"DO YOU THINK PEOPLE LIKE ME JUST TOSS OUT ALBUMS IN BETWEEN SPRAYING GRAFFITI ON THE WALLS OF CECIL SHARP HOUSE AND URINATING ON THE GRAVE OF SAM LARNER?" JON BODEN

 

I DON'T DO GRAFFITI - OR STREET ART - I'M NOT VERY URBAN - MORE URBANE REALLY....

 

IF I WAS A BETTER GUITAR PLAYER I WOULD FORM A 'FOLK JESUS AND MARY CHAIN' AND INCITE A RIOT AT CHERRY HINTON....

 

MOST OF MY WORK IS CONCERNED WITH FOLK MUSIC AND ITS IMAGE. FOLK MUSIC IS USUALLY PORTRAYED, OR PERCEIVED, AS ANCIENT, PASTORAL, VINTAGE, FROZEN IN TIME - THE USUAL STEREOTYPES OF BEARDS, JUMPERS AND FINGERS-IN-EARS. BUT FOLK MUSIC IS AN EVOLVING, LIVING, CONTEMPORARY VEHICLE FOR TRANSMITTING STORIES AND IDEAS, LIVES, LOVES AND FEARS - THE HUMAN CONDITION. FOLK SONGS HAVE EVOLVED OVER DECADES AND ACROSS GENERATIONS, SOMETIMES OVER CENTURIES. NAMES GET CHANGED, LOCATIONS GET MOVED, MODERN EVENTS ARE INCORPORATED, THE SONGS GROW, CHANGE SHAPE, ADAPT, EVOLVE, AND MUTATE. WHEN CECIL SHARP, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS ET AL TRAVELLED THE COUNTRY TO COLLECT AND RECORD THE SONGS, THEY INADVERTANTLY 'FROZE' THEM IN THEIR RECORDINGS AND WRITINGS. THEY HAVE SUBSEQUENTLY BEEN SEEN, BY SOME, AS COMPLETE, FINISHED AND DEFINITIVE.

FOLK SONGS ARE DEAD UNLESS THEY CONTINUE TO BE SUNG, TOLD, EXCHANGED, RE-WORKED, ADAPTED AND RE-INTERPRETED.

 

FOLK MUSICIANS BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO THE SONGS AND MOVE THEM FORWARD BY "TRAD/ARR" - TAKING THE TRADITIONAL SONG AND ARRANGING IT IN THEIR OWN STYLE AND PERHAPS CHANGING EVENTS, PLACES & NAMES ETC TO REFLECT THE TIMES THEY LIVE IN AND THEIR OWN LIVES. I HAVE APPLIED THIS SAME PRINCIPLE TO MY WORK.

 

AS A VISUAL ARTIST ( AND RUBBISH GUITAR PLAYER ) I HAVE HAD TO FIND WAYS TO INTERPRET THE THEMES, IMAGES AND STORIES IN A VISUAL LANGUAGE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT FOLK MUSIC IS CONTEMPORARY, MODERN, RELEVANT AND ALSO BEAUTIFUL, SAD, AND FUNNY.

 

FOLK MUSIC HAS ALWAYS BEEN WITH US, THROUGH NUMEROUS STYLES , FASHIONS AND FADS , YET IT HAS RARELY BENEFITTED FROM THEM. IT WAS ASSIGNED AN IMAGE FROM SOME MYTHICAL BYGONE AGE - A STRANGE SEPIA SNAPSHOT OR RUSTIC WOODCUT THAT IT FINDS IMPOSSIBLE TO SHAKE OFF.

 

SOME OF MY WORK IS SERIOUS, SOME HUMOROUS, SOMETIMES A PASTICHE, SOMETIMES AN IMITATION, SOMETIMES A BLATANT RIP-OFF. SOME IS THERE TO MAKE YOU THINK, LAUGH, INSPIRE YOU OR PROVOKE YOU TO FIND OUT MORE.

 

MY GRIEVANCE IS NOT WITH POLLY SWALLOW, FRANK MEADOW SUTCLIFFE OR EWAN MACCOLL BUT WITH THE LAZY AND STEREOTYPICAL IMAGERY THAT THE MEDIA AND EVEN SOME PROPONENTS OF THE TRADITION INSIST ON USING TO REPRESENT OUR VIBRANT AND IMPORTANT MUSICAL LIFEFORCE.

 

IF YOU ARE A HARDCORE, HARDLINE TRADITIONALIST AND FIND MY OPINIONS ON FOLK MUSIC HERETICAL AND MY IMAGES OFFENSIVE AND SHOWING A GENERAL LACK OF RESPECT, THEN I AM OBVIOUSLY DOING SOMETHING RIGHT.