Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame: Inaugural Induction Ceremony

-This program was funded in part by... [ The Byrds' "Turn!

Turn!

Turn!"

plays ] - To everything, turn, turn, turn There is a season, turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep [ Odetta's "Hit or Miss" plays ] -What feels special to me walking into the Folk and Americana Hall of Fame is just the beauty and the grandeur.

I love the history.

I love the history of performance.

-There's been a previous misconceived notion that when things go into museum, that they become stagnant, they're just this piece of history.

But with music, museums are a living tradition, and the beauty of having this whole space together within a venue allows things to continue to perpetuate and evolve and have that tradition keep going forward.

-Folk music needs a place to be witnessed, to be enjoyed, to be experienced, and reinvigorated.

And to that end, I'm in awe of the FARHOF.

-We have the honor of hosting the first induction ceremony for a newly created musical hall of fame called the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame.

This is really a celebration for the individuals and the families who represent something so important in terms of the culture of our country and beyond over the last 100, 150 years.

- Look at you sittin' there -These are the people who carry the coals, the people that we're honoring here.

They're the ones who take the stories, that take the experiences of a community from one place to another and share it with the world.

-Boston plays such a major role in the history of American folk music in particular, so we're very excited to be able to begin the process of telling these stories, preserving and celebrating the past and these particular artists, but also paving the way for new artists to be inspired and to carry on this great American music tradition.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -Welcome to the Boch Center Wang Theatre.

[ Cheers and applause ] Here at the Boch Center, we believe the arts and music are the backbone and the foundation that keeps us a civilized society.

[ Cheers and applause ] In 2019, the Boch Center expanded and launched the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame, affectionately known as FARHOF.

FARHOF is the only hall of fame in the world that is housed in a National Historic Landmark, a living, breathing performing-arts center which celebrates folk Americana roots music through exhibits, concerts, events, artifacts, memorabilia, lectures, podcasts, and more.

So, welcome to our first induction ceremony.

It's taken a long time to get here.

We are honored to recognize our inaugural class of inductees for their exceptional influence on music, society, and culture.

So sit back, and here we go.

[ Cheers and applause ] -So, this is a song called "August."

Katydid fiddling on a summer's eve Brown bats circling 'round the old house eaves I can taste the ocean on a cool salt breeze Blowing through a torn screen door Can't believe I let the summer slip away again Like watermelon juice dripping down my chin There might be light enough for one last swim If we hurry on down to the shore A fool would ask for more A fool would ask for more Bullfrog thrumming like a banjo string Thought I heard a whippoorwill starting to sing As the moon spilled silver over everything Honey, ain't that what the moon is for?

Back porch, drunk on a jug of red wine Picking on a tune with some friends of mine And the music's floating up into the bottlebrush pines And there ain't nobody keeping score A fool would ask for more Yeah, a fool would ask for more Now the laughter's still lingering in the evening air We'll clean the bottles up tomorrow, they'll still be there Turn off the lights, let's go upstairs Careful of the creaking floor Two beautiful boys, they're a picture of peace Let's stand here a minute just watching them sleep God bless this little vigil we keep Oh, a fool would ask for more Oh, a fool would ask for more A fool would ask for more Oh, a fool would ask for more [ Cheers and applause ] Thank you so much, everybody.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

-It's an interesting question -- what is folk music?

-As the name implies, it's bottoms-up music.

It came up off the street, out of the field, off the riverboat, in a natural, spontaneous way by, oftentimes, musically unschooled people, but had a talent for storytelling.

-Music of the people, it's for the people, and it's all about being in community.

-But there is something intimate, and maybe the intimacy is the first thing that draws you in.

I have a feeling that the authenticity came from the devotion to the story, as a story of a life in some cases, and the people who were writing them knew what they were talking about.

-It's singalongs and it's storytelling and it is storytelling to keep our stories and to keep our -- to keep the roots alive.

-Kind of a different sort of love song, and I'll dedicate this to Betsy Siggins.

[ Cheers and applause ] It's called "It Takes a Whole lot of Liquor to Like Her."

