Folk music needs young blood

Date: 10/12/2011

There is much to say about the here and now and there is no better way to say it than through folk music. Folk music speaks of hard times, and of hope and promise.

Social inequality seems to be the topic of today’s most pressing need of reform. The American public has always been the embodiment of real change. What is currently unfolding in Lower Manhattan to the Brooklyn Bridge and beyond is a tantamount expression of dissatisfaction towards a system that has failed the middle class.

Songwriters have the ability to evoke the inner most feelings and the people’s desires through music which has always been an integral part of past revelations in American history. Some examples are songs sung by Pete Seeger about racial injustice and Bob Dylan’s composition of “Blow’in in the Wind” during the Vietnam conflict and the list goes on.

I urge musicians to make your mark not only for self-gain but for the good of your brothers and your sisters.

Bill Paul

Chicopee