Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Absolute Power Pop...sort of...
Living as I do, in that grey area between Folk and Pop music, I'm quite accustomed to occasional rejection notices from Folk radio stations for being too poppy, and from AAA radio stations for being a little too folk. Without being a mind reader it's impossible to know exactly where you may have crossed the line and moved into an undesirable genre. My guess is that to the ears of many a AAA programmer it could be something as simple as the abundant use of mandolins or harmonicas, whereas electric guitar riffs and programmed instruments may well cause folkie Music Directors to reach for the Tylenol.

I think it can often be a very fine line though. I recently heard from a AAA station in Colorado that they were declining to add my album to their playlist because it was a little too folky for their pop/Adult Alternative format, yet later that day, the same record was the recipient of a rather glowing review on the Absolute Power Pop website. Conversely, a certain folk show programmer politely informed me that he'd passed my CD on to another, more pop-orientated dj at his station, just the day before I discovered that three songs from it had been added to the playlist of the excellent Online Folk Festival Radio.

To cloud matters even further, the Dutch review site Insurgent Country not only posted a review of "Undercurrent", but also asked me to write a few words about my previous ...er, country album, "Away For The Day". (Interested parties can click on the"Reviews" tab to access both articles)

Identity crises aside, you have to embrace this don't you? People are always going to label your music, and there seems to be so many genres and sub-genres out there, that there's bound to be some overlap. I try to look at it as a positive; a way to scamper under the various descriptive umbrellas out there and sneak a radio spin wherever possible. Being labelled a stylistic imposter once in a while is a small price to pay, really.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and brush up on my stand-up bass skills--there are several Bluegrass radio stations out there that are ripe for the plucking.