Red Horse: Far Out, Boomers Folk Out

Who are these people?  That was my first question for the sellout audience that had come to hear Red Horse at the Fletcher Opera Theater in Raleigh on Saturday night, January 21.  I am not talking about the performers, but the audience.  Obviously this is a bunch of sensitive people that are touched by the realism of folk music and the beauty and clarity of these particular performers.  I wish I could know the audience better.  Use to be, wherever you went in Raleigh, you ran into many people you knew.  Now, not so much.

Fletcher Opera Theater.  I am lobbying right now to the change the name
to the Fletcher Folk Theater

The audience and the performers skewed to people of a certain age.  These were people of the last folk scare in music which happened largely due to NPR and recording label WindhamHill.  Windham Hill was strong in the new folk revival scare of 1988.  Its artist catalog included Liz Story, Pierce Pettis, Cliff Eberheart and John Gorka.  Most people in this audience must have owned a copy of the Windham Hill Folk Sampler – Legacy: A Collection of New FolkMusic (1989).  

Maybe they had subscribed to Fast Folk Music Magazine or just maybe they were fortunate to have hung out in Boston and New York during those years. That’s it! This audience was from out of town--all northern transplants to Raleigh.

This was an audience with a legacy and a hunger for music that was real.  The unique proposition was this was an audience that had come to this point on its own, not guided by Facebook postings or My Space tracks.  This was a "before the Internet was cool" audience. Back when only Al Gore knew about the Internet.

And this music was real.  Red Horse is composed of Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and and Lucy Kaplansky, all solo artist in their own right, who now are with Red House records out of St. Paul, Minnesota.  I am not sure what it is about Minnesota, but it must be that independent frozen spirit of the great northern plains state that causes this independent and defiant out post of folk music to remain viable.

It was a song swap evening.  Each performer would take turns playing one song written by the other member in the group, one of their own songs, and one by a favorite songwriter in the group.  Eliza Gilkyson opened with Neil Young’s “I am a Child.”  When a woman sings this song, it takes on a whole different meaning from when Mr. Young performed it.  It was a very touching and sincere rendition.  John Gorka’s voice was that strong and unique baritone that we have grown so accustom and Lucy’s voice was the clear and inviting sound we love on her recordings.  Together they sing with great harmony, Lucy often on high harmony and each hitting the third as clear and even as a wonderful acoustics of an opera venue.  The group knows how to sing together, as Gorka could have easily over powered the songs with his voice, but rather blended in perfectly.

This trio of a certain age all play guitars, but seldom all play guitars at the same time.  Occasionally one member would rap a percussive beat on their guitar while the other two played.   Or one member would just set the playing out.  The musical performance was well thought out.  Lucy even played piano on my favorite song of the evening, Eliza's "Sanctuary."

The evening was mellow.  If I had any complaint about the performance, it could have been too mellow.  Not slick, as John admitted he had worked all his life to overcome being slick (sarcastic humor).  But mellow it was.  The sound in Fletcher was perfection.  I love this venue for music.  It seats about 700, but no seat is more than 70 feet from the stage.  It is my favorite intimate venue in the Triangle.  Thanks to Pine Cone for this great evening and for their mission of presenting and preserving tradition music.  Even traditional music of the 1980's.  And if you are not a Pine Cone member, what are you waiting?  Join and come to one of their member only events.  I hope to meet you there.