Christopher Alden Shaw is a folk musician specializing in the music and folklore of the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

, recognized nationally as a notable practitioner of this milieu. His first album, ''Adirondack'', a collection of traditional and original tunes, was selected for inclusion in the folk music collection of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. "Shaw's new songs sound like ancient ones," said Geoffrey Himes of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. The "Ambassador of the Adirondacks" frequently collaborates with his wife, fellow singer-songwriter Bridget Ball. Capital Region Magazine called him "a walking, talking, singing National Geographic Special."

Early life

Born in 1954, Shaw grew up in Adirondack community of Lake George, where his father owned and operated sightseeing tours on the mahogany steamboat ''Sayonara''. Shaw left Lake George in 1972 to attend

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

, graduating with a degree in biology. In college, Shaw began to play guitar and formed a folk trio that eventually performed a concert on the

Sloop Clearwater The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Beacon, New York that seeks to protect the Hudson River and surrounding wetlands and waterways through advocacy and public education. Founded by folk singer Pete Seege ...

. It was also in college where he met future friend and mentor, folksinger

Bill Staines William Russell Staines (February 6, 1947 – December 5, 2021) was an American folk musician and singer-songwriter from New Hampshire who wrote and performed songs with a wide array of subjects. Called "the Woody Guthrie of my generation" by s ...

. In 2022, Shaw served as Master of Ceremonies at Caffè Lena's concert tribute to Staines in remembrance of his passing. In 1977, he found work in the emergency room of Albany Medical Center. He also frequented Saratoga Springs'

Caffè Lena Located in Saratoga Springs, New York, Caffè Lena is the oldest continually running coffee house in the United States. Founded in 1960 by William and Lena Spencer (née Nargi), it claims to be the oldest folk-oriented coffee house, in the U.S., f ...

, where proprietor Lena Spencer provided a mentorship role. "Lena had kind of taken me under her wing from the first...when I was broke she'd lose my bill," said Shaw. He later headlined at the venue. He began collecting traditional tunes, many he had heard growing up, aided by field recordings from song collectors and folklorists Marjorie Lansing Porter and Frank and Anne Warner. He met singer-songwriter Bridget Ball in 1981 at a punk rock concert in Albany, NY. Shaw had just decided to quit his job and focus on music full time. Three years later, they were married. Early years as a household of two professional musicians was difficult, as they attempted to land distribution deals for their music with little luck. They formed their own company to release music in response, and primarily marketed directly to stores and consumers. In 1987, they decided to quit playing in bars and focus on touring.

Career

''Great Acoustics''

Inspired in part by DJ Wanda Fischer's ''Hudson River Sampler'' program, Shaw and Bridget Ball began a live radio series airing weekly on Northeast Public Radio. ''Great Acoustics: Live from the Hudson River Cafe'' debuted in 1986, broadcast live with a live in-studio audience and modeled after A Prairie Home Companion. Airing throughout the northeast, it received national distribution for some shows. Live guests included

Happy Traum Happy Traum (born Harry Peter Traum, May 9, 1938, The Bronx, New York) is an American folk musician who started playing music in the 1950s and became a stalwart of the Greenwich Village music scene of the 1960s and the Woodstock music scene of t ...

Artie Traum Arthur Roy Traum (April 3, 1943 – July 20, 2008) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Traum's work appeared on more than 35 albums. He produced and recorded with The Band, Arlen Roth, Warren Bernhardt, Pat Alger, Tony Levin, ...

Josh White Jr. Josh White Jr. is a Grammy Award-nominated recording artist who upholds the musical traditions of his father, the late bluesman Josh White. Career At the age of four, Josh White Jr. made his professional debut alongside his father at the Caf� ...

Rory Block Aurora "Rory" Block (born November 6, 1949, in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American blues guitarist and singer, a notable exponent of the country blues style. Career Aurora Block was born in Princeton and grew up in Manhattan. Her father, Allan ...

, Greg Brown and

Garnet Rogers Garnet Rogers (born May 1955) is a Canadian folk musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario with roots in Nova Scotia. He began his professional career working with his older brother, folk musician Stan Rogers, an ...

. The show ended in December 1988.

Albums and performances

In 1985, Shaw debuted his self-released cassette ''Without a Net'' at Saratoga's Caffè Lena, consisting of a live recording from Mother's Wine Emporium coffeehouse at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Shaw release ''Adirondack'' in 1988. Produced by

, ''Adirondack'' also featured

Jay Ungar Jay Ungar (born November 14, 1946) is an American folk musician and composer. Life and career Ungar was born in the Bronx, New York City. He frequented Greenwich Village music venues during his formative period in the 1960s. In the late 1960s, ...

and

. The album represented a change of direction for Shaw, moving away from the more conventional singer/songwriter mode he had pursued in years prior. It was picked up for national distribution by Silo/Alcazar, and proved popular on college and acoustic radio.

