Group embraces folk music’s future

While those well-known names helped folk music develop a loyal following, there’s more to the genre than the classics, and many local talents are following in their footsteps.

Encouraging and promoting new performers are part of the mission of the Atlanta Area Friends of Folk Music, a 30-year-old group that meets monthly to enjoy folk music in a variety of forms. On the third Saturday of each month, the group’s Fiddler’s Green gathering showcases favorites as well as new pieces performed by members and artists from around the Southeast.

“We define it very broadly and try to be inclusive,” said AAFFM President Chris Moser, a teacher, performer and former Atlanta media producer who lives in Lithonia. “So we include any kind of grass-roots music performed by ordinary people, and international music as well — Calypso, Celtic, Latin.

“I think a purist would say it’s music that’s so old, no one knows who wrote it,” Moser said. “But the thing about folk music is that it’s often a ballad that tells a story. I once had someone tell me that ‘disco don’t tell no story.’ That’s not the case with folk music.”

In December, the AAFFM started a new chapter in its history when it met at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs, a venue dedicated to live performance and folk music in particular. Moser is counting on the new venue to revive interest in the music and the organization that was enormously popular through the late 1990s. In its heyday, the AAFFM drew people to the Garden Hills community center in Buckhead, where its musical coffeehouses often drew standing-room-only crowds. Membership soared to about 300; the core group is now closer to 100.

One of the original members, Joy Carter, recalled the group starting out with just a handful of folks gathering at someone’s house to play and sing.

“We’d get together to sit around and make music, and at some point, we talked about having a place where people could perform,” Carter recalled. “At the time, there was nothing for folk music in Atlanta, so we did it. It was a ‘let’s put on a show’ kind of thing.”

Along with her husband, Ken Boff, Carter booked the acts for Fiddler’s Green.

“We had three or four acts and lasted about two hours,” Boff recalled. “When we started in the mid-’80s, it was one of only a few coffeehouses in Atlanta, and it ran for years. It was so successful that everybody was starting a coffeehouse. Folk acts started showing up at the Variety Playhouse (in Little Five Points). That thinned our audience quite a bit. The crowds got smaller and smaller. In some ways, we were ruined by our own success.”

Eventually, the arrangements at the Garden Hills center became too expensive, and the group moved to another location near the DeKalb Farmers Market. But the shift decreased the group’s visibility.

“We’ve never been inactive, but we have been dormant,” Moser said. “We had to let the programs go for a while when we lost funding from the Fulton County Arts Council. But then Steve Grossman let us know he was interested in making his venue a folk music center as much as he can, so we moved there. The first night we met in December, we had a splendid night with about 50 people.”

Grossman, who turned a former restaurant site on Hilderbrand Drive into a music venue in 2012, saw the AAFFM as a perfect fit for his audiences.

“My idea is to feature a lot of different folk singers and songwriters, so this was a natural place for them to locate,” said Grossman, a retired UPS employee. “Our emphasis is on traditional folk music, but it’s also a place where you can learn about the different cultural forms of folk music. And we have a full restaurant and bar with jazz brunches on Sunday, so I think the change of location will help them a lot.”

The upcoming Jan. 18 gathering will feature the duo Out of the Rain with local artists Ron Hipp and Carol Statella, as well as South Carolina native Angela Easterling, who is noted for her ballads.

“The talent is mostly Southeastern,” Moser said. “We do see some exciting, young talent around the Atlanta area. I hope having a new location will help us introduce the music to a wider audience.”