Maritime Musicians, Performers, Hosts, & Scoundrels
Bold Horizon
Eclectic, slightly irreverent nautical and old timey music; sea chanteys, ballads, British, Irish, American tunes, with three of the Northwest's best: Dan Roberts, Steve Akerman, and Tom Rawson.
Visit Bold Horizon on here.
Broadside
These women know how to serve up a chantey in salty and authentic style while weaving the enchanting harmonies that bring out the best in maritime music. Their haunting songs will have you longing for the age of sail and the rolling deck under your feet. Come listen to touching ballads, rollicking chanteys and hilarious songs of drinking and other merriment.
Visit Broadside on Myspace.
Hank Cramer
Hank Cramer is one of the best-loved folksingers in the American West. He's known for his booming bass voice, smooth picking on a vintage flat-top guitar, and a wry sense of humor. Hank's repertoire is a mix of original, traditional, and contemporary folk songs. They tell the stories of cowboys, sailors, soldiers, miners, adventurers, and just plain drifters. That fits with Hank's life story: he has been an underground miner, a professional soldier, shanty-man on a square-rigged sailing ship, wrangler for a high-country outfitter, and a world traveler. Those experiences make Hank's music ring with a special authenticity.
Visit Hank Cramer at www.hankcramer.com.
Kat Eggleston
Kat is one of the most accomplished guitarists and singer/songwriters in the folk, Celtic and traditional music genres. Elating, moving, and amusing audiences with her beautiful blend of sweet melodies, gentle honesty and searing humor, Kat's music reflects a wide range of life's experiences with unusual clarity and authority.
Northwest maritime music fans may recognize Kat as one of the performers on the classic Victory Music CD from 1989, 'Victory Sings at Sea' and as one of The Ferryboat Musicians that played on the ferries of Puget Sound. After living in Chicago for years, she has moved back to Vashon Island and re-established herself with Northwest audiences. She tours the U.S., Great Britain, Europe, and Australia and has produced six CDs.
Visit Kat Eggleston at www.kateggleston.com.
Chris Glanister
Chris Glanister grew up in England listening to Burl Ives, Pete Seeger and the popular British folk group The Spinners, along with Led Zeppelin and the Monkeys and lots of classical music. Part of The Whateverly Brothers and the local Seattle Celtic Band Watch the Sky!, he has been entertaining audiences with his whistle playing and vocals for many years. He started his musical career as a recording and live sound engineer and at some point had to play the music he was hearing. He's since added bohdran and cittern to his musical lineup, and loves the Scottish and maritime influences.
Visit Chris Glanister at The Whateverly Brothers and Watch the Sky!.
Percy Hilo
Percy Hilo has been a songwriter/singer/song collector/folklorist in the Northwest for over 30 years. He has performed at coffeehouses, festivals and many worthwhile benefits and community events. His original songs in American Folk stylings have been published over 30 times and sung 'round-the-world. He believes in sing-a-long, tempering social concern with humor.
Holdstock & MacLeod
Still enthusiastically performing together after twenty-five years, Holdstock and MacLeod continue to perform authentic renditions of the songs of their homelands. Whether performing shanties and other traditional music of the sea or nineteenth century ballads, Allan MacLeod and Dick Holdstock are still captivating audiences from coast to coast. Audiences always join in by singing and laughing along to their outrageous songs and stories. Dick and Allan trade off on mandolin and guitar accompaniments to some of their songs and frequently use acappella arrangements. They have mastered the art of traditional harmonies which often are described as descants. There strong melodic tones resonate with all who have the pleasure of hearing them.
Visit Holdstock & MacLeod at their website here.
Wendy Joseph
An Able Seaman and Shantyman, Wendy has crewed the tall ship Lady Washington, the Virginia V, the Adventuress, and a WWII freighter; she has sailed from the Bering Sea to the Straits of Gibraltar in modern ships. Along the way, she sailed through typhoons, hurricanes, and pirate waters. She holds Masters degrees in English from UCLA and the UW, is an award-winning poet, and a produced playwright. In 2006, she won First Prize at the Seattle Maritime Festival's "Songs and Stories of the Sea" contest, and she can say "Arrgh!" in six languages. Wendy has written new, catchy seafaring tunes and knows all the old favorites.
