I think you're exactly right about that, Bill! And that brings up something. Pamela and I were talking about how bemused Joe was by music purists' narrow-mindedness. I don't think I ever heard anyone but Joe use that phrase, but I can't figure when he started. I know he regularly talked about "folk nazis" after our 2006 incident, but I can't remember if he used the term before that. Do you remember hearing him use that phrase back in the '70s and '80s when you and Margaret played with him?
BTW, I never thought Joe meant it in a mean-spirited way, of course. I think he just thought it was kind of sad that talented musicians would limit themselves to only a narrow kind of music. Peyton and I, incidentally, called them "music re-enactors." :)
I don’t remember when Joe started using the term. It may have been in the late’90s when I first heard it. I think he was trying to get some other musicians featured at Vandalia and thy seemed to have their own performers and refused to consider anyone else. When I was around Joe playing back in the ‘80’s, I did notice he would occasionally “push people’s buttons “ just to see how they would react. He was really slick at it and no one would suspect including me. One day he told me what he was doing and you’re right, I don’t believe he did it out of meanness, it was just something he did.
And of course, for Joe the irony was that here he was NOT an Appalachian (“I wasn’t born in West Virginia,” he used to say, “but I got here as soon as I could”), and yet he was included in the Vandalia events from the very beginning; then he’d watch the same folks who invited him in turn around and resist native West Virginians whose music they didn’t like. That embarrassed him a bit; I know it did because he told us so.
And, too, I think it bothered Joe that Peyton — who knew more about West Virginia history and culture than anyone we knew — wasn’t brought in as a major contributor to the Vandalia Gathering. That might have been The Flood’s fault, too, though all those controversial newspaper columns Dave wrote over the years mighta played a role. :)
Great story. I’m sure Joe requested that song just to stir up the “folk nazis”
I think you're exactly right about that, Bill! And that brings up something. Pamela and I were talking about how bemused Joe was by music purists' narrow-mindedness. I don't think I ever heard anyone but Joe use that phrase, but I can't figure when he started. I know he regularly talked about "folk nazis" after our 2006 incident, but I can't remember if he used the term before that. Do you remember hearing him use that phrase back in the '70s and '80s when you and Margaret played with him?
BTW, I never thought Joe meant it in a mean-spirited way, of course. I think he just thought it was kind of sad that talented musicians would limit themselves to only a narrow kind of music. Peyton and I, incidentally, called them "music re-enactors." :)
I don’t remember when Joe started using the term. It may have been in the late’90s when I first heard it. I think he was trying to get some other musicians featured at Vandalia and thy seemed to have their own performers and refused to consider anyone else. When I was around Joe playing back in the ‘80’s, I did notice he would occasionally “push people’s buttons “ just to see how they would react. He was really slick at it and no one would suspect including me. One day he told me what he was doing and you’re right, I don’t believe he did it out of meanness, it was just something he did.
And of course, for Joe the irony was that here he was NOT an Appalachian (“I wasn’t born in West Virginia,” he used to say, “but I got here as soon as I could”), and yet he was included in the Vandalia events from the very beginning; then he’d watch the same folks who invited him in turn around and resist native West Virginians whose music they didn’t like. That embarrassed him a bit; I know it did because he told us so.
And, too, I think it bothered Joe that Peyton — who knew more about West Virginia history and culture than anyone we knew — wasn’t brought in as a major contributor to the Vandalia Gathering. That might have been The Flood’s fault, too, though all those controversial newspaper columns Dave wrote over the years mighta played a role. :)