Music Camps
I am a teacher at heart. It is so satisfying to help people learn how to play and share music that I have focused equally throughout my career on performing and teaching.
For nearly a decade I have been on the staff of the wonderful Rustic Roots Music & Food Retreat, held annually among the high peaks of the Rockies. I lead the group sings, teach guitar, uke, and bones, and am counted on to bring a lusty ditty or two to the late-night campfire jams. Working with artists such as Joy Adams, Andy Reiner, Natalie Padilla, Ric Robertson, Chris Turner, and Rachel Maloney at Rustic Roots has deepened my commitment to fostering community music making of all kinds.
I recently joined the staff of Fiddle Hell, a devilishly delightful music festival in Massachusetts, where I lead workshops in singing, ukulele, guitar, and bones. I am also a mainstay of The Whomp – “a primal gathering of the groove, with tunes and songs from oldtime, blues, world, intergalactic and other traditions.”
Workshops
Here is a partial list of workshops I have led.
Working with Guitar and Voice
Chanteys at Work
Tin Pan Alley Songs for Ukulele
Learn the Bones
African-American Influences in Sea Music and Chanteys
Rhythm Chops for Strummers
Songs of New England Fishermen
Drinking Songs That Are Not About Beer
Papers
Spending time going through dusty old books of folksongs has led me to publish a number of papers. These have been presented at the Sea Music Symposium at Mystic Seaport over the years.
Oh, You Trawler Men: The Whaling Songs of Harry Robertson
A Sailor’s Songbag: The Manuscript of Timothy Connor, American Privateer, 1777 – 1779
A Chronological Sampling of Scottish Sea Music, 1495 – 1975
Long We’ve Toiled on the Rolling Wave: One Sea Song’s Journey From the Gundeck to Hollywood