Steve Lewis
Steve Lewis has made his career on the sea as an oceanographer sailing in the remote Antarctic and on the high seas. This nautical background has grounded him in singing authentic sea chanteys about whaling, the high seas, and maritime life. Steve has compiled a song book of sea music used at chantey sings around the Northwest and particularly at the Chantey Sings during the Port Townsend Wooden Boat festival which he has hosted for many years.
Visit Tom Lewis at his website here.
Tom Lewis
With songs that have become folk standards, known and sung wherever great choruses ring out, Tom accompanies himself on button accordion and ukulele -— but it's that powerful vocal style and infectious humour—that quality of entertaining—which keeps audiences coming back again and again. Tom's repertoire—from traditional shanties to songs fashioned out of his own seafaring background—recruits his audience for a voyage by turns reflective, dramatic and humorous. Now resident in Canada's Rocky Mountains, Tom was born in Northern Ireland and that Celtic heritage is obvious in his clear, strong voice, evoking quiet sorrow for a fisherman lost to the sea just as honestly as it powers out a shanty "to be heard above the gales."
Visit Tom Lewis at his website here.
Brian Maskew
Brian, actually Dr. Brian Maskew, originally hails from Yorkshire, England and keeps up the tradition of singing British folk and maritime songs. Brian has cut CDs with Hank Cramer and has been on the faculty of most of the Shanty Camps held around the Northwest during the past few years.
Mariide
Mariide, known for her performance teaching of maritime history and lore for schools and museums, has one of the most powerful and saltiest voices around. She has been one of the mainstays of the Northwest maritime music scene since its beginnings. She was the founder of St. Elmo's Choir, and was one of the original members of the Victory Sings at Sea group.
A longstanding social justice and environmental activist, Mariide's musical roots are in the 1960's Seattle folk scene. In 1966 she became the open-mic host at the Last Exit, a happening that set the benchmark for Seattle open mics. She is known for her witty songwriting on political and social themes.
Matthew Moeller
Matthew is a true son of the NW, having been born and raised there. That may explain his love of the rain and foggy days. He also has an undying love of the water and boats. He lives aboard a classic wooden yacht, built in 1930, with his lovely wife and two cats. He writes and sings songs on the NW, its people, the ships and the shore (including clams). He also singls baritone for the local group The Whateverly Brothers
Visit Matthew Moeller at Cap'n Matt: Singer, Sailor, Songwriter.
Philip Morgan
Philip Morgan is an anchor of the maritime music scene. Singing Celtic songs with his family band the Cutters, playing a folk song on his banjo, or performing a chantey a cappella sung a hundred years ago, Philip Morgan's deep musical talent always comes forth. Philip produces the Sea Music show at each year's Folklife Festival and produces Northwest Seaport's Maritime Concert Series.
Visit Philip Morgan at The Cutters: A Family Band.
Wayne Palsson
Wayne Palsson has been singing shanties and maritime songs up and down the coast for the past few years, focusing on songs with rich tones reflecting the fishing and maritime trades. He strives to sing a broad range of sea songs including a few overlooked classics by Gilbert and Sullivan. Wayne is the host of Northwest Seaport's Chantey Sing.
Pint & Dale
William Pint & Felicia Dale rank among North America's most exciting and acclaimed nautical performers. William Pint & Felicia Dale raise the humble sea chantey to unexpected heights! Their music fits into the world of modern folk, rock and popular song, but it's rich with myth, narrative, rhythm & rhyme from the days of the tall ships. Be it with guitar, flute, or hurdy-gurdy, they have played on both sides of the pond and have been generating exciting music and dynamic CDs.
Visit Pint & Dale at Music and Myth from the Sea.
Dan Quinn
Dan Quinn is a professional captain of sail and motor and has sailed tall ships in the South Seas. Not only that, but Dan sings great tunes and shows a bit of the blarney in his tall tales of the sea. You might find him spinning yarns at sea story, liar, and fisher poet contests, where he's won some prizes.
