Folk Music

The Blarney Brothers were a Texas Celtic band that also did a lot of sea songs. Go figure.. then go buy CDs. These guys do great harmony, amazing instrumental feats on more instruments that is really reasonable, and just generally put on an excellent show. They're unfortunately no longer performing as a group anymore, but several former Blarneys went on to a new group, Trinity River Whalers, who have since carried on the tradition with sweet harmony of their own. They've put out several excellent CDs.

Mark Elliot has written a bunch of extremely cool songs. His best known is probably "Stars in Their Eyes", co-written with Tom Paxton. .

Cheryl Hoenemeyer is a Massachusetts singer/songwriter and one of my favorite folk musicians. A strong lyricist and singer, and accomplished pianist, she's written both lyrical and humorous songs.

Zeke Hoskin is a western Canadian songwriter with a clever ear for lyrics and a keen sense of the absurd. He's also put up some lyrics and sound files on his website. I'm busy learning several of his songs.

James Keelaghan is a Canadian folksinger, who has written a number of outstanding songs. "Fires of Calais", "Hillcrest Mine", "Kiri's Piano" and "Rebecca's Lament" are some of my favorites.

Stan Rogers wrote too many great songs to list. The site (unusually!) has lots and lots of lyrics. Good music company! Have a biscuit.

Fred Small is a Massachusetts singer/songwriter- turned-Unitarian-minister best known for his heartwrenching "Cranes over Hiroshima" and "Heart of the Appaloosa". He has several tapes and CDs out, and his lyrics are readily available online, but he has songbooks as well, available from Yellow Moon Press. He seems to have abandoned his musical presence online, but the Wikipedia entry linked above has links to fan sites and commercial music pages. The songbook link is still good.

Carla Ulbrich is a folk musician and recent convert to the filk community. Her first CD "Her Fabulous Debut" is one of the funniest things I have heard in years. It took me several listens through to stop laughing long enough to hear the precision of scansion and rhyme, and tight clean lyrics.. I want to write like that when I grow up!.

Filk Music

Defining filk music can occupy hours better spent singing. It's the music of the science fiction fan community. A quick web search will give you longer and more detailed definitions if you want them.

Hopeful Romantics: Ed Stauff and Mary Ellen Wessels

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