shanties became a thing on YouTube and TikTok. It was something you could harmonize with.

It’s something I love doing and hope to keep doing it. And I hope people tune in on the 23rd to hear some amazing artists. They’re veterans of the tiny little venue but they’ve also played bigger stages and festivals. They really exemplify the spirit of local contemporary folk music.

Folk Revival airs on WICN every Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m.

Nick Noble NICK NOBLE