William Russell Staines (February 6, 1947 – December 5, 2021) was an American

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

ian and singer-songwriter from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

who wrote and performed songs with a wide array of subjects. Called "the Woody Guthrie of my generation" by singer-songwriter

Nanci Griffith Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program ''Austin City Limits'' starting in 1985 (season 10). In 1994 she won a Grammy Award fo ...

, he also wrote and recorded

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

Life and career

Staines was born on February 6, 1947, and raised in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...

. He began his professional career in the early 1960s in the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

area. He began touring nationwide a few years later. In 1975, he won the National

Yodeling Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...

Championship at the

Kerrville Folk Festival The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The Kerrville Folk Festival was founded in 1972 by the husband-wife team of Rod Kennedy an ...

in Texas. He performed about 200 times a year and appeared on ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

'', ''

Mountain Stage ''Mountain Stage'' is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio (NPR). Hosted by Larry Groce from the show's inception until 2021 and current ...

'', and ''The Good Evening Show''. Staines's songs include "Bridges", "Crossing the Water", "Sweet Wyoming Home", "The Roseville Fair", "A Place in the Choir", "Child of Mine", and "River". They have been recorded by many other artists, including

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...

Makem and Clancy Makem and Clancy was an Irish folk duo popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The group consisted of Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, who had originally achieved fame as a part of the trailblazing folk group The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem in the 1960s ...

Mason Williams Mason Douglas Williams (born August 24, 1938) is an American classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental "Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on ''The Smothers Brothers ...

, The Highwaymen,

Glenn Yarbrough Glenn Robertson Yarbrough (January 12, 1930 – August 11, 2016) was an American folk singer and guitarist. He was the lead singer (tenor) with the Limeliters from 1959 to 1963 and also had a prolific solo career. Yarbrough had a restlessne ...

Skip Jones Skip Jones (born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Utica, New York) is an American folk musician, storyteller and educator from Wisconsin, who writes and performs songs about a wide array of topics. He often promotes clean water, soci ...

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country music and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He was best ...

Schooner Fare Schooner Fare is a Maine-based folk band, consisting of Steve Romanoff (vocals, six and twelve-string guitar, five-string banjo), Chuck Romanoff (vocals, twelve-string guitar, tenor banjo), and formerly Tom Rowe (vocals, bass guitar, tin whist ...

Grandpa Jones Louis Marshall Jones (October 20, 1913 – February 19, 1998), known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.McCall, Michael; ...

, The Grace Family,

Hank Cramer Harry Griffith Cramer III (born 1953) is an American folk singer from the Pacific Northwest. He was born an army brat at Fort Bragg, North Carolina where his father was one of the Army's original Green Berets. Hank's father, Harry Griffith Cr ...

Wendy M. Grossman Wendy M. Grossman (born January 26, 1954) is a journalist, blogger, and folksinger. Her writing has been published in several newspapers, magazines, and specialized publications. She is the recipient of the 2013 Enigma Award for information secu ...

, and

Priscilla Herdman Priscilla Herdman (born February 11, 1948) is an American folk singer, whom ''The New York Times'' called "one of the clearest and most compelling voices of contemporary folk music." Although she has written songs, she is notable chiefly for her ...

. He recorded 22 albums, 15 of which were still in print as of 2005. Staines's songs have been published in four songbooks: ''If I Were a Word, Then I'd Be a Song'' (1980); ''River''; ''Music to Me: The Songs of Bill Staines''; and ''All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir''. Staines's song "The Logging Song", from the album ''Whistle of the Jay'', was featured in "Lumberjerk", episode 12 of season 18 of ''

American Dad ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first television ...

''. His memoir, ''The Tour: A Life Between the Lines'', was published in 2004.

Personal

Staines lived in

Rollinsford, New Hampshire Rollinsford is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,597 at the 2020 census. The main village in town was once known as "Salmon Falls Village". History The area was once within the domain of the Newichawa ...

, with his wife, Karen; his son, Bowen, a folk singer, and their

springer spaniel Springer Spaniel refers to two different breeds of dogs, both of which are commonly called simply ''Springer Spaniel'': *English Springer Spaniel *Welsh Springer Spaniel The Welsh Springer Spaniel (''Welsh'': ''Llamgi Cymru'') is a breed of ...

, Andy, who appeared on the cover of his album ''Old Dogs''. Staines died from

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

on December 5, 2021, at the age of 74.Bill Staines, ''AcousticMusic.com''
retrieved December 7, 2021.

Discography

All references from the Acoustic Music Bill Staines Discography except when noted. * ''A Bag of Rainbows'' (1966) * ''Somebody Blue'' (1967) * ''Bill Staines'' (1971) * ''Third Time Around (1973) * ''Miles'' (1975) * ''Old Wood and Winter Wine'' (1977) with Guy Van Duser * ''Just Play One Tune More'' (1977) * ''Whistle of the Jay'' (1979) * ''Bill Staines Live at the Coffeehouse Extemporé'' (1980) * ''Rodeo Rose'' (1981) * ''Sandstone Cathedrals'' (1983) * ''Bridges'' (1984) * ''Wild, Wild Heart'' (1985) * ''Redbird's Wing'' (1988) * ''The First Million Miles'' (1989) * ''Tracks & Trails'' (1991) * ''The Happy Wanderer'' (1993) * ''Going to the West'' (1993) * ''The Alaska Suite'' (1993) * ''Looking for the Wind'' (1995) * ''One More River'' (1998) * ''The First Million Miles, Vol. 2'' (1998) * ''October's Hill'' (2000) * ''Journey Home'' (2004) * ''The Second Million Miles'' (2005) * ''Old Dogs'' (2007) * ''Beneath Some Lucky Star'' (2012)

References

External links

Bill Staines website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Staines, Bill 1947 births 2021 deaths American folk singers American male singer-songwriters Singers from New Hampshire People from Medford, Massachusetts Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts People from Rollinsford, New Hampshire Red House Records artists Rounder Records artists