[ Laughter ] Takes a whole lot of liquor to like her That's why I drink all the time It takes a whole lot of liquor to like her When I'm liquored up, I like her just fine.

She wants to tell me what to do, tell me where to go Tell me what to eat and how loud I can chew She even wants to tell me what thoughts I should think It used to drive me crazy, till it drove me to drink It takes a whole lot of liquor to like her That's why I drink all the time It takes a whole lot of liquor to like her When I'm liquored up, I like her just fine Now, you may look down your nose at me Think I'm sorry old S.O.B.

But the only way I'm giving up my drinking glass Is if I can find a way to get her off my Back It takes a whole lot of liquor to like her That's why I drink all the time It takes a whole lot of liquor to like her When I'm liquored up, I like her just fine When I'm liquored up, I... When I'm likered up, I lick her just fine [ Cheers and applause ] [ Chuckles ] -Oh, you're so funny!

[ Laughter ] -Americana came out of what is truly American.

-People from different countries with different traditions.

and, of course, America is the perfect melting pot for all those wonderful colors and palettes and sounds and influences.

-A lot of times, what we see is the passion of music and what music represents -- the cultures, the history, the traditions, the emotions that people have when they create a song and what they connect to the audience allows the audience to be able to kind of have a window into what the artist was thinking about, what they were going through at the time.

And so it's very relevant today in being able to understand where we came from, especially as a nation.

-I think it's really important that you preserve the real history of the people of this time.

It's not chronicled in the popular music.

The truth is chronicled in the folk and roots music.

-Whatever it morphed into in America is its own thing, you know?

But I consider folk music to be something that's, you know, in every culture around the world.

Music of the community.

-There are songs like "Barbry Allen," where every village had a different version of "Barbry Allen," and you learned it from your grandmother.

And if you couldn't remember the third verse, you might make up a different third verse.

And if it was good enough, your children might remember it.

It's kind of musical Darwinism.

-Americana -- it's American music.

It comes from the roots of American music, and that comes from mostly black folks, but it also comes from Appalachian folks at the very, very beginning of "American music."

And they brought it from other countries, just like people who were in America who were enslaved brought music from Africa.

And then you have all those incredibly profound sort of hybrid things happening as it became folk music or roots music.

But when you ask where it's all going -- Americana, folk, country, roots, whatever it is -- I see it as an exciting possibility for cross-pollination, for growth, for evolution, and also respect from where it all came from in its original forms.

-The best music is when various influences get stirred together in the gumbo and something new comes out of it.

A lot of these artists that are being inducted this weekend played a really big role in either adding those ingredients or being the people who stirred them together and made something new out of it.

- Her ever-loving light on me [ Applause ] -Folk, roots, Americana music is important because it is the fertile ground for so many other great ideas and, I think, music at large.

-Ramblin' Jack took this American music to England in the early 1950s, and he was on the streets, busking and playing Woody Guthrie songs and Lead Belly songs and cowboy songs, and nobody had ever heard such a thing.

Mick Jagger tells the story that he was in school, on a field trip, changing trains in London, and encountered my dad busking and went out that day and bought his first guitar.

-Lead Belly's music inspired the skiffle movement in England.

All the guys -- Clapton, The Beatles -- all talk about their first bands were skiffle bands.

-I just bought an old Odetta record from the '50s, and that, to me -- that moves me.

That's like, "Oh, this is where it all came from" when I hear that.

You know, Peter, Paul and Mary, you know, certainly, they refined some of that stuff, you know, in a way, but you can hear what they were doing and where they got it from.

-One of my big influences, actually, was Josh White.

I'd never heard those kind of songs.

I'd never heard a guitar played like that.

And I just got swept up into the whole folk-music thing.

-Sometimes, artists get lucky and there's a song or single that gets played on radio and it takes off.

But more often than not, it's work.

It's day in, day out.

It's traveling 160 to 260 days a year.

It's starting in a small club of 150 people and doing a residence once a week for a month in one city and taking it to another city.

It's really reaching out with the community of like-minded souls.

