Why is ismusicians cannot make a living in a musical-heritage-rich community like Floyd? A big part of life here is music but every musician I know is struggling.
Floyd’s famous Friday Night Jamboree doesn’t pay its acts (although musicians do get a small stipend that doesn’t even cover gas).
That means Jamboree stalwarts like Clyde Williams (above left) do it for fun and not much else.
At most music venues, musicians pass the hat and are lucky is they make $100 total for the night.
That ain’t much, even by Floyd County standards. Bluesman Scott Perry probably promotes himself as much as anyone in this county and he says he survives only because he also gives lessons at The Pickin’ Porch. It’s something I’m working on for a story, probably for The Floyd Press, perhaps for a larger audience. Music is so much of the tradition of this area yet musicians are, by and large, treated like second-class citizens. It’s not right.
I’ve often wondered this as well, and, while I think Gary may have pegged part of it, there’s more than just ‘the music industry’ at play.
For example, for what it’s worth, consider this: Blacksburg, with a fairly large population of music fans, can’t seem to sustain dedicated music clubs that don’t lean very heavily on other means of revenue, such as fraternity drinking; yet, in the same town, Virginia Tech has spent nearly $100 million on a football stadium over the last 15 years.
I hate it, too. I’d much rather play music for a living than pretty much anything else, but largely detest the places one has to live in order to do that and earn a decent living.
These guys look like they might be playing -Old Timey Music-, the traditional folk music of the Appalachians.. I love it, and play it because it is the music -of the People-, and has substance and meaning..
Those values mean little to most people these days, when appearances are everything.. My wife and I rarely look at any TV news shows—-the topics are total tabloid drivel, read by incompetents, and broken up by interminable commercials..
This sort of thing permeates our entire society.. For any thinking person, it’s like the Chinese torture, -The Death of a Thousand Cuts.. When I worked for the Feds, I called the frustration of trying to get anything done, -Getting Nibbled to Death by 10,000 Goldfish-..
I call this failure to get rational priorities and values in society, -Creeping Meatballism-.. We get stuck in the tomatoe sauce so long that we gradually turn into stupid meatballs if we don’t watch out—-and the failure to support musicians or some other favorite thing can lead to a moment of clarity..
It’s like we suddenly wake up, see things as they really are, and say, -What the Hell is going on??- It’s -Creeping Meatballism-!! And it’s been around a long time….