{"id":11269,"date":"2025-09-09T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=11269"},"modified":"2025-09-10T19:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T00:18:13","slug":"folklore-ben-lamar-gay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/folklore-ben-lamar-gay\/","title":{"rendered":"Folklore: A Conversation with Ben LaMar Gay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a musical environment that too often propagates concepts of genre, one label in particular often stands out as problematic: \u201cfolk music.\u201d What exactly is folk music? A cursory definition would state that the form is music \u201cof the people.\u201d In the abstract, this idea seems sensical. When B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k transcribed the works of Transylvanian peasants<\/a>, few would argue that he was not capturing their folk songs. But in American society, which – at least in theory if not in practice – is designed to intermingle in a concept of E Pluribus Unum, what is the music of the people?What about in a worldwide digital age where an idea can travel the globe instantaneously with the tap of a finger or a click of a mouse?  When one of the most commercial artists of the last quarter century labels her album, Folklore<\/em> (Republic, 2020), should we just assume the term fully lacks any meaning beyond what the social \u201celites\u201d dictate to us it should be? Perhaps the concept of \u201cfolk music\u201d is tied to a specific aesthetic, a certain danceability, or twanginess of the music. This would certainly partly explain the outrage encountered when Bob Dylan plugged in his guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. But look at the lineups of that very same festival, where indie rock has come to the fore more than anything acoustic. And, even more importantly, a focus on a specific sonic feature of the music drastically runs the risk of overlooking cultures that are no less valid or essential to the conversation. Is not the music born out of Black musicians in places like Congo Square and the years of development upon it a music of the people?  With Yowzers<\/em> (International Anthem, 2025), cornetist\/vocalist\/multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay tackles these issues directly by presenting a cohesive definition of what it means in the Twenty-First Century for a music to continue to be \u201cfrom the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yowzers<\/em> continues to add to Gay\u2019s esteemed standing as an urban American griot. Or perhaps an old-fashioned singer-songwriter before that term turned into a marketing gimmick. Gay is a composer whose sonic poetry shares essential messages while continuing to preserve the oral traditions and history behind not just great Black American music but great American music more generally. A native of Chicago\u2019s Southside, Gay grew up in a city with one of the world\u2019s richest musical cultures. Through that, he ultimately became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). From that connection, he has learned from some of the greatest – both his elders and contemporaries – creators of improvised music. He has shared those lessons across a wide range of ensembles that reflect the city\u2019s continually evolving  musical scene, whether labeled jazz, hip hop, house, electronic, rock, avant-garde, salsa, or something else entirely. And those influences are also evident on the gorgeously reflective Yowzers<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across Yowzers<\/em>, the music is raw and deceptively unpolished, emphasizing emotional connection over overt shows of virtuosity, though Gay is fully capable of both. The title track\u2019s piano-led recitation of \u201cAin\u2019t gon snow no more… Rain gon pour and pour … Fire don\u2019t stop no more\u201d speaks to struggles that transcend all cultures and times as well as the enduring human optimism for a brighter future. Musically, the piece is built on the Blues – further reflecting the balance between joy and suffering – and spirituals – a promise of something better. The rhythmically skitterish and synthesizer-distorted \u201cJohn, John Henry\u201d reflects on the unity of mankind in its conflicting relationship with technology and change, something that applies equally to today\u2019s concerns about artificial intelligence as it does old struggles against Ninetenth Century industrialization. And \u201cI am (bells),\u201d where Gay\u2019s rich a cappella vocals slowly turn into a fiery refutation, speaks of the struggles to identify oneself outside of the labels society tries to thrust on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout, Yowzer<\/em>\u2019s immense energy makes it feel like a live recording – partly due to Gay\u2019s process of documenting collective vibrations in real-time – rather than a studio outing. Given this element, Gay\u2019s quartet should be especially incredible live, where the audience cannot only hear the vibrations as they emerge but feel them directly themselves. On September 11, 2025, those in Austin, Texas, will be able to experience this magic firsthand as Gay and his quartet take to the stage in the small and intimate Draylen Music Studios at KMFA as part of Ingebright Haker-Flaten\u2019s Sonic Transmissions Festival, co-presented by Epistrophy Arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sat down with Gay to discuss what audience members can expect from the upcoming performance, some of the inspiration behind Yowzers<\/em>, and memories of the late jaimie branch.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostGenre: At your upcoming date at the Sonic Transmissions Festival, you will be performing on cornet, vocals, and synths with guitarist Edhino Gerber, tubaist Matthew Davis, and drummer Tommaso Moretti. What inspired the quartet\u2019s distinctive instrumentation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ben LaMar Gay: Man, the other three artists are all friends of mine. Together, we laugh and chill. We hang and argue. I want the musicality of themselves to be with me when I play. I start with what they play and then build from there. My imagination runs with them. For Matthew, I know he’s a brass player. He plays tuba for my band, but he plays many things. With him, my imagination flirts with brass band culture. Things like old 1920s or 1930s formations of small groups. But I generally enter into a project with no preset plan and rely more on the people I am working with and what they can provide. At the end of the day, it is the homies, not the instruments, that matter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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PG: Does that tie to brass band culture inspire your playing cornet instead of trumpet?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BLG: Yeah, but after the fact. It is only after you sit back and realize what’s happening. I used to play trumpet, but once a cornet player recommended I check out that horn. I don’t know why. But his name was Butch Morris, the great composer and conductor who was also a cornet player. He told me to check the cornet out and, when I got home, I went to look for one. I\u2019ve played it since.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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