Anyone not familiar with the music of Bill Staines is in for a special treat. For over forty years, Bill has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the Boston- Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960's and, for a time, emceed the Sunday hootenanny at the renowned Club 47 in Cambridge. Bill quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area. In 1971, after one of his performances, a reviewer for The Phoenix stated that Bill was "simply Boston's best performer." A decade later, both in 1980 and 1981, the annual Reader's Poll of The Boston Globe selected him as a “favorite performer.” In 1991, Bill entered his forth decade as a folk performer with an international reputation as an artist. Singing mostly his own songs, he has become one of the most popular singers on the folk music circuit today and averages around 200 concert dates a year. Bill weaves a magical blend of wit and gentle humor into his performances, and as one reviewer wrote, "he has a sense of timing to match the best stand-up comic." His music is a slice of Americana, reflecting with the same ease, his feelings about the prairie people of the Midwest or the adventurers of the Yukon. "Any new song that can live comfortably beside the well-worn songs of folk tradition has a good chance of surviving the test of time. Such, we believe, are the songs of Bill Staines" ~ Charles "Sandy" Paton, Folk Legacy Records. (www.acousticmusic.com/staines)
Published poet turned singer/songwriter Holly Hanson (from Massachusetts) and guitarist/songwriter Steve Hayes (from New Hampshire), collectively known as Neptune’s Car, blend their lyrical and musical sensibilities together on their debut album Strawberry Moon. (www.neptunescar.com)