Folk is the new Punk - Sean Decker, Mikey Iafrate, and David F Bello

Lately -- as in the past few weeks -- I've noticed that some of the edgiest, sharpest sounds in this town are being made with an acoustic guitar and a voice, which proves again that greatness is not necessarily a factor of what one uses, but how one uses what one has.

And ain't that what the spirit of all the best rebel music is anyway? The Ramones (et al.) had three chords and a rudimentary drummer to work with, and produced -- out of this simple equation -- timeless, fist-in-the-air anthems that no one will ever be able to top. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (et al., again) had a couple of turntables, and some voices; they (among other rap/street/hip-hop pioneers) used an even simpler equation to spark a phenomenon that forever changed the face of popular music.

Thus, when I get to experience some intense, beautiful, angry, smart music being made with an arsenal of one (or two) instruments and a voice, I get turned on. Sure, 'folksingers' or 'acoustic singer-songwriters' are a dime a dozen; go into any open-mic and you'll see one, running down a set of Eagles (or worse) covers, with a 'sensitive', 'heartleft' original thrown in there. But once in a great while, if you're lucky enough, you'll run into one that goes far beyond the call of the mundane and mediocre. One that isn't concerned about what the 'genre' wants.

Aren't we lucky to not have just one, but three of these talented folk?

I wasn't able to see a full Sean Decker set until last Friday at the Corner Cafe. I was blown away by his smart tunes (though I may be off the mark, I'd place him somewhere betwixt Elvis Costello, 70s folkie obscuro Tim Buckley and the doomed, etherial Nick Drake), and a classic pop voice that channeled Nick Lowe and Paul McCartney . I know he has a split CD with Mikey Iafrate (another local favorite of mine -- more about him in a minute), but I wouldn't be able to tell you how to find it. Perhaps someone could hip us to its location and availability in the "comments" thread. And as soon as I find out, It's mine, and then I'm gonna eat, drink, and sleep Decker/Iafrate for the next six months or so.

Mikey Iafrate (now of dain bramage merchants COBRA , neo-new wavers Drown Culture, and country muddafolkers The Priesthood) can charm the most hardened, bitter old bastard (I'm living proof!). And he's a pro. When you see Mikey you know what you're gonna get -- deep, echoey, wooden tones, accompanied by some of the most intelligent lyrics about politics, love, and faith I've heard since Johnny Cash's heyday, delivered by a earnest-yet-calming voice. Mikey may be the only artist I know that transform "I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner into a jaw-dropping power-hymn, into what Mikey himself calls a song of spiritual yearning.

Within the past few months, David F. Bellow has been on the minds and the lips of many Morgantonians. Rightly so. Sure you can play the hallowed indie-rock pastime of "spot-the-influence" (I myself hear Daniel Johnston, Jeff Magnum of Neutral Milk Hotel, and Syd Barrett), but there's more to David's music than a tangle of inspirations. His music itself is a tangle of inspiration! The last time I saw him (with the almighty Sandra Black, last Thursday at 123) I was taken somewhere else. Escapism? Not on your life -- David's songs (as the best songs do) brought me closer to life; the experience wasn't simply a musical one, this was being born and unborn. Coming for your children in the middle of the night. You know, all the stuff that made, say, The Stooges so viscerally important, and in this case it's in the shape and form of a twenty-year-old genius.

These weren't songs, they were a series of near-death and a near-life experiences. And in twenty-odd minutes it was over, and I wanted it to start all over again. Buy David's CD The Hair on Yr Head -- but consider yourself fairly warned: its effects to not wear off easily.

So, there's room for folk music in this 'burg, no? Always has been -- look at the great stuff produced by Todd Burge and (semi-Morgantonian) Owen Davis. Great acoustic music has always been something of a tradition in Morgantown, you've just had to look for it. These three gentlemen are right in our own backyard, and to me, they represent nothing less than the next step in the evolution of local underground music.