Dan Roberts
Raised in the Bay Area and attending college in Berkley in the 60s (he swears he has no memory of that), Dan also studied opera and received the training that makes his voice one of the most notable and powerful in the folk music community. A true folkie, Dan's repertoire spans decades. It also spans three octaves which allow him to sing lead, bass, or make strange noises. He plays guitar, mountain dulcimer, mandolin, mandola, six-string banjo, and a mean set of spoons.
Dan sings in both Bold Horizon and the Whateverly Brothers.
Chris Roe
Chris is a talented musician performing solo and in maritime and other groups around the Puget Sound. Chris is known for her strong yet eloquent singing voice, her adept instrumentals, and her charming stage presence.
Shanghaied on the Willamette
Shanghaied on the Willamette is the lively musical duo of Jonathan Lay and Gordy Euler who perform songs and tunes "plundered from land and sea." These include traditional Celtic, English, and old-time American music, especially music of the sea and waterways. Shanghaied on the Willamette accompanies their vocal harmonies with a fleet of acoustic instruments, including fiddle, bodhran (Irish drum), guitar (6- and 12-string), mandola, tin whistles, harmonicas and banjo.
Jonathan, who's powerful and supple voice can do justice to a gentle ballad or a rough-and-tumble sea chantey, plays guitar, tin whistle, harmonica, and a rollicking bodhran. Gordy is a skilled vocalist and a multi-instrumentalist who easily switches among fiddle, mandola, tin whistle, guitar and banjo. This broad range of sounds allows them to craft exciting and varied arrangements and programs.
Visit Shanghaied on the Willamette at shanghaied.biz.
Spanaway Bay
Spanaway Bay is none other than Carol and Kent Mesford. Carol also sings with a rock band and with the sea shanty group Broadside. Kent also performs with his brother Kurt as the hilarious duo, the great Sanger & Didele.
John W Sparrow
John is a talented musician and singer and his original songs about ships and sailing capture our rich regional history. John is known for his sly wit, eloquent storytelling voice, and versatile musicianship.
Tom Rawson
"I have a banjo and I'm not afraid to use it" -- Tom Rawson is a friendly, banjo-playing folkie who's guaranteed to have you singing along and will leave you smiling. Tom will pull up his maritime repitoire, some of which can be heard on his two CDs. In addition to his solo work, he performs with the band Bold Horizon.
Visit Tom Rawson here.
Tugboat Bromberg
After sailing for 23 years as an Able Seaman and Quatermaster in the Merchant Marine, Tugboat Bromberg has settled in the great state of Washington. A veteran of the music scene, Tugboat sings, wties songs, and performs a variety of musical styles ranging from country and bluegrass to nautical and piratical.
Visit Tugboat Bromberg at MySpace.
Watch The Sky!
Watch the Sky! has been a consistent presence in the Seattle area folk music scene since 1991. Jan and Chris Glanister and Joe Wagner bring Celtic verve to traditional, contemporary, and original ballads and pub songs. Rich, tight vocal harmonies are their trademark backed by driving rhythms and sweet whistle riffs.
Joe's rock-influenced guitar playing brings a contemporary drive to their Celtic sound while Jan beats bodhran (Irish drum) and dumbec (Middle Eastern drum). Chris is on penny whistles and cittern. Singable music combined with their sense of humor pays off for the audience in a musical experience full of fun and warmth.
Visit Watch The Sky! at Watch The Sky! Celtic Music With Spirit
The Whateverly Brothers
The Brothers (Dan Roberts, Chris Glanister & Matthew Moeller) have performed for many years as solo artists and members of obscure folk groups across the Pacific Northwest. Now these three talents are together as the Whateverly Brothers. Drawing from a rich and varied musical history, The Whateverly Brothers harken to the folksinger tradition that "No musical style is sacred." Hoist anchor! Raise the glass! Sing along!
Visit The Whateverly Brothers at TheWhateverlyBrothers.Com.