ABSTRACT
Authenticity is an often-used expression within the British folk revival. It appears to reveal or clarify a particular musical history. Political evidence rather than musical evidence is often used as an indicator of authenticity and when this occurs, a historical amnesia can be created by a search for a musical history from a limited amount of possibilities. This is a recipe for musical parochialism rather than a critical regionalism and remains a paradox. Despite their relative acceptance as folk icons still proceed to 'invent' tradition even if, perhaps, the rock music that they use may no longer be at the forefront of popular music development. The straightforwardness of their approach to folk-rock has helped to simplify and release apparently fixed relationships between 'authentic' tradition and popular music. They demonstrate that music created out of the folk 'legacy' involves conscious artifice which can also be described as future tradition!.
