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Folk Festival Fun with Larry Bland & the Volunteer Choir

A lot of people, when they hear "folk music," get images of dueling banjos and twangy guitar when really that's not it at all. My favorite explanation comes from Louis Armstrong when he said, "All music is folk music; I ain't never heard no horse sing a song."

As if taking a cue from Armstrong, one of the biggest local acts taking the main stage at this year's Richmond Folk Festival is Larry Bland & the Volunteer Choir , a gospel group celebrating 40 years of hitting the hymnal high notes.

"Folk music is traditional and typical music that is a celebration of life of the people of a community," said Larry Bland, head of the historic choir. "To me, the Folk Festival is an all inclusive celebration of the community."

Having lasted 40 years already, the Volunteer Choir must have something special to be able to still appeal to the ever-evolving Richmond community, or maybe it's that love affair we seem to have history.

"Gospel music certainly is an integral part of the fabric of American music, so it would be very appropriate to have that as any kind of folk festival."

But this isn't just any folk festival, it's the first ever Richmond Folk Festival, so there has to be something special in these tunes. And it turns out it is all in the history.

"Richmond, and specifically 2nd Street, at one time this was the 'Harlem of America' in terms of the history of jazz and gospel and performance," Bland said.

"Richmond was known in the early days as 'Quartet City' and it has a history of fostering and supporting gospel music for as long as probably music has been around in this country. Certainly after slavery and the development of music and black folks moving off of plantations and into urban settings."

Bland says that performances by the choir as more like sing-a-longs and are somewhat tailored towards people who have been following them for some time. On the other hand, the songs should be familiar to most anyone, and Bland feels that everyone should be comfortable at one of their performances.  

He also mentioned that they are not evangelical.

"We do not do fire and brimstone, a lot of preaching, evangelism. We try to cater our presentation in these type of venues in such a way that it is not offensive."

As the Volunteer Choir takes the stage at the festival they will be dedicating their performance to the memory of Richard Parker , a member of Venture Richmond who passed away in January. Bland remembers Parker as being the most ardent advocate for their inclusion in the Folk Festival.

Larry Bland & the Volunteer Choir will be on the Ukrop's/First Market Bank stage at the folk festival on Sunday Oct. 12 from 2:14 to 3:30 p.m.