For the past three years, we have occasionally presented nationally touring artists at our coffee house. Tracy Grammer was the first of these, followed by Garnet Rogers, Ronny Cox, Robert Hazard, and finally Roy Book Binder in June of this year. Of these wonderful shows, only Robert Hazard had a band. But then folk music has traditionally been written and performed by the lonely singer-songwriter, the Woody Guthrie-style troubadour traveling about playing for anyone willing to listen, or no one at all.

While excellent musicianship is certainly common in the folk world, it’s not an absolute requirement, since, like Woody, you may not be bothering anyone but yourself. Agglomerations of excellent musicians are quite common in the old-time and bluegrass genres, but a bit less so in other sorts of acoustic music.

On the other hand, that unique American hybrid of blues, gospel, jazz, country and a back-beat, usually called rock ‘n roll, has really been dominated by bands. Even the so-called “rock stars” have backing musicians. Bill Haley had his Comets, Buddy Holly had his Crickets, Bruce has the E Street Band, and Elvis couldn’t have done it without Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and the Jordanaires.

Then came the bands without a real “star”. The Beach Boys had the US band scene to themselves until Brits like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, and Yardbirds came along. Collectively they were the obvious inspiration for the garage-band phenomenon that began in the mid-60s and continues today in garages and basements all over the world. Out of that beginning 40-plus years ago came bands like the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Santana, and Grateful Dead.

These bands were characterized by a broad background in almost every musical form, from classical to jazz to folk to country. They were also young, adventurous, and committed to their music and each other. So much so that they often lived together. In cases like these, familiarity spawned respect, not contemp, and musical conversations became as important and revealing as the verbal kind.

Being in a band presents its own joys and problems. There are the obvious problems of getting everyone together in someone’s garage for rehearsal. And then you need to learn to listen to each other, sometimes think like each other, and way back when, you actually had to dress like each other. The joy comes when you learn from each other, and actually begin to converse through music. Then listening becomes joy, not a task. And the band becomes an ensemble, thinking with a collective mind and acting as a collective unit. The early jazz greats pioneered this sort of improvisational spirit because they could–they were great musicians because they had to be to play that way, and playing that way made them better musicians.

Beginning in the 1960s, because the stage had been set, rock turned that way too. Grateful Dead are often credited with beginning the “jam band” phenomenon, but they were quick to acknowledge jazz and bluegrass as the inspiration for their seemingly endless exploration of an eight bar musical phrase. By living together for a while and eventually playing together for 30 years, the Dead developed the improvisational rock habit that was soon adopted by the Allman Bros. and eventually grabbed by so many others from Iron Butterfly to Dave Matthews.

This bit of history brings us to our November 10 coffee house and the featured act, Boris Garcia. The five members are all accomplished musicians in their own right, and have a collective fondness for all forms of American traditional music–blues, folk, jazz, bluegrass, pop, rock. They’ve been together for just three years, but in that short time have played some of the biggest festivals (Philly Folk, Bethlehem Musikfest) and opened for some of the biggest names (Little Feat, NRPS, the Rowan Bros., Tony Rice). Because no two concerts are the same, they encourage taping of their shows and sharing the results around the world. And they are developing a loyal following in their home town and outside the Philadelphia region.

They perform almost exclusively original songs with only an occasional cover. With three composers in the group, the songs are well-written accessible melodies and thoughtful, socially conscious lyrics presented with the broad brush of true ensemble playing. At times there is a clear guitar or mandolin solo, but more often the lyric-free spaces are filled with everyone’s solo, and at the same time no one’s solo. They be jammin’.

Bob Stirner (guitar, bass, vocals) writes some of the group’s tunes, is the only admitted Deadhead, and comments on the improvisational aspects: “It just depends on the tune — we write some three- and four-minute songs that are just three- and four-minute songs, and there are other songs that allow us to go out and explore, and do that whole thing.”
Then there’s the mythos of Boris Garcia. Boris Garcia doesn’t really exist or, at least, that’s what Stirner would have you believe. “Boris Garcia is this outlaw figure we created,” he says with a grin. “He is our persona, our Panama Red. He skirts the law and gets in trouble, but not serious trouble. He’s just bad enough to make it interesting.”

Every once in a great while, someone from the “folk” world manages to capture the fancy of everyone. Bob Dylan may have been the prototype, and Jack Johnson is one of the most recent examples. To me, what Delaware Friends of Folk is all about is presenting a variety of the best we can get. Typically there’s little chance of seeing someone about to be “famous”, but a really good chance of seeing excellence in performance. This one might be different. It will be excellent, but the acoustic jam band network is growing quickly and Boris Garcia is right up front. They rarely play venues as small as our coffee house and are in the process of creating their third CD, set for national release in the spring.

Opening the evening will be local musician and singer-songwriter Mike Roots. Mike used to live in Claymont but recently moved south to Kent County. He has been at a couple of our open mics and was a part of Justin McNatt’s January, 2007 coffee house. Mike calls his style “aggressive acoustic”, and that’s about the best description there is. He’s got an emotive style, and there’s a good deal of experience behind his performance. His lyrics show a level of maturity and focus seldom found from someone his age.

It all starts at 7:30, November 10 in the Wesley College Chapel in Dover. Special pricing of $12 for members and $15 for non-members. Plenty of fresh coffee, cold drinks and sweet treats available too. Bring a friend–there’s nothing else like it in Dover.

-- John Kidd, DEFF President

Remember, we are a real live 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. That means that your donations to Delaware Friends of Folk are likely tax deductible, but we know you’ll check with the experts before trying to rip off Uncle Sam. We are beginning to work in a few other directions, like sponsoring workshops and perhaps other educational efforts. Got a few extra dollars? Got some ideas on how we might use them? Let us know.

The 2007 festival was a big success! If you missed it, mark your calendar for next year right now - that would be October 3 and 4, 2008.

The Folk Hero contest on Friday night was amazing and more people attend than we ever expected. It was wonderful to hear homegrown talent and support live music of new, young talent in our area.

Saturday was terrific. The lack of rain was a nice change and it looked like everyone had a good time. The music was incredible, the kid’s activities were imaginative, the workshops were amazing, and the vendors were the best. We received many compliments on the festival and many first-time attendees couldn’t believe how beautiful the festival site was and how welcomed they felt by everyone.

I want to thank all the volunteers who made the Festival such a success, the vendors who fed the masses, the artists who gave their best to our Festival and workshops, and a Special thanks to the Festival committee. This group worked very hard to pull of the expanded Festival this year with some gaps in committee chairs.

Would you like to join our special, select group? You can. The Festival committee meets next on November 7, 2007 at Sheridan’s in Smyrna beginning at 6:30 p.m. This will be our wrap-up meeting where we discuss ideas for improvement next year. We’ll take a break after that and do most of our work via e-mail. We begin meeting again March 5, 2008, when we gather at 6:30 p.m. just prior to the DeFF Board meeting. If you are interested or want more information about joining the committee, send me an e-mail at kaejohnson1@comcast.net or call me at (302) 736-5585 and we’ll chat.

Congratulations Delaware Friends of Folk for a sensational Delmarva Folk Festival!