Kerrville Folk Festival

Richard Bowden

June 2007 Kerrville Folk Festival

Richard Bowden is a fiddler and has been a professional musician for 30 years, primarily in Austin. He conceived of and organizes the annual Million Musicians March For Peace rally at the Texas State Capitol. The March takes place on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and draws participants from SXSW. Estimated participation for 2007 was 3,500, including 1,000 musicians and their instruments.

“It’s so confusing for people because there’s so many things going wrong right now. I definitely want to be active and a part of a solution, but I ...only have one person’s energy, so I have to be very selective in what I do. What is the most important issue? What do I have to offer to this situation? What can I do?

“I realized that the best thing I had to offer was as a musician. So I started organizing musicians and I’ve done event after event using music and music business skills and talents to put on the events [with] educational stuff woven through it. I’ve stood for lots of different issues.

“But, I’ve finally realized I am trying to make up for the imbalance in media information. I am replacing what’s missing: inspiring, educational, vital information. As a musician, I am one of the few little pieces of media still owned by the people.

“It’s said, oh, people are apathetic, they don’t care. And I look at myself and the people I know and I don’t know anybody who is apathetic. I don’t think people are apathetic at all. I think they’re just confused, and that, if they knew what the problem was, and knew what the solution was, [they would] go for the solution.

“So what’s lacking is information. There’s lots of it, we’re overwhelmed by information. What’s the problem with it? Unless you can find a source of information that tells you the things you need to know to get you inspired, then it’s all a waste of time. It’s just gossip.

“The only reason for news in our history, going back to the beginning of communication of any kind, was to get important information in order to make important decisions. The musicians are the real storytellers, the real news source. They always tell the truth, whether it’s about somebody that’s broke their heart or whatever. It’s always something they really believe in. That’s not true of any of our news or major media sources. It’s all about the money. And we’ve adopted this fake counsel government and this fake music/musicians/bards called the media.

“I realized that musicians are still in that role and need to step up and realize that we are the answer. We can provide the infrastructure, information-spreading infrastructure, that can outdo the spin of the war and injustice machine. We need good information, we need to counsel, we need to get together. We need to find a way to get together.

“But we can’t waste time. I look around and see a few other musicians thinking the same thing and doing the same thing. All I have to do is ask and they will perform and they’ll fight against injustice or war or anything, anytime. They’re ready to go, but nobody is asking them. Nobody is rounding them up and saying ‘let’s do an event’ and ‘let’s do another one.’ And people are sitting around. There’s lots of spare time. So, all I have been doing is working with spare energy, spare time, and giving people an opportunity.

“The web site, Instruments For Peace.org, is in development now. It’s all about what we’re doing. Marching during SXSW Festival enabled us to use music business energy and know-how. We do that all the time. We’ve done thousands of shows. Activists have never done shows. They do an event or two in their whole career. I see a lot of potential here. I think musicians are just overwhelmed and just haven't realized what they have to offer yet.”