SINGING FOR THEIR SUPPER

When Sing Out! Inc. board members meet here this weekend for their annual convention, they won’t be exercising expense accounts the way most corporate conventioneers do.

Instead, they’re going to sing for their meals.

Sing Out! is a nonprofit organization, formed in 1981 by folk legend Pete Seeger, to preserve the tradition of American folk music.

And the group’s board of directors consists almost entirely of nationally known folk singers like Sam Hinton, Michael Cooney and Bruce (Utah) Phillips.

So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the night before the group gets down to business, some board members will give a concert at the East County Performing Arts Center in El Cajon that they hope will raise enough money to pay their expenses.

“This is not your usual, stereotypical board of directors,” said Hinton, a La Jolla resident who has recorded more than 20 albums during his 50-year career.

“We’re not on the board because we have a lot of money; we’re on the board because of our strong interest and involvement with all facets of folk music.”

Aside from Hinton, tonight’s concert, which promises to be one of the biggest events to hit the local folk scene all year, will include performances by five other prominent folk artists--and Sing Out! board members:

- Michael Cooney, a veteran of every major North American folk festival whose repertoire of more than 500 songs includes sea chants, blues, old British and American ballads, drinking songs, topical songs, and vintage pop hits like “Shine On, Harvest Moon.”

- Luci Murphy, a topical singer from Washington, who’s been writing and singing social commentary songs since the ‘60s.

- Sparky Rucker, known for his rousing renditions of spirituals and blues.

- Bob Norman, a mainstay of the Northeast coffeehouse circuit whose country-rooted songs have been recorded by such folk legends as Pete Seeger.

- Phillips, a veteran storyteller and political activist who once ran for president on the “Sloth and Indolence” ticket, and who writes songs about everything from trains and hobos to current political issues.

Also playing will be Mother Logo, a five-woman acoustic string band that specializes in country and mountain music. Their lineup of traditional acoustic instruments includes the fiddle, the banjo, the guitar, the mandolin, the bass dobro and the mountain dulcimer.

Hinton said Sing Out! Inc.’s two primary functions are sponsoring folk concerts nationwide and publishing a quarterly magazine about folk and traditional acoustic music.

The annual board meetings, Hinton said, have always been preceded by expense-raising concerts.

“Aside from serving a purpose, these concerts are lots of fun for the board members,” Hinton said. “Many of us only see each other once a year, and this gives us the chance to not only get together and go places, but also to share our music on one stage.”

To make sure that the two-day convention won’t finish in the red, this year’s concert is being underwritten by KPBS-FM (89.5), the local affiliate of National Public Radio.

Ironically, the concert takes place less than a month after KPBS aroused the ire of local folk enthusiasts by cutting back its folk music programming from 13 to six hours a week.

Is the station trying to assuage its guilty conscience? KPBS station manager Tom McManus insists that’s not the case.

“The thing is, the concert was arranged three months before we decided to cut back on folk music,” McManus said. “But it’s designed to show San Diego that we’re still as committed as ever to the presentation of traditional music.

“The negative reaction by the folk community is understandable, but I hope people realize that even though the glass is half-empty, it’s still half-full.

“The folk audience might be small, but it’s still one we’re committed to serving,” said McManus.