''Fast Folk Musical Magazine'' (originally known as ''The CooP'') was a combination

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

and

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

published from February 1982 to 1997. The magazine acted as a songwriter/performer

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, and was an outlet for singer-songwriters to release their first recordings.

History

In December 1977, singer/songwriter

Carolyne Mas Carol Patricia Mas (born October 20, 1955), professionally known as Carolyne Mas, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and producer. She broke out of the Greenwich Village music scene boom of the late 1970s, along with other ar ...

started a songwriter's night at The

Cornelia Street Cafe The Cornelia Street Cafe, was a restaurant & bar at 29 Cornelia Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, opened in July 1977. The cafe closed at the end of 2018, due to rising rents from the gentrification of the West Village; ending on its ho ...

in Greenwich Village, New York, after a less formal group started by singer/songwriter/Greenwich Village legend Jack Hardy lost its spot at a local tavern called The English Pub. The group, which included artists like Jack Hardy,

David Massengill David Massengill (born 1951, Bristol, Tennessee) is an American folk singer-songwriter, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer player. Massengill considers Dave Van Ronk his mentor, and is fond of quoting Van Ronk's tribute "he takes the dull out of du ...

Tom Intondi Tom Intondi was an American singer-songwriter first based in Greenwich Village and later in the Northwest. Richard Meyer, "Tom Intondi Biography" ''Allmusic'' Intondi recorded three solo albums, and toured and recorded with a collaboration called ...

Cliff Eberhardt Cliff Eberhardt (born January 7, 1954, in Berwyn, Pennsylvania) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is a founding member of the Fast Folk Music Cooperative in New York City. Eberhardt joined Red House Records in 1997 and has recorded fiv ...

, Michael Fracasso, Matthias Clark, Jeff Gold, and Rod MacDonald, gave writers a chance to perform for their peers, work on songs in front of an audience, and receive feedback from fellow songwriters. This group, sans some members, and with some new members added, eventually became known as the Songwriter's Exchange, recording an album on Stash Records which was released in 1980. The album was made possible due to the efforts of Robin Hirsch, one of the owners of The

, who single-handedly had turned the increasingly popular cafe into a hotbed of artists, musicians, poets, and writers. The Greenwich Village music scene was also booming at the time, receiving much media attention from major newspapers like ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', which also helped fuel the popularity of the New York singer/songwriter scene in general. The Songwriter's Exchange eventually evolved, and under the guidance of Jack Hardy, the group formed a cooperative and took over the booking of Greenwich Village's SpeakEasy in 1981. ''The CooP'', which was launched in February 1982, was later renamed ''Fast Folk'', and gained status as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. The organization formed at a time when the cost of recording equipment and packaging of

vinyl LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

s were prohibitively expensive for the

independent artist Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

. The organization managed to document serious, non-commercial songwriting first in the form of vinyl LPs and later as CDs. Although many of the writers were active in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

scene, the magazine included artists from across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and some international artists. Some of the included writers went on to commercial success, and some became influences in newly formed

musical genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

s such as

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

and

anti-folk Anti-folk (sometimes referred to as unfolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in response to the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. Anti-folk music was made to mock the perceived seriousness of the time's mainstream music scene, a ...

. Alumni who recorded first for ''Fast Folk'' include Grammy Award-winners

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Active since 1980, he has recorded 13 albums and relea ...

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

Julie Gold Julie Gold (born February 3, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her musical composition "From a Distance," which became a hit for Bette Midler and won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1991. "From a Distance" ha ...

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released ...

and Shawn Colvin, as well as John Gorka, Michelle Shocked,

Suzy Bogguss Susan Kay Bogguss (born December 30, 1956) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She began her career in the 1980s as a solo singer. In the 1990s, six of her songs were Top 10 hits, three albums were certified gold, and one album re ...

, Rod MacDonald,

Christine Lavin Christine Lavin (born January 2, 1952) is a New York City-based singer-songwriter and promoter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded numerous solo albums, and has also recorded with other female folk artists under the name Four Bitchin ...

, Richard Shindell,

Marilyn Jaye Lewis Marilyn Jaye Lewis (born July 22, 1960 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American writer and editor of novels, short stories, memoirs, screenplays and teleplays. Lewis grew up in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960s. Lewis began writing during her preteen yea ...

and

Lucy Kaplansky Lucy Kaplansky (born February 16, 1960) is an American Folk music, folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky has a PhD in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University and plays guitar, mandolin, and piano. Life and career Kaplansky was or ...

Cry Cry Cry Cry Cry Cry was a folk Supergroup (music), supergroup, consisting of Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, and Dar Williams. The band released a single eponymous album of cover songs on October 13, 1998. The trio toured in 1999 to support the album. ...

. Over 600 writers and 2000 songs were documented.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...

, now maintains an archive of ''Fast Folk'' which includes the master recording tapes, magazines and paper records of the organization. They also released a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

titled '' Fast Folk: A Community of Singers & Songwriters''.

References

External links

Archives
at the

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage The Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage (CFCH) is one of three cultural centers within the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. Its motto is "culture of, by, and for the people", and it aims to encourage understanding and cultural sus ...

''Fast Folk'' and ''Coop'' Database
with artist crossreferences, by Steven Alexander

page at balladtree.com
SpeakEasy Musician's Cooperative
* ''Fast Folk Musical Magazine''entry at ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' {{Authority control 1982 establishments in New York City 1997 disestablishments in New York (state) American folk music Defunct magazines published in the United States Folk music magazines Folk record labels Greenwich Village Irregularly published magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1982 Magazines disestablished in 1997 Magazines published in New York (state) Music of New York City Music magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States