KC Cafe Radio’s live coverage from the 2019 Folk Alliance Region-West (FAR-West) Music Conference continued with the Best of the West Awards ceremony, on Saturday, October 12.
Since 2005, FAR-West has held the annual tradition of awarding recognition to an Artist and to an Ambassador, who have excelled in one’s craft, have had an enduring presence in the geographical FAR-Western folk community for a decade or more, have Embodied or built upon Folk values and traditions, and have promoted, nurtured, fostered, and expanded the audience and opportunities for Folk music and musicians in the geographical FAR-West.
Honorees for 2019 were Kate MacLeod, who received the Performer award, and Art Podell who received the Ambassador Award.
Art Podell
Art Podell had been at the right place at the right time over and over again during his many decades in the Folk Music world. The depth and diversity of his experiences all along that journey have shaped and informed his perspective in a way that has helped him to become both a historian and a supporter of other artists. In a word – an Ambassador.
Pop Culture often focuses on fame and fortune as the markers of success. Art Podell’s fascinating journey says that it’s much more complex than that.
He began in Greenwich Village with friend and fellow musician, Paul Potash. Art and Paul released two albums on Columbia Records. The first — “Songs of Earth and Sky” — is considered a folk classic and is rumored to have influenced the early recordings of another “Art and Paul” (Garfunkel and Simon).
In Greenwich Village, Peter Yarrow, their friend, shared a new song with them called “Puff, the Magic Dragon” and it was Art and Paul who first recorded the song in 1961 — well over a year before Peter, Paul and Mary’s version. That friendship is still very much alive today and Art recently shared a billing with Peter Yarrow.
Art and Paul then headed west to the L.A. folk scene and eventually Art turned to songwriting. In short order, he had songs recorded by Rod McKuen, The Smothers Brothers, Glenn Yarbrough, Joe and Eddie, Bud and Travis, and, eventually, The New Christy Minstrels, whom he joined as one of the original members.
This ride took him from the Troubadour to Carnegie Hall in less than six months…national TV, college concerts, European tours, and performances at the White House. Art co-wrote the title song for Ann Murray’s Christmas album, “Christmas Wishes”.
In 1958, winning a Grammy for Best Folk Album (or best folk anything) was impossible because there was no folk music category. It was the phenomenal popularity of San Francisco’s Kingston Trio, built on earlier successes from The Weavers and Burl Ives, that is credited with rocketing Folk music into the commercial mainstream, causing record companies’ execs to sit up, take notice and start signing a lot of folk music groups.
In just 6 months, The New Christy Minstrels (which included Art as a key performer and arranger) went from a debut at the Troubadour in 1961 to Carnegie Hall. They were also featured weekly for a full TV season of “The Andy Williams Show”, performing modernized renditions of traditional folk numbers. Their 1962 debut album remained on the Billboard charts for two years and earned the group a Grammy for Best Performance by a Chorus.
FAR-West is not the only organization to currently be paying attention to Art Podell’s living legacy. Sony music has recently announced the imminent re-release of both of Art and Paul’s original Columbia Records albums, “Songs of Earth and Sky’”and “Hangin’, Drinkin’, and Stuff’”.
Art is very generous as he shares and writes about his experiences so others can better understand the history and evolution of the folk element in popular music. He continues to write and perform, hosts a bi-monthly segment of “Roots Music and Beyond” on KPFK 90.7FM – Los Angeles. His newest CD, “From The Village To The Canyon” was recently featured in an exhibit at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles featuring the music of Laurel Canyon. He also writes a regular column for Folkworks.
Art Podell the columnist, DJ and author is not doing this to glorify his own role. In his self effacing modest way, he works to keep the facts straight, draw connections and threads that continue to this day, helping us all to appreciate the evolution from folk transmitters to singer-songwriters and give performers of today a perspective to use in charting their own unique courses in the current music world.
Art performs and spins the records of others because he still loves to communicate with audiences, large or small. He is there to inform us that hits and public recognition aren’t what means the most in the end. The bottom line is that Art keeps playing and sharing his music because that is the source of his greatest joy.
By example, he reminds us all that live music, passed down through generations, is our birthright and has the capacity to make an emotional connection that transcends all the tweets and clicks and hype of social media. There is nothing more social than humans sharing music and thought in the same room at the same time.
This theme can be best summarized through this excerpt from Steve Wagner’s review of Art Podell’s -“From the Village to the Canyon, A Songwriter’s Journey.”
