G7 and folk rock

Ron Silliman (rsillima@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 27 Jun 1996 13:11:36 -0400

Marty, thanks for reminding me of Sweetheart of the Rodeo--If you ever
spend time in Nashville, it's instructive to go to the Country Music
Hall of Fame (as well as all the other old shrines of the music, like
Ryman Auditorium, Tootsie's saloon or Hatch Show Prints, the poster
makers for the Grand Ol' Opry, most of the major rockabilly shows and,
long ago, the minstrel shows that traveled the south). I've always
thought that folk music had a strong country feel to it--all those
Scottish ballads that Pete Seeger sings, for example, or the music of
Doc Watson. The Byrds just added some amps and brought in the influence
of Bob Wills.

Speaking of the trivialization of the 1960s, have people here noted (it
was on NPR's program Market Place) that the official entertainment for
the coming meeting of the G7 nations is Bob Dylan?

Ron Silliman
rsillima@ix.netcom.com