Under the Covers
The person who reviewed Iron Brew's CD Are You My Sister? (#87, p. 93) seems to be saying that no one should record a song if someone else has recorded a good version of it. This flies in the fact of what folk music is all about. Unfortunately the finances of the music business discourage "covers" (a term I canstand, by the way), whereas singing (and recording) songs that other people have sung is the basis of traditional music, and should be encouraged by lovers of the genre.
I don't know the members of Iron Brew (although one of them used to write reviews for the magazine which I co-edit), but I received a review copy of the CD, and listened to it. I would speculate that most of Iron Brew's audience would not have heard the "original" versions of the "cover" songs, and would find their "uninspired" choices just fine, as I did. These are perfectly good songs, not especially overexposed (they're not doing "The Star of the County Down" here!). I think the reviewer is trying to show off his or her erudition, at the expense of an informative assessment of the performance, and also misunderstands the basic nature of what he or she is writing about.
— John Leeder
Co-editor, Canadian Folk Music Bulletin
(Calgary, AB, Canada) (via email)

Site Reading
I would like to encourage the record label companies to take responsibility for maintaining an internet site that would contain the lyrics to all the albums that they produce. Various lyric sites are available but are not a comprehensive list. Sites posted by fans are often incorrect; sites by the artists are precisely that and contain only their particular song lyrics, and most artists do not have sites available. Sites posted by record clubs list only the most currently popular and neglect obscure artists. It is often impossible to find the lyrics to old or foreign songs, even though I can still purchase CDs of them. Only the record label companies would be able to maintain a comprehensive and permanent library of all the songs that they produce, and the posting of lyrics should go hand in hand with the production. A few CDs do contain a pamphlet with the words to songs, but not all do. Wouldn't it be easier and less costly to maintain an internet site than to print and package such a pamphlet? Access to such an internet site could be advertised directly on the CD package. This system would profit the record label, the artists, those selling the albums, and certainly the consumer would benefit.
— Georgia Brooks (via email)

Compilation Complications
I enjoyed Linda Dailey Paulson's review of MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide, and would like to offer some additional thoughts that will be of interest to the musical adventurers who read this magazine.
While no guide like MusicHound World is meant to be read cover to cover, it was designed to incorporate both entertaining reportage and succinct background information wherever one opens it. Readers will understand the transatlantic relationship of Cuban and West African music, for instance, whether they crack the book at Africando or Ricardo Lemvo.
Thus a broader narrative unfolds amongst the artist entries of a given country, while intriguing summaries on lesser-known formal fine points or stylistic subcultures are reserved for the book's sidebars. In this way readers can get information as in-depth or at-a-glance as they prefer, though more scholarly users of the book will not be disappointed by sidebar series such as the 11-part survey of Jamaican music history.
Another important source of context is the book's Compilations section, which deals more with overviews than with individual artists. Ms. Paulson may have missed this section in reporting that "no comprehensive discussion of... the music of Indonesia... is included." I assure the curious reader that this singularly rich culture is covered particularly extensively among the Compilations section's Asia entries. I'm happy to say that most readers have found the book's 1,000-plus pages rewardingly comprehensive, and I invite new ones to explore.
— Adam McGovern
Editor, MusicHound World (via email)

Older Than Dirt
With all due respect to Craig Harris and others who've been speculating on which festival is the oldest, I'd suggest that Native American folks have been gathering intertribally to share stories and songs for, well, thousands of years now.
And as for a regularly scheduled Folk Fest per se, the New England Folk Festival [had] its 56th annual gathering at the Natick High School campus April 14, 15, and 16th.
— Paul Mulvaney (via email)

Even More
Older Than Dirt
In the discussion of early (earliest) folk festivals many fine events have been mentioned. I regularly attend several of them. When I referenced the book Folk and Traditional Music Festivals by Michael and Joanne Stepaniak, I see where some confusion may arise. On page 29 they call the University of Chicago Folk Festival "...the oldest continuously running college folkfest in the U.S." On page 23 they call the Florida Folk Fest "...the oldest continuous state folk festival." Page 78 calls the Philadelphia Folk Fest "...the oldest continuously running, eclectic folk music fest in the U.S."
In the same book we can reference the Galax, Virginia, Old Fiddlers Convention, started in 1934. Or the Ole Time Fiddler's and Bluegrass Festival in Union Grove, North Carolina, since 1924. Also, in Asheville, North Carolina, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, since 1927. These are all older festivals mentioned in the Stepaniaks' book.
On April 1, 2000 I was talking to Jim Connor at the Florida Old Time Music Championships. Mr. Connor is the Alabama frailing banjo state champion. He referenced the Athens, Alabama, fiddle championships as "very old" but mentioned Walnut Grove, Alabama, dated at least to Civil War times for its banjo contests.
It should be mentioned that age is not necessarily a factor in the quality of a festival and there are many good recent arrivals on the festival scene.
— Mark R. Wright (Altoona, FL)