-I'm so thankful that Woody is part of such a beautiful community, from Josh White to Lead Belly to Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, you know, all of these guys who followed as part of Woody's story and how that community has continued.

- How can I keep from singing?

[ Cheers and applause ] [ Indistinct conversations ] -Oh, wonderful!

-One of the things that defines folk music as a genre is, your experience comes from hanging out with other people and that very sort of, like, chill, you know, in a living room space, sort of picking up vocabulary from other players and their paths.

And I couldn't think of a better place to commemorate these fantastic artists.

-These artists are family, they're friends, they're all part of the tribe, and they love each other, whether it's the representatives for inductees or the inductees themselves, and we love that.

This is what makes these events so special.

-It does feel like a family reunion, in a sense.

I love that so many people from different generations have been pulled in.

And to see his name next to Gordon Lightfoot, for instance, was just very meaningful.

John was a huge fan of Gordon's, and, in fact, we got to spend a little time with him just in the years before John died.

-I think my dad would be very happy that this is happening.

The Americana and folk community was very important to him, and he was always happy to show up for events and be a part of everything, so I'm sure that he would be very happy with what's going on.

It's so easy to live with no fear or deceit But sometimes, I think maybe I have skipped a beat The road I chose was not all it should be But sometimes, it was oh-so-sweet Sometimes, I remember hearing raindrops fall Feeling my love breathing alongside of me It ain't easy to live with no tears of regret But sometimes, it was oh-so-sweet There's a room in my soul where old hearts are at rest The mention of which breeds only an empty nest Go with the flow, where society heeds But sometimes, it was oh-so-sweet Healing in my dream world, ear close to the ground I can feel the rumble of the things I love It ain't easy to grieve over things said and done But sometimes, it was oh-so-sweet Oh, the less we believe in, the less we belong Let's all gather 'round so that we can carry on Stick to the mainstream, and we'll be okay But sometimes, it was oh-so-sweet Was it good, was it bad, or the best you ever had?

But sometimes, it was oh-so-sweet [ Cheers and applause ] Thanks.

I'm a little shaky up here.

-Folk music is a great river, and it has many tributaries, because our history in music and the arts define us as a culture.

And if we're American, we need to know what makes us American.

And that's the best index of all is the culture and the arts and the music of the people.

-It's really feeding, like, my sense of awe being a part of this and being here, because there is a continuity to all of this.

And I feel a part of that long, endless river.

There is a season, turn, turn, turn To everything, turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to sow A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep To everything, turn, turn, turn There is a season, turn, turn, turn And a time for every purpose under heaven A time to build up, a time to break down A time to dance, a time to mourn A time to cast away stones A time to gather stones together To everything, turn, turn, turn There is a season, turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time for love, a time for hate A time for war, a time for peace A time you may embrace A time to refrain from embracing To everything - Turn, turn, turn - There is a season - Turn, turn, turn - And a time to every purpose under heaven A time to gain, a time to lose A time to end, a time to sow A time for love, a time for hate A time for peace, I swear it's not too late A time for peace, I swear it's not too late To everything - Turn, turn, turn - There is a season - Turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven [ Cheers and applause ] -The interesting thing about folk music to me has been the combination of the emotional quality of the music itself, because that's sort of what reaches our hearts first.

-The thing that is singular about writers in this genre of what we call "folk music" -- it's personal.

It can be in any direction you want to go, but if you can adhere to a rhyme and an understandable story, I think you've got it.

And if that's something that's part of the human experience, I think people will always be picking up guitars.

-The way that it's transmitted, acoustically, person-to-person, around a circle, around a table, in a concert hall.

And there's something very special about being in space with someone and hearing their perspective in a song and the way that that helps you understand someone that has a viewpoint that's different from your own, or maybe finding a commonality with someone.

-You see a little bulb go off.

You know, I heard that before, but that bulb said, "I never heard it like that before."

That touched me.

And I've heard those words again many times.

But somehow, I felt those words.

I didn't hear them.

I felt them.

