Apparently, Boston and environs are considered the folk music capital of
the country. Noteworthy is Club Passim in Cambridge (our fair city) MA
and the Mee & Thee Coffeehouse at the Unitarian Universalist Church in
Marblehead, and there are numerous other folk clubs in the Boston suburbs
(Fleming-Tamulevich & Associates estimates that there are over 200, mostly
in the suburbs).
If you want rural, Mountain View, Arkansas is called "the folk music
capital of the world", and there's a huge international folk festival
there every year, plus several other smaller festivals, weekly shows, and
weekly "Pickin' on the Square" events every weekend during spring,
summer, and fall. My suspicion is that folk music in Mountain View is
much more bluegrass oriented than it is in suburban Boston, where it's
probably much more Celtic-oriented. I know of several Irish musicians
based in the Boston area, including Eugene Byrne and Sean Fleming.
Dover, New Hampshire also seems to be a mini-haven for Irish folk music,
centered around Biddy Mulligan's Irish Pub. Tommy Makem and a number of
"name" Irish folk musicians live in Dover...but it sounds like that's
where you're coming from, so it's probably over-hyped.
If you want to leave the country, Woodford, Australia is supposed to be
the folk-music capital of that country. Falun is the folk-music capital of
Sweden. Doolin is the folk-music capital of Ireland.
The Greater Washington area - and especially Maryland (including
Columbia, Annapolis, and Baltimore) is good for folk music and bluegrass.
The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA) is our preeminent folk music club. The
House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD, is a leading music shop
which is also a hub of folk activities. There's also the Institute of
Musical Traditions in Silver Spring, Baldwin's Station in Sykesville, the
Folkal Point in Columbia, Vic's Music Corner in Rockville, the Avalon in
Easton, and concerts frequently at Wolf Trap (Vienna, VA), various folk
festivals (Glen Echo, in DC, for example); and the Shenandoah Concert
Series (Shepherdstown, WV and Reston, VA). The DC area is also home to a
number of Irish pubs that feature live folk - particularly Celtic - folk
music virtually every night of the week (unfortunately, women performers
still don't seem to have broken through the "Irish pub performer" barrier
in this area, if anywhere, though there are a lot of female Irish
performers on the Ceidligh (sp) scene, including a band with the evocative
name The Hags).
KM
............................
NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ I sing hymns with my spirit, +
+ but I also sing hymns with my mind. +
+ - 1 Corinthians 14:15 +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|  |
