Folkies Watch The Grammys

In our house, the TV gets turned on about once a month.  We are too busy rehearsing for our next gig, attending virtual folk music related webinars, plugging and unplugging in pieces of our complicated studio setup trying to find a recurring hiss, going for our daily walks, trying to figure out Spotify and cooking veggie soups.  Last night, was an exception.  We actually watched the Grammys from start to finish and in the process found ourselves in the middle of an unfamiliar culture called “mainstream music.”

 To say that we are not the target-demographic for last night’s Grammy show is an understatement.  Most of the performers were 40 or younger.  In some cases, much younger, such as 19-year old Billie Eilish, who won Record of the Year.  Her angst-ridden, breathy, slow-moving songs are certainly not something I could listen to for very long.  I have gone through many crises in my life—breakups of relationships and bands, poverty, a house that burned down, family fights, moves across the country, raising a daughter on a musician’s meager wages, struggling to keep a progressive nonprofit afloat.   All stuff this makes you tough and resilient. But today I am privileged, unlike many people in our country who are facing racism, homelessness, isolation, hunger, disease and death.

I asked my granddaughter, who is an up and coming therapist, who is Billie’s audience?  She said suicidal young people.  She says many of her clients are all alone, without family or a support system and they are contemplating suicide. According to the Washington Post, the CDC says one in 4 young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have struggled with suicidal thoughts since the coronavirus hit.  Only 1% of the $175 billion COVID funding passed in 2020 was dedicated to mental health and substance abuse.  So, as usual, our corporate-run health care system is not dealing with this crisis.

I really believe in the healing power of music, obviously, since I am a musician. The genius of young Billie Eilish is her ability to speak directly to her audience, and thus give them hope when they realize that they are not alone, that she and many others are also suffering.  So God bless her.  She is probably saving more young lives than many good-hearted but overworked professionals in the mental health field are able to do.