Thinking about folk music - 2023 11 11

I might be crazy but I am thinking of putting together an evening of folk music at the Laughing Bean Coffee Shop on Monday, December 18.

One of my earliest memories is being laid down to sleep in the back room of a folk club beside crates of Coca-Cola. Mom and Dad were singing on the stage.

Mom sang with her own trio in the style of Peter, Paul and Mary with Paul Phillips on 12-string guitar and Barry Hall on banjo. They would rehearse in our living room while we kids ran around outside playing Prisoner's Base and Hide and Seek with the neighbourhood kids.

Mom and Dad had a regular folk singing spot on the Max Ferguson Show on the CBC Radio.

Dad put together and taught folk songs to school children through a program on the CBC Radio.

When I first moved back to Vancouver in 1996 I joined forces with my future husband, Matt, and his roomate Jeremy, to form a folk trio 'Terra Incognita'. Then, later, Matt and I sang for our supper at various Vancouver restaurants as a folk duo called 'Tons o' Time'.

My brother Leif has been teaching me a collection of songs he has written. I have a collection of songs I wrote many years ago. My brother Trevor has a vision for playing his songs with me playing my double bass. My sister Holly and I first performed together at the Argyle Secondary School Talent Show - I think it was in 1973 (Four Strong Winds, Where Have All the Flowers Gone). My brother Arnt brings his guitar over twice a week and practices from his folk song book while Mom looks on and sometimes joins in on a chorus. Sometimes I pull out my recorder or sing backup harmonies. My brother Tom, my sister-in-law Georgina and I put together a few songs for the Vancouver Folk Music Society when it was at the Jericho Sailing Club.

It's hard to explain. I'm thinking about folk music and how much we need to build our sense of connection and community. I'm longing for the non-professional, unvarnished aesthetic of sharing music in my neighbourhood and fostering a sense of belonging. 

I might be crazy but I am thinking about folk music.