There is a house in New Orleans They call The Rising Sun And it's been the ruin, darling Of many a poor girl And me, Lord, I'm one Now, if I had a-listened to what my mama said I'd have been at home today But being so young and foolish Oh, Lord I let a rambler lead me astray Go tell My, my baby sister Don't do what I've done Please shun the house In New Orleans They call The Rising Sun Lord, I'm gone Going back To New Orleans My race My race is almost run Yes, I'm going back Ah, to spend my life Beneath That Rising Rising Sun [ Cheers and applause ] I appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

-Popular music -- it's entertainment.

It kind of presents a fantasy of life.

It's an escape for a lot of people.

No judgment there.

I make pop records.

But folk, roots music -- it's got a basic, raw honesty to it.

There's no place for pretension.

-We have to try to make sense of what is going on in our lives, and so when we then transfer that into a poem or a song or a short story, it's all in the same kind of atmosphere.

You have to tell the truth.

-It's just a reminder of how powerful a guitar, a voice, and words can be.

Just those three things together.

You can do so much with that.

-In this day, where so many things are processed and twisted and shaped and combined and put together and A.I.

'd, I love the purity... [ Guitar plays ] ...of just being able, anytime, any place... to send out a voice, a melody, a lyric, and a chord structure.

Just this side of Richmond That's where we draw the line That's where we find the courage To take it one more time We had dreams of glory Now those dreams are gone I'm listening to your whisper In the dark before the dawn For you to call me, Carolina Oh, rock me with that melody Find me where I roam That miss me, Carolina The rustling of the trees The jasmine in the breeze Tell me, please, I'm not alone Carolina, call me home In the first gray of the morning The Yankees found their way And that blue wave came crashing And the roar was judgment day They seemed so like me As they settled to the ground In the middle of that hell, I listened for your sound There was a freckled-headed kid And we wound up eye-to-eye And his rifle would not fire So he set himself to die And I saw the slightest tear For what my steel would bring But I would not be that merchant For I was listening for you to call me, Carolina Oh, rock me with that melody Find me where I roam That this be Carolina The water through my hands Fog across the sand Can I stand this heart?

I go Carolina, call me Carolina, call me Carolina, call me home [ Cheers and applause ] -I always thought The Beatles being on "Ed Sullivan" is what made me become a musician.

It was actually Peter, Paul and Mary, because I realized it's okay to tell the truth about the world and to try to make the world a better place and to use music as a tool for doing that.

-Well, Pete Seeger was my mentor, and he was a mentor for so many guys like me -- young, starry-eyed folkies.

We all wanted to be Pete Seeger, because he was making a difference out there in the world.

-The Weavers' music wasn't just, like, a throwaway commercial product.

It was music that meant something, that people could play and sing and kind of galvanize community.

-And sometimes, you got to yell it.

Sometimes, you can sing together with it.

Sometimes, it's in harmony.

But it can all still be something that needs to be said.

-I mean, the number of people who were even indirectly, but quite closely indirectly, influenced by what The Weavers did -- I mean, it's practically anyone who was working in popular music in the '60s and '70s and anyone who's downstream of that, which is everyone.

-For me especially, Joan Baez inspired me to be a musician.

Not just her voice, but the songs that she chose, in particular Richard Faria's song "Birmingham Sunday."

- On Birmingham Sunday, the blood ran like wine And the choir kept singing of freedom When I first decided I wanted to do folk music, my aunt took me to see a Pete Seeger show.

And I had been politically active in school, and I guess I saw in Pete all of that -- that combination of things that were so important to me.

And my voice was just coming around, but people were listening to it, and it became clear really quickly that that's what I would do with the songs that I did.

-The power in that song was really -- It wasn't angry.

It just told the story, combined with the chilling beauty of her voice.

- For no one recalled a more cowardly sound And the choir kept singing of freedom -The great thing about the FARHOF is that you're not going here to see a kind of an adjunct to the kind of celebration of music that you'll see at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

There's something else in addition here that can be particular, which is a sense of how folk music, which is the honest expression of what people cared about.

And to have a museum dedicated to that kind of mentality, this is a great achievement.

- I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong And the choir keeps singing of freedom -We're very honored to have Joan Baez's 1929 Martin guitar on display at FARHOF.

