I'm what is sometimes described as a "chamber folk" musician: one who specializes in performing uncultivated music in a way that reveals training. I'm a lyric baritone, which basically means that I have a medium vocal range but sound like a tenor. My voice is smooth and mellow (all that healthy vegetarian, non-smoking living, I like to think), accessible to a wide range of listeners. Blessed with a deep rib cage and a history as a choirboy who sang from a 35-foot-high gallery, I can project far into the open air if I need to. Oh, and I whistle a bit, too.
Listeners find me exquisitely sensitive to nuances of tone color so that I don't sound sweet when I should be sounding raucous or breathy when I should be sounding resolute. That is, I choose songs that fit my voice, and I make my voice fit my songs.
MY OTHER INSTRUMENTS
• 12-string Martin D-28 guitar
• 4-string Folkcraft teardrop dulcimer
• 4-string JCRockwell hourglass dulcimer, quarter-sawn cherry back and sides, spruce top, walnut fingerboard, 27” vibrating string length
• 6-string Ron Ewing hourglass Dulcimette
• 21-key Autoharp chorded zither
• tin and pennywhistles
• store-bought and contrived hand percussion instruments
• darbuka (Egyptian cast aluminum waisted hand drum)
• xylophone
MY REPERTOIRE
Repertoire is one of my particular strengths as a folk musician.
These are typical themes of my concerts and workshops:
From the Western Reserve to the Beautiful River:
Ballads and Songs of Ohio
Yuletide Songs from Many Lands
England, Ireland, Scotland, & Wales
Pioneers, Homesteaders, & Settlers
A Bard's Tales: Stories in Song
Peace/Unity/Freedom/Justice/Struggle
A Time to Be Silly
Sea Chanteys & Maritime Life
Spirituals Black & White
Hootenanies Never Die...
They Just Adjourn 'Til Next Week
Old-Time Gospel Hymns
Love's Old Sweet Songs
No, I Mean that *Really* Old Religion
Rounds and Chants
Mysteries, Ghosts, & Outright Mayhem
Songs That Belong to Us All(sm):
Music in the Public Domain
Where the Deer & the Jackalope Play:
The Wild West and the Frontier
Songs Folks Have Worked By
Fiddle Tunes for
the Appalachian Dulcimer
Songs of the Labor Movement
Father William's
Traveling Serpentine Liniment Choir:
Curious Countermelodies for Group Singing
(Partner Songs)
Francis James Child's Ballads
Parlour Music
Songs Beloved by Children
Civil War Songs
Worldberry Jam: Songs from All Over
Ramblers & Wild Rovers
The '60s Folk Revival
Songs with Nonsense Words
Raise the Song of Harvest Home:
Thanksgiving Themes
Animal Songs
Ballads from Broadway & the Big Screen
