One afternoon last weekend during the Folk Alliance International (FAI) 36th annual conference in Kansas City, one of the few civilians at the Westin Crown Center hotel asked in a crowded elevator: "What kind of folk music is this, anyway? I saw a list with hundreds of names and I never heard of any of them!"
The man had good reason to be curious. To be honest, I had never heard of 98 per cent of the artists either. (I did say hi to Tom Paxton, also in an elevator.) Which was exactly why I wanted to go. I felt the air getting stale in my room in Queens. I almost never go out to shows anymore, rarely get exposed to new music outside my rock/pop safe zone. I craved travel and fresh sounds. Last week I saw more live music in four days than I have in the last 25 years.
A few months ago, I got a press release announcing the FAI 2024 confab February 21-25 in Kansas City. My longtime acquaintance Nick Loss-Eaton, who I hardly ever see, and which is too often the way of the world these days, wa…
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