Folk, an Old Friend

I have fond memories of Fleetwood Folk Club in the mid seventies, lots of hearty singing from people with woolly jumpers and beards, two pints of cider and staggering to catch the last bus home. We also used to go to Blackpool Folk Club which was a bit less traditional, although the cider wasn't as strong. I enjoyed the folk club ambience, nice and relaxed with a good mix of people from all age groups. I still return to folk music, although I find it's usually better as a live experience so you can feel the power in many of the songs. When I talk about folk music I realise I actually mean British folk music and its variants, Pentangle (below), Fairport Convention, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and Martin Carthy are names that readily spring to mind.

		The American version is a different animal, it would probably mean more if I was American, we're back to culture again. That's not to say I don't like Paul Simon, early Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell etc, I just don't relate to them in the same way.

To me the most powerful American folk music is the blues. If you are British and over forty you probably discovered the blues through the likes of Peter Green, Eric Clapton and John Mayall, before backtracking to the timeless originals like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson (left). The Blues to me is like soul music, it's always there to come back to like an old friend. It's been in and out of fashion yet is still capable of producing new stars, Robert Cray (right), or more recently Kelly Joe Phelps are amongst my favourites.

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