“It is a love letter to the people and places (and a dog) of Podell’s life, both musical and otherwise, written in the intimate language that exists between people who have a shared history, but it is also the yellow-lit windows of a home with an open door, welcoming you, wayfaring stranger, out of the cold, into the gathering, and reminding you of what’s important.”
Music from the country influences music from the city. Tales from different cultures blend to tell the full story of all people, no matter where they are from, and helps us to recognize the universal experience of all peoples. Art Podell is a living embodiment of the timeless folk tradition where each person is a vessel that carries a small piece of the history of all of us. Art Podell is the recipient of the 2019 FAR-West Ambassador award as Best of the West.
Listen to the presentation here:
Download the presentation here: Best of the West Ambassador Award: Art Podell
Kate McLeod
Kate MacLeod is being honored in 2019 in pretty much every aspect possible, and deservedly so. To the above title, please add Explorer and Advocate as well.
Kate MacLeod’s musical roots are firmly planted in Folk, additionally nurtured by her expertise in Celtic, Bluegrass, Classical, and Eastern European genres. Through 50 years of playing the violin, Kate has gradually built an impressive performing career that also features her guitar playing, harmonica and evocative vocals. She has studied many styles of ethnic violin in addition to extensive classical training from which she has developed a unique expression with her fiddle playing.
Prior to recording her own performances of her works, Kate’s original songs were being shared and recorded by other musicians, first in her home region of Utah and now from California to the Czech Republic and beyond. Artists who have featured Kate’s songs on their recordings include FAR-West favorite Mollie O’Brien and a previous Best of the West honoree, Laurie Lewis (2011). Her work has also appeared in NPR’s song showcase “What’s in a Song”, have been featured on nationally syndicated radio shows including Tom May‘s “River City Folk”, “Peace on Earth”, (the holiday program hosted by Judy Collins) and were sung by others on “A Prairie Home Companion.”
In her live performances Kate has shared billing with acoustic music giants that include Rosanne Cash, Dan Fogelberg, Greg Brown and Tim O’Brien.
Her songwriting style and live performances display an unbreakable link between traditional music and cutting-edge contemporary songwriting. Whether in a song or on her violin, she captures our history, landscapes, and our lives in the varied music that she creates. Kate’s musicianship has been featured in a number of documentaries aired on PBS stations including “My Canyonlands: Kent Frost”, “We Sagebrush Folks”, and “Zion Canyon Song Cycle”.
Kate was a recipient of the 2018 Minnie Jane Artist-in-Resident Scholarship from Pendle Hill Quaker Study and Retreat Center, completing a three-month residency during which she composed a collection of peace-motivating and inspirational music titled “A Harmonious Sound”.
She has twice been Artist-in-Resident for The Entrada Institute, an environmental and arts organization based in Southern Utah. Her residence with the organization led to a large repertoire of music based on the Western desert and history.
Kate donated three years of volunteer service to the Innocence Project, where she united musicians for playing and performing music. Some of the musicians that she aided had spent as many as 28 years in prison, due to wrongful convictions.
Kate is also a noted instructor in many situations: teaching folk music to students of all ages, bridging gaps between music genres, teaching the intricacies of fiddle styles and lyricism. Most recently, she has been working with a youth group in arranging fiddle music for a youth orchestra. At the same time, she is often consulted by accomplished classical violinists as a source for folk violin nuances. With Kate’s guidance, these performers learn to incorporate the “proper” touch and stylings to sound authentic and credible in these focused assignments.
Through her music, Kate reflects the beauty and hardy spirit of the West. Kate is originally from the Washington D.C. area, but has resided in the West since 1979. She is also a strong supporter of, and advocate for, the West and those who share its spirit with her.
Kate also donated her production services and time to the 2011 U. Utah Phillips commemorative CD, “Long Gone”. It features Phillips’ songs, recorded by musicians in the Utah region who had been influenced by, and some of whom had been taught music by U. Utah Phillips. The project was organized by his son Duncan Phillips who is the mastermind behind Phillips’ archives; The Long Memory Project.
In 2006, Utah Phillips was one of the very first to be honored as Best of the West. FAR-West is thrilled to have the opportunity to invite Kate MacLeod to join Utah Phillips on that list of honorees as the 2019 Best of the West – Performer.
Listen to the presentation here:
Download the presentation here: Best of the West Performer Award: Kate Macleod