The Art of Song

In one of the important columns ever written around these parts, Chris Bertolet argued that too many jambands were short on good songs. While I disagree with the examples he used, his larger point was, and still is, right on the money.

Which is why it has always surprised me that more jambands don't tap into the world of folk music for material to cover.

Faced with insane touring schedules, and fans who demand to hear a wide variety of material from their favorite bands live and on tape, jambands are always going to have to cover other people's songs to some degree. This to me is a good thing; a century of fantastic music is drawing to a close, and groups should certainly take the opportunity to cover their favorites, that which influenced them, as well as crowd pleasers and other interesting songs.

Too often, however, young bands cover the same material that the groups that influenced them cover. There is some merit in this, perhaps, as these are often great songs, but even great songs can be overplayed. And there are always more great songs to be found out there.

Folk music is one of the places bands should look for great songs to cover. Folkies live and breathe the art of song. And one of the things folkies do is not only present their own music, but they tend to cover each other's best material. They draw not only from the past, but from the music of their contemporaries when they play.

There are lessons here for today's young jambands. The fact is that not everyone can write a great song; that's why the Dead picked up Robert Hunter and John Barlow, for example, as well as covering so many songs from other people. And they did turn to folk songs old and contemporary in the process. Not only did they raid the famous collection of old English folk ballads known as the Childs Collection (for tunes like "Peggy-O"), they also covered a contemporary folk song that became one of their hugest signature songs, the anti-nuclear ballad, "Morning Dew."

And that's just it, jambands do not have to cover a folk song like it was written, they can seriously fuck with it, a la "Morning Dew," and make it their own. The Dead didn't just cover a song, they virtually owned the songs they covered by making them their own, through arrangement an application of their signature sound.

What brings this all to mind more than anything is the new CD by John Prine, "In Spite Of Ourselves" (1999: Oh Boy! Records). With the help of nine women dueting with Prine over the course of thirteen essentially country tracks, just how much SONG can be packed into two-and-half to three-and-a-half minutes is revealed in very stark and easy to understand terms. These are sonic movies, replete with beginning, middle and end. Filled with complexity of plot and storyline, as well as mixed messages that can be read in any number of ways, depending on where one is in any particular moment. These are instant classics.

If a jamband heeds this advice and wonders where to start looking for material that is relatively unknown, but purely wonderful, I have some suggestions.

Firstly, consider attending the Folk Alliance conference. This annual convention is the gathering for lovers and purveyors of the folk tradition.

I was privileged enough to be in Albuquerque last year at the same time the Folk Alliance convention was there; it was amazing. I wa in town for an academic conference, and each night after that was over I made it across town for one of the best little known musica events in the country.

The Folk Alliance had completely taken over the Hilton and the Doubletree, as well as the city's Convention Center. Many of the rooms in the hotels had been cleared of beds and set up as mini-concert halls where the finest of folk music of every variation could be heard -- all free, often with beer, wine and other refreshments also provided. The Convention Center had similar, if more formal programs. The point of this was so the musicians could get their songs to each other, and to record company types, critics, fans and others.

There was so much amazing music played -- so many great songs -- that I can't help but think that many jambands should take the weekend off in February 2000 and head to Cleveland, where the next convention will be, and gather up more great songs than they could ever use. This could put an end to the stereotype (that is too often true), that many jambands don't have enough good songs.

I also recommend this convention to any music fan who loves the art of song, period. It's more fun in a weekend than you can otherwise have in a month of Sundays. (The Bluegrass Convention in Nashville every Fall is equally interesting, from what I understand.)

Another way jambands could learn about the great but little known songs from the folk tradition that would be amazing to hear rearranged would be to get on a mailing list of a great folk coffeehouse. The Freight & Salvage, in Berkeley, CA, is but one possibility. Jambands could follow the schedule there as a guide for albums to check out for great songs to cover.

At the Freight & Salvage artists like Dar Williams, Iris DeMent, Tony Rice, Peter Rowan, Ferron, Dan Bern, Cheryl Wheeler, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky, Greg Brown, Tom Rush, Ralph Stanley (and scores of others) are regulars, and all have songs that jambands could make their own in wonderful ways that would be rewarding for everyone from songwriter to band to audience.

Imagine Dar Williams' treatise on how to encourage interest in hemp farming among the capitalist class in "Play The Greed" added to a jamband songlist. Imagine Greg Brown's "China" or "Whatever It Was" or "Billy from The Hills" in a jamband setlist. What a jamband could do with Iris DeMent's "The Way I Should" is mindboggling to even consider. The same is true of Gillian Welch's "Tear My Stillhouse Down," Robert Earl Keen's "Shades Of Gray," Ferron's "It Won't Take Long," John Gorka's "Where The Bottles Break," Tom Rush's "Merrimac County" or "Child's Song," Cheryl Wheeler's "If It Was Up To Me," Greg Trooper's "Up To Me" or "Meet Me Halfway," Ray Wylie Hubbard's "This River Runs Red" or "River Bed," Stacey Earle's "Cried My Heart Out," or James McMurtry's "Airline Agent," just to mention a very few great songs and songwriters.

That's before we get to virtually anything by the great Tom Russell, Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Dave Alvin, Nancy Griffiths and so many others that aren't Dylan or Hunter, but are just as good at what they do.

Songs by many of the artists I've listed above, as well as folks like Julie Miller, Buddy Miller, Stephen Bruton, and many others, are featured prominently on the albums that are reaching platinum status very quickly, regardless of how well these writers do commercially with their own CDs. Jambands will, of course, want to take a very different approach to these songs than country and pop producers give them, but the point is these song writers resonate well with real people in demonstrable ways.

To understand what I'm getting at, consider just two examples by one now legendary band, The Newgrass Revival. This band understood the value of a great song jammed out. They took Willis Allen Ramsey's "Watermelon Man" (a song about the joys of eating, er, yummy juicy things) which ran less than three minutes on Ramsey's original (and classic) self-titled CD (1972: Shelter / 1999: Koch) and turned it into a jammed out extravaganza. They did the same thing with Townes Van Zandt's "White Freightliner."

I know some of you thinking, "but many bands do cover some of this material." That's the point. Pick the good song and you're most of the way there already. Folk is just one aspect of it. Phish, to cite the most obvious example, takes in great popular songs from many genres into its ever changing repertoire. That's exactly the point.

There is another aspect to the art of song presentation that too many jambands seem to ignore, however: Vocal presentation.

Many artists spend years honing their instrumental chops, developing a working knowledge of complicated music theory developing a working knowledge of complicated music theory techniques, learn how to read the other players on the stage in a musical way, and yet take their singing ability completely for granted. No band should count on getting away with what Phish or the Dead (especially Phil Lesh!) have gotten away with in the vocals department at times. These are flukes of nature, inexplicable in many ways.

No band with a hope of going to the next level should take their vocals for granted. Hire those good vocal coaches, jambanders. A great song deserves a good vocal presentation, as well.

da Flower Punk loves a good song, from any genre. For more on where to find good songs, in da Flower Punk's opinion, of course, see http://pauserecord.com.