Alexandre Hurr

University of Sheffield

Introduction

Folk music in England has undergone fundamental changes since the 1960’s and the popularization of its commercial recordings. From once having been described as an “oral tradition” passed down from performer to performer (International Folk Music Council 1955), it has transformed into a genre with considerable involvement in the contemporary commercial recording industry. This project aims to explore how English folk musicians have changed their musical output in order to meet the demands of the commercial recording industry.

English folk music as an identifiable genre can be traced back to the work of the Folk Song Society, which played a significant role in establishing its definitions and a great proportion of its repertoire. This can be traced back to its member Cecil Sharp in his seminal text English Folk Song—Some Conclusions (1907), where his identification of songs held by “the folk” and its subsequent collection and publication by the society formed the basis of the genre that has steadily grown in popularity in the United Kingdom since this period.

The manner in which musical genres interact with technology has been explored in depth by scholars such as Thomas Porcello (2004) and Virgil Moorefield (2005), who explore how recording intersects with music, genre, cultures, and technological shifts.

Specifically within the genre of English folk music, the use of technology has been explored by the likes of ethnomusicologist Simon Keegan-Phipps (2013) in his study on the role of technology in a folk session environment, where he argues for its use as a natural progression of the aural tradition. Furthermore, historian Michael Brocken (2003) examines the rise of British folk music as a “popular” genre and its place in the commercial recording industry during the years of 1944 to 2002.

Many professional or semi-professional English folk musicians participate in the commercial recording industry as part of their profession (Sweers 2005). This article explores how the commercial aspect of recording impacts the work of musicians as perceived or interpreted by them, specifically focused on the manner in which the contemporary commercialization of such recorded music influences and affects how they write in the folk style, arrange traditional song, and perform. This project consults directly with the creators of English folk music to explore their music making practices and gain first hand perspectives on the influence of the commercial recording industry.

Research Process

This article is based on a series of interviews with individuals who generate commercially recorded music within the English folk genre. While the commercial English folk recording industry has been analyzed by the likes of Britta Sweers (1969) and Michael Brocken (2003), there is little that explores the musician’s interactions with recordings in a contemporary environment. For this reason, I used an unstructured interviewee-driven methodology in conjunction with real time online interviewing (Gilman and Fenn 2019).

Musicians that produce commercial music for public consumption generally maintain public profiles to advertise their music. Instagram (2022) is often part of this profile; the app also allows its users to directly message and video call each other as well as share images and information with fans. I used Instagram to directly communicate with and collect data from the participants, ensuring I adhered to the SEM code of ethics (SEM Ethics Committee 2023). I was able to first propose the participant’s involvement in the project via the direct messaging service, having verified they met the qualifying requirements of the project via the content in their Instagram profile. This included evidence of publicized commercially recorded music and participants defining themselves as folk musicians or by those active in the English folk music scene. The participants of this project were all professional musicians who generate commercial recordings within the folk scene, as well as perform this music at folk festivals and folk nights across England.

There were a total of four participants in this project. Nick Hart is a singer and multi-instrumentalist who sings in a ballad style predominantly from the British Isles. Based around narrative songs and a traditional fingerpicking style on guitar, Hart has released three commercial albums and garnered considerable praise within the folk scene (Hart 2022). George Sansome is a singer and guitarist based in the north of England. He performs a variety of traditional English folk songs both unaccompanied and with the band Granny’s Attic, with which he has released several albums (George Sansome 2021). Henry Martin is a singer, songwriter, and prolific slide guitarist. Having considerable experience in the British music scene and a large catalog of recorded work, Martin performs folk songs from the British Isles with singer and multi-instrumentalist Hannah Martin in the duo Edgelarks. Finally, Kit Hawes is a guitarist and singer most known for his work in a duo with violinist Aaron Catlow, with whom he has two commercially released albums. Hawes performs a variety of traditional material as well as original compositions in the style of traditional English folk song (Hawes and Catlow 2020).[1]

Capturing Live Performance in Recording

The conversations held with the participants varied quite significantly due to their range of experiences of the recording process and the English folk music scene. However, a number of extremely similar topics were broached by each one and are analyzed below.

The theme of interaction between live performance and a final recorded product was identified as a key factor by each participant. It was maintained that songs and tunes were always performed firstly live and only then mastered during the recording process. Kit Hawes and Nick Hart, both singers and guitarists, specifically identified that this was important to achieve a commercial recording that had the sonic qualities they desired. Hart stated that “the process of learning and playing the song [live] is the most important,” and that “live performance always comes first.” Hawes reached a similar conclusion, saying, “recording is a strive [sic] to replicate a live performance.” Here both musicians clarify that recordings take place only once the pieces of music have been performed in front of a live audience and that this affected the manner in which they delivered performances during the recordings.

