Just Plain Folk : Traditional Musical Genre to Enjoy New Life With Living Tradition’s Monthly Shows

Traditional folk music concerts, a fairly rare commodity in Orange County, will become a little less unusual starting early next year, with the resumption of monthly shows sponsored by the Living Tradition folk society.

Steve Dulson, a veteran of Orange County’s trad-folk scene as a guitarist and songwriter for the Tinker’s Own Celtic band, will start booking concerts in hopes of securing an attractive mix of national touring acts and strong Southern California talent.

Dulson said the concert series has taken an important first step by securing the just-opened Downtown Community Center in Anaheim as a venue for shows the third Saturday of every month.

A revived concert series by the Living Tradition would give Orange County folk fans a second outlet alongside Shade Tree Stringed Instruments, the tiny Laguna Niguel venue that has offered a long-running series of tradition-steeped concerts.

Living Tradition will host a free open-mike event Jan. 16 to serve as a shakedown performance to fine-tune a new portable sound system; the first concert in the resumed series will be Feb. 20, featuring Tintangel, an all-female Celtic band from Orange County, and Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, a guitar and fiddle duo from Portland, Ore.

The roots of the Living Tradition series go back to 1982, when folk musician and enthusiast Carolyn Russell began promoting shows by some significant folk names at her home in Garden Grove. The series eventually moved to the Anaheim Cultural Arts Center, then relocated five years ago to Ball Junior High School in Anaheim after the arts center was bulldozed.

When Russell moved away from Orange County in 1997, the concert series sputtered, then lapsed by year’s end. The Living Tradition continued to sponsor twice-monthly American-style folk dances featuring local bands.

The nonprofit organization’s longtime Anaheim connection was crucial in enabling the Living Tradition to secure rent-free use of halls at the new, city-owned Downtown Community Center, Dulson said. The Living Tradition’s performers will set up on portable stages in rooms designed to hold 60 to 70 but which could hold up to 200 people, depending on the night’s expected draw. Tickets will be $10 to $12.

Even with no rental expense, the series must operate on a tight budget, Dulson said. At least for the time being, artists’ guarantees won’t top $300, with a sweetened deal if their draw exceeds an agreed-upon minimum.

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Nevertheless, Dulson hopes the Living Tradition will become a regular stop for national performers who tour Southern California and would prefer a low-grossing gig to a night with no gig at all. In its heyday, Dulson said, the Living Tradition series was a franchise that had a core audience of loyalists who trusted the series enough to turn out even if they weren’t familiar with the performers.

“My goal is to get people back to thinking, ‘Third Saturday, folkie concert in Anaheim, there’s going to be good acts.’ That’s the way it used to be when Carolyn was going strong. On my calendar, I’d mark the Living Tradition, and I didn’t care who was playing.”

Tight economics will make it hard to book touring groups featuring several members, Dulson said, and easier to attract solo acts. But, he said, “I don’t want to make this a singer-songwriter showcase. I love a lot of the singer-songwriter stuff, but the Living Tradition board says we’re supposed to be promoting traditional music, so you’ve got to slant it that way. If I had a chance to book people like [singer-songwriters] John Gorka or Greg Brown, I would, because they’re real quality people.” Others on his wish list include Mary McCaslin, Tom Lewis, Ralph McTell (“He’s probably out of our league”), Jez Lowe, Steve Gillette, Louis Killen and a French-Canadian group, Hart Rouge.

The Living Tradition dances continue. Dates and venues starting in January will be the second Friday of each month at California Heights United Methodist Church, 3759 Orange Ave., Long Beach, and the fourth Saturday of each month at the Anaheim Downtown Community Center.

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* The Living Tradition folk concert series resumes with a free open-mike night Jan. 16 at the Downtown Community Center, 250 E. Center St., Anaheim. Concert series information: (949) 646-1964. Folk dance information: (949) 559-1419.