Free Republic

A popular Mexican musician who sang the praises of drug lords was shot dead in a parking lot in the west of the country, police said late Tuesday. Ernesto Barajas, a singer with the group Enigma Norteno, which has four million monthly listeners on Spotify, was gunned down in the city of Zapopan in Jalisco state. He is among several performers of so-called "narco-corridos" — a controversial sub-genre of regional music that celebrates the exploits of infamous drug cartels — to have been killed in recent months. In May, five members of the group Fugitivo were murdered by suspected drug...

NEW YORK -- Folk music legend Pete Seeger and '60s folk singer Arlo Guthrie joined Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in their campaign against corporate greed while residents near the protest park encampment pushed to regain some peace and quiet in their neighborhood. Seeger joined in the Occupy Wall Street protest Friday night, replacing his banjo with two canes as he marched with throngs of people in New York City's tony Upper West Side past banks and shiny department stores. The 92-year-old Seeger, accompanied by musician-grandson Tao Rodriguez Seeger, composer David Amram and bluesman Guy Davis, shouted out the verses of...

Q: What's the difference between a large pepperoni pizza and a folk singer? A: The pizza can feed a family of five. Q: Why do Yugos have rear window defrrosters? A; So folksingers can keep their hand warm. I'm on the Chet Atkins Diet....I just pick at my food (but isn't he more country than folk??) Q: What's the difference between a vacuum cleaner and a guitar? A: You don't need to plug in a guitar to make it suck. How many folksingers does it take to change a lightbulb? Five - one to change the bulb, and four to...

Is folk music getting its political hackles up? It has often been the soundtrack of American protest, from the labor movement of the early 20th century through the civil rights and antiwar movements of the '50s and '60s. Now, in the midst of our longest and most controversial war since Vietnam, is history repeating itself? There are definite signs that this summer's folk-festival crowds may hear more political songs than they have in many years.