For over forty years, Bill Staines 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 Boston 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 fourth 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.

Interspersed between original songs, Bill also includes songs ranging from traditional folk tunes to more contemporary country ballads and delights in having the audience participate in many of the numbers. He may even do a yodeling tune or two — having won the National Yodeling Championship in 1975 at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas. Radio and TV appearances have included A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, The Good Evening Show and a host of local programs on PBS and network TV. Bill continues to drive over 65,000 miles a year, doing what he loves, bringing music to people.

Bill Staines photo by Larry Marcus

Scott Alarik is a long-time chronicler of the Boston area folk scene who is a fine performer in his own right. For many years Scott was the Boston Globe’s folk critic. In addition, Scott, in partnership with the Folk Arts Network, founded the New England Folk Almanac to fill the breach in print media coverage. From 1991–97, it grew from a regional music calendar into a nationally respected magazine. Pete Seeger calls Alarik one of the best writers in America,” and Dar Williams calls him “the finest folk writer in the country.” His book, Deep Community: Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground, should be assigned reading for every aspiring folk songwriter.

Scott’s latest CD, All That is True is a gem of a recording. Many of Boston’s most exciting musicians contributed their talents and the end result is simply sparkling. Scott has performed at numerous coffeehouses in the Greater Boston area as well as many of the major festivals throughout the Northeast.

Scott Alarik photo by Ted Gartland

• 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
• There is no better writer of instantly memorable singalong choruses in this genre of music! The Boston Globe
• His gentle lilting voice, spacious melodies and common-chord lyrics give his songs a homespun grace that often belies his mastery of the folk form. He is such a pure pleasure too, people forget to notice how damn good at the job of singer-songwritering he really is. New England Folk Almanac
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• Alarik is the complete folk entertainer . . . a rich-voiced balladeer and songwriter . . . expert weaver of tales, and a droll comic between songs. Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald
• A singer-songwriter and storyteller with a melodic bass-baritone voice and delightfully wry backbeat wit. His ballads and story-songs are beautifully crafted. Jeff McLaughlin, Boston Globe
• [Alarik] mixes rich, sweet ballads which remind us why folk music got popular in the first place with some original gems that seem timeless, yet manage to sneak in a populist message much needed by anyone keeping up with the news. Timothy Mason, Music Manager, Club Passim