Just Call It ‘Folk’

While it was much appreciated that you printed a positive review April 13 of the recent “Monsters of Folk” show at McCabe’s, featuring the legendary Rambling Jack Elliott among others, why must you persist in placing folk reviews under the heading “pop”? You certainly never put a jazz or classical music review under such a heading.

Why is it that folk music, despite the undeniable influence of folk writers such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger on contemporary songwriting, doesn’t deserve to be accurately distinguished? Is it because most folk clubs don’t have the budgets to advertise in large urban newspapers and thus are ignored by them?

PAUL ZOLLO

Hollywood