Bob Blackman describes the Lansing Area/MSU Folksong Society as a folk music organization, but he uses that term broadly.
The volunteer organization presents a weekly series of folk-influenced artists entitled “The Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse” every Friday during the MSU scholastic year.
“The main purpose has been to present weekly concerts and monthly dances; the dances are both folk styles of dance,” Blackman, co-founder of the group, said. “We bring in a variety of folk music artists from around the country in a fairly small intimate coffeehouse kind of setting.”
He uses the term loosely because they have had artists besides folk musicians perform at their concert series.
“Some of the styles of music include Irish groups like Celtic music, bluegrass, political music and fiddle and banjo players,” he said. “It covers a lot of different styles from old traditional songs all the way on up to modern singer-songwriters.”
Originally called the MSU Folksong Society when it began as a registered student organization in 1975. The group edited their name once the core members graduated and they expanded into the entire Lansing area.
“They maintained the group and decided to take it as an off-campus group,” booking manager Patrick Power said. “But it maintains student organization ties.”
Noted artists who have performed include blues performers Rory Block, The Chenille Sisters, Nanci Griffith, Stan Rogers, Tom Paxton and Peggy Seeger.
Teacher education associate professor Doug Campbell is the faculty adviser to the group.
“The ultimate goals are to present traditional and contemporary folk music for entertainment purposes and also to promote the society at large to this form of music,” he said. “In general we try to keep bringing it to the attention of university students.”
Power said a majority the artists that perform are traditional folk artists.
“At the same time we have to recognize that there is a national acoustic contemporary scene,” he said. “Everyone gives a great deal of hubbub when the National Folk Festival comes into town, but we’ve been doing this for 26 years and no one seems to make a big deal about it.”
Power said that upcoming artists such as Dar Williams at Wharton Center on March 16 should appeal to a wider array of audiences.
“A lot of the contemporary folk music tends to border on pop like Dar Williams,” he said. “Folk music tends to be a pretty broad term. (Dar Williams is) more of a popular name.”
Power said he tries to book artists whom he thinks should receive more attention.
“I go to a couple of folk festivals a year and if I happen to see someone perform that I think this area should see, I make it my job to look them up,” he said.
Most of the performances are held at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 855 Grove St. but when the group anticipates a larger audience, they have performances at places like the Erickson Kiva on MSU’s campus or even the Wharton Center.
Campbell said the organization has gained a lot of popularity among artists on the national circuit.
“We’re getting more and more artists and managers coming to us instead of going out to find people,” he said. “More and more. We just get requests from them.”
Blackman said artists are always happy to come here to perform.
“We have a good reputation within the community of artists,” he said. “The Fiddle has been going on for 26 years so we’re very well known in the folk music community from new artists to established artists.”
Advance tickets for the March 16 performance of Dar Williams at the Wharton Center are available at The Wharton Center box office; Curious Comics Shop, 210 M.A.C. Ave.; Archives Book Shop, 517 W. Grand River Ave.; and Elderly Instruments, 1100 N. Washington Ave. in Lansing.
Tickets are $20 for the public, $15 for members of the Lansing Area/MSU Folksong Society and $10 for those 12 and under.
