Looking for the words to the song that you heard at the folk festival? Madly in love with the obscure fiddle tune performed by a band who's name you can't remember on the radio? How does one access a larger base of traditional ballads and tunes you ask? Do you really need to go to some dark, musty archive and pour over hours of taped field recordings and volumes of sheet music?

Well, that's one way of enlarging your repertoire. However, if you're stuck for time, there is another way. Just saddle up your computer and hitch a ride down that ol' information super highway; the internet. Here are some useful URLS for the folk afficionado:

The Mudcat Cafe
http://www.mudcat.org/folksearch.html This site has the lyrics to thousands of folk songs (folk in the broad sense of the word; traditional, blues, oldies, etc.) If you look through their directory and you still can't find the song you're looking for, post a request on the message board.

OLGA
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/OLGA/all/A.html The Online Guitar Archive is not really a folk website, but anyone who plays guitar will probably end up here at some point. Songs lyrics are posted with the accompanying chords, and you'll find just about any type of music; from Peter Paul and Mary, to Robert Johnson, to Marilyn Manson. CAVEAT: While this might look like a smorgasbord for all you potential Jimmy Pages, many of the transcriptions are riddled with errors. Wrong chords and incorrect words abound at this site, so if you do pick up a song at OLGA, make sure you double check it with the recording, or with someone who truly knows how the song should sound.

Dirty Linen
http://www.dirtynelson.com/linen/78toc.html Considered by many to be the "folk music bible", Dirty Linen is actually a quarterly magazine that contains just about everything you need to know about contemporary folk music. Their website contains artist profiles, reviews of albums, and concert listings.

Moonlighting
(http://www.moonmusic.nfld.com) Want to find out what's happening on the music scene in St. John's? Check out Moonlighting's web site. June Hiscock is the owner of this company, which also presents Wom/men Jammin'. A weekly event which takes place at the Fat Cat on Tues. night and showcases female musicians.

http://www.mcn.net/~acflynn/music.html This site contains a lot of good links to Irish music sites.

Don Walsh's Web Page
http://home.thezone.net/~donwalsh Don Walsh is a musician, a producer, and the Vice President of the St. John's Folk Arts Council! At his web page you'll find links to Newfoundland music sites, midi sites, and other places of interest.

Newsgroups
Newsgroups can be a great source of information. If you have a question, just post it. If anyone out there knows the answer, they'll usually reply. Make sure that you "lurk"(read without posting) awhile before you take the plunge and post a message. Some newsgroup regulars take offence to questions that are deemed obvious or stupid. If you do post, make sure that you type in NOSPAM before the domain name in your email address. If not, you might find yourself the recipient of a lot of electronic junk mail. Here are some useful newsgroups: rec.music.celtic; rec.music.folk; nf.arts.

Of course, once you have a couple of good urls, you'll find lots of links on those webpages to other sites of interest. Happy surfing !