Bruce Cockburn Unchains Canada
NEW YORK—If quality will out and the cream rises to the top, then the U.S. of A. is seriously out of step—blindfolded andear-muffed—in not according Bruce Cockburn the same degree of commercial success he has achieved in his native Canada for more than a decade.
Bruce Cockburn Unchains Canada
THE BEAT GOSE ON
NEW YORK—If quality will out and the cream rises to the top, then the U.S. of A. is seriously out of step—blindfolded andear-muffed—in not according Bruce Cockburn the same degree of commercial success he has achieved in his native Canada for more than a decade. Admittedly, folk-based music has suffered a serious popular and artistic decline in the States since its peak in the late 60s and the early 70s. (Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne ;c Paul Simon, et al. just aint what they used to be, and its been a long time since Joni Mitchells Court And Spark.) And those singer-songwriters who do hit it big on the charts tend to emphasize pop slickness and simplistic, if clever, lyrics while moving ever further away from the tradition of self-aware conviction and intellectually reflective observation that inspired the best popular folk music.