That is the guitar she played at the March on Washington and also at Woodstock to make her points about the need for equality, diversity, and inclusion during a time when that was oftentimes a dangerous stance to have.

That instrument is history, and it's just such a pleasure to have it here.

-Oh, it looks pretty banged up, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-Been around the world.

Highlights at Woodstock.

First guitar I played was probably a Sears and Roebuck guitar, and that's what I learned on.

And then somebody offered me the first Martin for $250, and the second one was about the same.

And those I had for years.

-What we love about this exhibit honoring the inductees into the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame is that it's not just showing artists and musicians.

These are people who used their art to speak truth to power.

They paved the way for so many artist/activists to follow in their footsteps.

Martin Luther King Jr. called Odetta "The queen of American folk music."

Odetta loved to wear these brightly colored caftans.

I love this one.

What a beautiful piece.

And then her guitar that she named Baby.

Oh, you know, you can tell a lot from the artists and the way they felt about their instruments just by the nicknames they gave them.

George Wein established the Newport Folk Festival.

And then our friends Peter, Paul, and Mary had signed this guitar.

They've drawn caricatures on here.

Peter Yarrow drew a peace sign.

Beautiful instrument.

- Yesterday, a child came out to wonder And caught a dragonfly inside a jar I remember one year, maybe '66, playing a club in Detroit, Michigan, a place called The Chess Mate, and Joni Mitchell came in.

And she'd been doing a folk duo with her then-husband, Chuck Mitchell, but she had just started writing songs.

And she came in and asked the boss if she could do a quick guest set so I could hear some of her new songs and maybe record them.

And she got up and did four songs.

She came offstage.

I asked her if she had any more new songs, because I was, at that point, overdue for delivering an album to Elektra.

And she basically said, "No, I don't have any more new ones, but give me a minute."

And a few weeks later, sent me a tape with six very, very nice songs.

Just before the last song on the tape, she apologized for the upcoming tune.

She said, "I'm sorry.

I just finished writing this.

It's not much good.

I'm so embarrassed.

But here it is."

And it was "The Circle Game."

I named the album after it.

And then the child moved 10 times around the seasons And skated over 10 clear, frozen streams And words like, when you're older, must appease him And promises of someday make his dreams There's 16 springs There's 16 summers gone now Those cartwheels lost to car wheels through the town And they tell him, "Take your time It won't be long now Until you drag your feet To slow the circles down" And the seasons, they go 'round and 'round The painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return We can only look behind, from where we came And go 'round and 'round in the circle game And go 'round and 'round and 'round in the circle game [ Cheers and applause ] Thank you, Joni.

Thank you, Joni Mitchell.

-It's a really great honor and a big thrill to present awards to the inductees in the Duo and Group class.

This year's class includes The Band... [ Cheers and applause ] ...The Byrds, Peter, Paul and Mary... [ Cheers and applause ] and The Weavers.

[ Cheers and applause ] -This institution means so much, because it was always about people telling their story and creating community.

And I could not be more proud.

-Beautiful.

[ Cheers and applause ] -I want to -- I wasn't going to speak because this is a man of words and I am humbled always by my partner's erudition, but I just want to speak briefly about what it means to be in a group, because that's what this award is about.

There is a yielding to each other that necessarily takes place, um, besides the affection that we cannot hold from one another.

There are the arguments, but in that ascension between us, there is a strength of purpose that's evidenced finally in the lyric that you choose, in the passion that you bring to the music.

[ Applause ] And we're so proud to be associated with all of the other groups that are here tonight.

Thank you so much.

-Let's give them all a big hand.

[ Applause ] -With folk music, associations aren't always very clear, unless you start to present those artists together and unless they begin to think about themselves in that kind of community.

I think you see it -- that kind of community and those relationships, even just in, gosh, how expansive Joan has been in her catalog.

I mean, she's covering songs by Richard Shindell, she's covering songs by Dar Williams.

Those intergenerational connections, I think, are made possible because the community thrives.

