Making babies and making songs are not the same thing despite all the metaphorical comparisons we make about each to the other. A song may be said to be born as a dependent creature that eventually becomes independent, but a baby is not a well-crafted 2-5 minute experience that can be recreated through live performance […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
March
08
Folk Alliance International’s 2021 Folk Unlocked Virtual Conference: Part 1 of 8
posted by Ben Bar
This article is the first of an eight-part series covering Folk Alliance International’s 2021 Folk Unlocked Virtual Conference. It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that performance artists, such as singer-songwriters, are among those who have been hit hardest by the covid-19 pandemic. But organizations such as Folk Alliance International (FAI) have been hard […]
February
17
Moldy Oldies
posted by Ben Bar
One of the wonders of life in New York City is that the intimacy of each individual relationship can become enhanced by the contrasting vastness of our 300-square-mile metropolis and its staggering 8.4 million residents. As if we needed a reminder, the pricelessness of human contact is more apparent now than it has been in […]
January
26
KNABLE GAZING: Antifolk This
posted by jimknable
Or, Reckoning with Someone Else’s Antifolk Playlist* On February 5, Ain’t I Folk? Weemayk Music Covers Antifolk Classics drops on BandCamp followed by a February 17 drop on all streaming services. Its lead single is Herman Düne’s “Futon Song” as covered by Cucaracha, a.k.a. Cockroach. ///**// Cockroach, I remember ye well. Hunched and buggy with […]
January
08
Knable Gazing: Talker-Songwriters in the Age of COVID
posted by jimknable
I have a secret dream that’s not so secret anymore because I’ve told too many people about it. I want to be a late night talk show host. Somewhere between Steve Allen and David Letterman, with a twist of Wallace Shawn from My Dinner with Andre. I have actually been fortunate enough to dabble with […]
January
04
The Localist: The Return of Scam Services, A Public Service Announcement
posted by bigcityfolks
The underground music world is buzzing from a recent mass casualties event in which many musicians have had songs delisted by Spotify because of an algorithm designed to remove songs that have been boosted by artificial plays via bots and fake plays. I won’t get into all the issues that one might have with a […]
December
26
The Localist: Public Service As A Genre
posted by bigcityfolks
I want to reconfigure public attitudes towards artists who write outside of the industry and proposed the term “pro bono musician” the other day but I think the concept deserves some more thought and I’m proposing that we have a genre term which I will call Public Service Musician. By Public Service Musician, I refer […]
December
03
Knable Gazing: Jasper Lewis and his “1000 Songs” on Yard Deer
posted by jimknable
I thought I was a prolific songwriter. Then I met Jasper Lewis. Probably not an uncommon experience. At the time, he was in the midst of his year of answering every single weekly song challenge thrown out by Niall Connolly (or his proxies) in the glorious days of Big City Folk Song Club at Fawkner […]
November
16
BCF Livestreams/Shows – Week of 11.16.20
posted by Robert Bock
A selection of livestreams/shows from the infinite sea of events in NYC this week: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020 @ 7:30pm – Allan Harris @ Facebook/YouTube. Allan Harris shares his latest single, “Run Through America” via a live stream performance for Harlem After Dark. (Event) — Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020 @ 8pm – Chris Q. Murphy […]
September
20
The Localist: How to Write an Album, Part 6 – About-ness in Song and Album Writing
posted by bigcityfolks
In Part 4, we looked at a more expansive conception of what a “hook” is, describing good songwriting as involving a multiplicity of hooks in each song. But a good song isn’t just a random series of layered hooks, no matter how densely packed. The hooks support one another in a determinate way that helps […]
Recent Comments