I NEVER HEARD NO HORSE PLAY GUITAR

Abstract

Discussions of authenticity in music typically focus on historical authenticity in performance, and tend to draw on examples from classical and pre-classical genres. Yet popular music calls on other concepts of authenticity; concepts which are confidently deployed by its audience, but which can be surprisingly difficult to explicate. In what follows I offer an account of one important concept of authenticity applied to popular music: I do not claim that it is the only understanding of authenticity in play. My paper draws on ideas common in discussions of the authenticity of tribal and folk arts, but not, as far as I know, generally applied to music. In it, I take a fairly catholic view of popular music: a rough and ready definition might be that this is music of mass appeal, in which the central figure is the performer, rather than the absent composer. As such it includes at least folk, blues, jazz, rock music and their sub-genres: my discussion is focussed on European and North American music. My title, by the way, comes from a response to the question ‘Is it folk music?’, which is attributed in various forms to Sonny Boy Williamson, Louis Armstrong and Big Bill Broonzy: ‘It’s all folk music. Leastways, I never heard no horse play guitar. ’ This illustrates the main theme of my paper: all popular music is folk music, belonging to one or another group of folk. The closeness of the match between the folk it belongs to, and those it purports to belong to will determine its authenticity. Certain performances will be as incongruous in this respect as a horse playing guitar.

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