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The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance
In recent years, there has been an upsurge in interest in "roots music" and "world music," popular forms that fuse contemporary sounds with traditional vernacular styles. In the 1950s and 1960s, the music industry characterized similar sounds simply as "folk music." Focusing on such music since the 1950s, The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance analyzes the intrinsic contradictions of a commercialized folk culture. Both Rounder Records and the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance have sought to make folk music widely available, while simultaneously respecting its defining traditions and unique community atmosphere. By tracing the histories of these organizations, Michael F. Scully examines the ongoing controversy surrounding the profitability of folk music. He explores the lively debates about the difficulty of making commercially accessible music, honoring tradition, and remaining artistically relevant, all without "selling out."
In the late 1950s through the 1960s, the folk music revival pervaded the mainstream music industry, with artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez singing historically or politically informed ballads based on musical forms from Appalachia and the South. In the twenty-first century, the revival continues, and it includes a variety of music derived from Cajun, African American, and Mexican traditions, among many others. Even though the mainstream music industry and media largely ignore the term "folk music," a strong allure based on nostalgia, the desire for community, and a sense of exclusiveness augments an enthusiastic following connected by word-of-mouth, numerous festivals, and the Internet. There are more folk festivals now than there were during the original boom of the 1960s, suggesting that music artists, agents, and record label representatives are striking a successful balance between tradition and profitability. Scully combines rich interviews of music executives and practicing folk musicians with valuable personal experience to reveal how this American subculture remains in a "never-ending revival" based on fluid definitions of folk and folk music.
In the late 1950s through the 1960s, the folk music revival pervaded the mainstream music industry, with artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez singing historically or politically informed ballads based on musical forms from Appalachia and the South. In the twenty-first century, the revival continues, and it includes a variety of music derived from Cajun, African American, and Mexican traditions, among many others. Even though the mainstream music industry and media largely ignore the term "folk music," a strong allure based on nostalgia, the desire for community, and a sense of exclusiveness augments an enthusiastic following connected by word-of-mouth, numerous festivals, and the Internet. There are more folk festivals now than there were during the original boom of the 1960s, suggesting that music artists, agents, and record label representatives are striking a successful balance between tradition and profitability. Scully combines rich interviews of music executives and practicing folk musicians with valuable personal experience to reveal how this American subculture remains in a "never-ending revival" based on fluid definitions of folk and folk music.
- GenresMusic
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 4, 2008
9 people want to read
About the author
Michael F. Scully
3 books1 followerMichael F. Scully's earliest musical tastes were shaped by two culturally formidable forces - The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Hearing his older sister's records in the late '60s - Dylan’s in particular - Scully "didn't understand them, but recognized that they were cool in some mysterious way."
That early exposure to rock and folk would prove formative. Decades later, after sojourns through classic rock and electric blues, Scully dove back into folk (now rebranded as "roots music"), inspiring both a book (The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance, University of Illinois Press, 2008) and regular visits to the Cactus Cafe, the iconic music venue owned by the University of Texas at Austin. As Scully puts it, "the sounds of the Cactus are where I began and where I've ended up."
Scully spent 15 years as a trial lawyer until, after years in New York and San Francisco, he moved to Austin with his wife and children, where his career took a different turn – this time as an author and academic. After earning a PhD in American Studies from UT-Austin, he began to write about contemporary culture.
In 2010, the university announced that it was shuttering the Cactus, after almost three decades of live music. "When I read that UT was closing the cafe, I was absolutely blindsided,” says Scully. It seemed so wrong and so stupid. I loved UT for giving me a slot in its graduate program, and was always grateful for that. But when it announced the end of the Cactus Cafe I was heartsick. I wasn't alone, either - very quickly, a movement to save the Cactus sprang up and mobilized."
Those transformative months in 2010 – when a beloved, musical landmark was nearly forced to shut its doors – inspired Scully's 2014 book, Cactus Burning: Austin, Texas and the Battle for the Iconic Cactus Cafe. Scully applies his historian's eye to the cultural forces that gave rise to the Cactus, the artists that made it what it is today, and the Austin activists who ultimately saved it.
"I hope readers of Cactus Burning realize that people can fight city hall and sometimes win," says Scully. "I also hope these events are a lesson in nurturing what's important to us, and in pushing our governing institutions to do the same."
That early exposure to rock and folk would prove formative. Decades later, after sojourns through classic rock and electric blues, Scully dove back into folk (now rebranded as "roots music"), inspiring both a book (The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance, University of Illinois Press, 2008) and regular visits to the Cactus Cafe, the iconic music venue owned by the University of Texas at Austin. As Scully puts it, "the sounds of the Cactus are where I began and where I've ended up."
Scully spent 15 years as a trial lawyer until, after years in New York and San Francisco, he moved to Austin with his wife and children, where his career took a different turn – this time as an author and academic. After earning a PhD in American Studies from UT-Austin, he began to write about contemporary culture.
In 2010, the university announced that it was shuttering the Cactus, after almost three decades of live music. "When I read that UT was closing the cafe, I was absolutely blindsided,” says Scully. It seemed so wrong and so stupid. I loved UT for giving me a slot in its graduate program, and was always grateful for that. But when it announced the end of the Cactus Cafe I was heartsick. I wasn't alone, either - very quickly, a movement to save the Cactus sprang up and mobilized."
Those transformative months in 2010 – when a beloved, musical landmark was nearly forced to shut its doors – inspired Scully's 2014 book, Cactus Burning: Austin, Texas and the Battle for the Iconic Cactus Cafe. Scully applies his historian's eye to the cultural forces that gave rise to the Cactus, the artists that made it what it is today, and the Austin activists who ultimately saved it.
"I hope readers of Cactus Burning realize that people can fight city hall and sometimes win," says Scully. "I also hope these events are a lesson in nurturing what's important to us, and in pushing our governing institutions to do the same."
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