Hart was particularly adamant that his recordings are grounded in the live performance of his voice alongside an accompaniment and the interaction that takes place between the two when captured simultaneously. With his style being firmly rooted within the traditional English genre, he stated that this approach was appropriate for his “ballad style of singing.” Therefore, it is plausible to consider that live performance impacts the recorded medium but not vice versa. 

There has been significant research providing evidence that the opposite can be found in other styles of music. Moorefield (2005) explains in detail how there is precedent for a great deal of manipulation during and after the recording process, and similar conclusions are reached by Michael Chanan (1995). However, the evidence of these conclusions are based on considerably different forms of commercially popular music such as rock, metal, and R&B. The conclusions reached by analyzing the data of the interviews conducted for this project are similar only to those of classical music (contemporary or otherwise) and of certain styles of jazz as identified by Moorefield. He states, when referring to jazz recordings, “the idea is to capture the live performance in the tradition of ‘realistic’ recording, as it has existed since the 1870s” (Moorefield 2005, xiv), which accurately reflects the opinions of the folk musicians interviewed.

Translation from Performance to Recording

A further consensus met by the participants of this project was the way their performed music translates to the recorded medium. The participants had varying opinions about how different their live performance and the recorded version could be. For example, singer George Sansome wanted the recorded version of his solo performance to be as similar to a concert performance as possible, saying that “only one track [on his album] has any overdubs,” adding, “I wanted it to be an example of live performance.” Sansome clarified that the recordings are used as an example for promoters to know what kind of performance he delivers in a live scenario, therefore, the two must be similar. However, lap steel guitarist Phillip Henry expressed that he had no hesitation in overdubbing and manipulating the songs in the recording process, saying that he enjoyed the process of multi-tracking and the creative processes that evolved from it. These two contrasting quotes about the recording process show the variation in approaches that can be achieved in the creation of commercial English folk music recordings.

Hawes and Hart had particular concerns about the efficacy of the recorded medium. Hawes expressed being particularly torn about the issues between recorded and live versions of his songs. This manifested in a question of overdubbing and manipulation of sound that can be done in the mixing process of commercially recorded music. However, Hawes stated his dissatisfaction that the recorded versions of his music did not match the “energy” of a live performance. Ultimately, he conceded that there would have to be a middle ground between the authenticity achieved in a purely live performance and conveying the appropriate emotions and energy in the recordings achieved through recording techniques. Hart, on the other hand, had experimented with entirely live recordings with no overdubbing and recordings where he multi-tracked a varying number of instruments. However, Hart maintained that all his recorded products had at its core a live performance and that his approach to recording was to “fit the goal of immersion,” stating that both methods are suitable for this goal. Notably, Hart avoided linking this use of live performance in recording to the notion of authenticity in style, but instead one of authentic expression.

Here, the participants identify that the authentic capture of their music is a factor that influences their commercial recordings. We can understand from their statements that these musicians are hesitant to manipulate their recordings or deviate from live performances to ensure that it meets their own ideals of folk music to varying degrees, but that it still can occur. However, there is always a focus on maintaining a similarity or authenticity to original, live performance. Eve Klien, in their work on the relationship between classical music and recording, identified the intentional effort made in many classical recordings to emulate the original sound of the performance or “realize the work faithfully” (2015, 2) to the extent of attempting to emulate the acoustical environment of the performance, ensuring the listener had a similar impression. This is concurrent with the thoughts of the participants in this particular case, as they reference attempting to capture their authentic performance while also using post-production manipulation techniques with the goal of reinforcing the authenticity of the recordings.    

Conclusion

Deriving from the analysis above, commercial recordings have little to no perceivable impact on the writing and live performance practices of folk musicians. The participants in this study make it clear that live performance takes precedence over the recorded medium and that live performance is more likely to impact commercial recordings than the other way around. Many genres such as hip-hop and EDM are heavily influenced by the recording process, however, contemporary English folk musicians appear to consider commercial recordings as less important than the live performance and the manner in which it translates to the audience, whether this is through a concert or a digital download.

Here participants have discussed concepts linked with authenticity identified within their music and its capture to the recorded medium. Similar concepts for other genres have been explored  in greater detail by the likes of Paul Sanden (2012) and Louise Meintjes (2003). Further exploration into how English folk musicians perceive authenticity in commercial recordings and use live performances within their recordings to express this would be greatly beneficial to further understanding how commercial recording interacts with English folk music.

In conclusion, this study would suggest that contemporary commercialization of such recorded music does not influence or affect the way in which musicians write, arrange, and perform their music, but that the musicians’ live performance has a greater influence on their commercial recordings.   

Notes:

References

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