-The little brief time I've spent here with all of you and the performers has reminded me that when I come back down from that stratosphere up there, which, whether I ask for it or not, was a lot of fame and recognition, and then I see -- phew -- that these are my roots and somehow this community is my people.

And thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you, Paul.

Thank you, Peter.

Yeah.

Thank you, all of you.

It's really, really important for me to be here.

Just for me and for all of you to be here, for all of us.

Thank you so much.

[ Cheers and applause ] -[ Man singing indistinctly, laughter ] [ Crowd clapping rhythmically ] [ Cheers and applause ] - How many roads must a man walk down Before you can call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sa-- Great key for you, right?

- The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind -This event, it's really important because there's so much history and there's so much caring in the room.

And that is extraordinary in these polarized times.

- Yes and how many years must some people exist Before they're allowed to be free?

Listen, how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn't see?

Oh, the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Oh, the answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Oh, the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind The answer is blowing in the wind [ Cheers and applause ] -I think folk music will always continue because good music will always rise to the top.

-There's a constant emergence of another important voice or important song.

-It's actually starting to become the mainstream because I think the audience is really craving that authenticity.

-The good news now is that we have a place to put all of this.

So instead of just collecting and putting it in a vault, now we can display it and we can share with the general public.

-Ultimately, what we're here to do is to honor the past, celebrate the present, and inspire the future.

- Last Saturday night, I got married Me and my wife settled down Now me and my wife have parted I think I'll take another stroll downtown Ah, sing it to me now -Things slip away, you know?

As time goes by, things -- important things -- tend to slip away.

The next generation doesn't know what the two generations back was up to.

And sometimes it's valuable stuff.

-And I do think that's a purpose of a Hall of Fame or any kind of legacy effort is there's a generation who just...

If you don't tell them something, they're not gonna know about it.

- Sometimes I live in the city Sometimes I live out of town Sometimes I go by that Charles River I think I'll jump right in and drown -My hope is that younger musicians will look at everything in this hall and understand that music can have a profound effect on the culture.

So I think the people enshrined in this Hall of Fame have all done something to improve the world, and I hope that young people will look at this and see that that's -- that's a noble pursuit.

- Irene, goodnight -I think we're leaving.

- Irene, goodnight Goodnight, Irene Goodnight, Irene I'll see you In my Dreams [ Cheers and applause ] -Sleep tight.

We'll see you tomorrow.

-What we need to do here is make sure that especially young people who come here see the examples of those who came before them and understand the power that they have within their own creativity to make changes in the world.

-Like, it's going so many different places and it's exciting.

You know, I love -- Music is that way.

It just keeps going.

-We could not continue this beautiful, rich legacy of music without the folks there that are creating, that are supporting the artistry of folk music, and really continuing to bring it forward for many generations to come.

-I hope you all had a chance to see what FARHOF is all about and what we believe in, and we can only build from this point on, and we look forward to celebrating our next class of inductees.

Thank you and good night.

[ Cheers and applause ] [ Amy Helm's "Up on Cripple Creek" playing ] - When I get off of this mountain You know where I wanna go?

Straight down the Mississippi River To the Gulf of Mexico To Lake Charles, Louisiana Little Bessie, girl I once knew She told me just to come on by If there's anything she could do Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me If I spring a leak, she mends me I don't have to speak, she defends me A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one Good luck had just stung me To the race track I did go She bet on one horse to win I bet on another to show Odds were in my favor I had them 5 to 1 That nag to win came around the track Sure enough we had won Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me If I spring a leak, she mends me I don't have to speak, she defends me A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one I took up all of my winnings I gave my little Bessie half She tore it up and threw it in my face Just for a laugh If there's one thing in the whole wide world I'd sure like to see That's when that little love of mine Dips her doughnut in my tea Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me If I spring a leak, she mends me I don't have to speak, she defends me A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one Your love, ooh Your lo-love, ooh Your love, ooh, ooh Your lo-love, ooh -For more information, check out...

This program was funded in part by... - Your lo-love, ooh Your love, ooh Your lo-love, ooh Your love, ooh Your lo-love, ooh Your love, ooh Your lo-love, ooh