I think I'm changing my genre officially to Folk Music.

For over twenty years, I've called the music I make “Celtic Music”. Because it is. It's based largely on the music of the Celts, the Irish and Scottish folk songs. It's the heart of what I do.

The problem is the marketing word “Celtic Music”. The record labels used it to promote Enya back in the day. Soon all New Age music became Celtic Music. Now if you Google “Celtic Music”, you'll hear lots of keyboards. You'll compositional music with a “Celtic” feel by Adrian von Ziegler. You might even hear an actual folk instrument. It's great to have in the background. It might not even be too bad for Celtic-inspired Braveheart-style film.

I call that Celtic New Age or orchestral music. Just not “Celtic music”. It's more like the Brobdingnagian Bards song “Tolkien” from Memories of Middle Earth. It's Celtic inspired. But not what I call Celtic Music.

I realize my own hypocrisy here. Yes. The Bards had a “Celtic” hit song on MP3.com. But it's really not all that Celtic. Or is it? I don't know.

What I do know is that I've tried branding my music Celtic for 24 years. It's an uphill battle. It's also diverging into new musical territory.

Back in 2010, I came up with Rhythm & Folk. I think that's a lot more appropriate. In fact, it perfectly describes my musical style on the autoharp and the themes of my music. Songs for regular people.

So today, I just updated my Reverbnation account. I'm no longer calling my music Celtic and topping the Celtic Music charts at #1 as I've done for the past 15 years. Now I'm moving it over to Folk Music. And we shall see if this makes a difference.

Now I'm not changing anything I've done. I'll keep playing Irish and Scottish folk songs. It's now just how I let you know about it.

WHAT'S NEW

• Celtic Christmas Podcast is coming back this Sunday. Subscribe if you want to enjoy some great Celtic Christmas music. And I'm looking for Patrons of that podcast as well.
• A Celtic Halloween ghost story. Can Death stop Johnny from grabbing a drink after a hard day at work? I talk about my song “I'll Drink From Dusk Til Dawn on the next Pub Songs & Stories. Subscribe.
• NEXT SHOW is NOV 4-6: Conjuration, Atlanta, GA