WHRB WHRB is a commercial FM radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz and is operated by students at Harvard College. The station is owned by Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co., Inc., a non-profit corporation independent o ...

and WNHU both named it one of their top albums of the year. "It's a wonderful album," said WNHU DJ Cliff Furnald. "If the Adirondacks have a voice, it sounds like Chris Shaw," said ''The Daily Gazette''. It included a rare cover of "Honest Sam" by reclusive songwriter

Paul Siebel Paul Karl Siebel (September 19, 1937 – April 5, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in Buffalo, New York. He is best known for other artists' cover versions of his songs, most notably "Louise". Other frequently cov ...

. Other songs include portraits of Adirondack hermit French Louie and acclaimed North Country violinist Nick Goodall (previously immortalized in a bestselling novel by

Irving Bacheller Addison Irving Bacheller (September 26, 1859 – February 24, 1950) was an American journalist and writer. He founded the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States. Birth and education Born in Pierrepont, New York, Irving Bacheller ...

). In October 1989, Shaw performed at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Museum of American History. Shaw's 1991 album ''Born and Raised'' was produced by

with contributions from

Vassar Clements Vassar Carlton Clements (April 25, 1928 – August 16, 2005) was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and ...

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist who founded the rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969Garth Hudson Eric "Garth" Hudson (born August 2, 1937) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for rock group the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a ...

. It featured the biographical song "Working Ships" praised by ''

Dirty Linen ''Dirty Linen'' was a bi-monthly magazine of folk and world music based in Baltimore, Maryland. The magazine ceased publication in the spring of 2010. The magazine offered extensive reviews of folk music recordings, videos, books, and concert ...

'' for its "weight, structure and simplicity." "The Year of 88" was lauded by ''The Washington Post''. "Together with his earlier album, "Adirondack," Shaw is emerging as the foremost musical interpreter on the scene today of the North Country's rich folk tradition," observed the ''Albany Times Union''. "In crazy times like these, music like Christopher Shaw's is not only welcome, but necessary. "Born and Raised" should be required listening for all Adirondack residents," remarked the Plattsburgh Press-Republican. One track from ''Born and Raised'', also featured on 1991's holiday album ''Mountain Snow and Mistletoe'', became a signature song. "Ten Dollar Christmas" is based on the true story of a Depression-era family. In December 1991, it was included in the Mainly Adult Contemporary CD, distributed nationally to adult contemporary radio stations. It entered national radio rotation as a result. "As sick as I am of listening to Christmas carols, I just can't bear to eject this CD from the stereo," concluded the Meriden ''

Record-Journal The ''Record-Journal'' is an American daily newspaper based in Meriden, Connecticut, that dates back to the years immediately following the American Civil War. It is owned by the Record-Journal Publishing Company, a family-owned business entit ...

''. In 1992, Shaw performed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, appearing alongside Dan Berggren, Carl Heilman,

Anne LaBastille Anne LaBastille (November 20, 1933 – July 1, 2011)Hevesi, Dennis ''The New York Times'', July 9, 2011. Retrieved 11 Dec 2011 was an American author, ecologist, and photographer. She was the author of more than a dozen books, including ''Woodswo ...

, Bill Smith and Bill McKibben as part of a series of statewide events commemorating the Adirondack Park centennial year. On 1993's ''Fireside--Adirondack Stories, Humor and Downright Lies'', Shaw exhibited his storytelling and humorous tales that featured prominently in his live performances. "Chris Shaw is in his storytelling element, with crickets chirping and fire crackling making this an unusually intimate audio experience," said critic Ellen Geisel. "Shaw's voice is smooth, comforting in the night as he weaves yarns that familiarly cloak you," remarked another critic. Many of the stories are tall tales, inspired by the stories and experiences with his uncle Walter Blair. That same year, he performed at the National Portrait Gallery in the Smithsonian Associates' "City Sunsets" series. ''Been to Town and Back Again'' was released in 1994, with Shaw accompanied by

Tony Trischka Anthony Cattell Trischka (born January 16, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player. Sandra Brennan wrote of him in 2021: "One of the most influential modern banjoists, both in several forms of bluegrass music and occasionally in jazz and ...

Cindy Cashdollar Cindy Cashdollar is an American musician specializing in steel guitar and Dobro. She grew up in Woodstock, New York, where she perfected her skills by playing with bluegrass musician John Herald, blues musicians Paul Butterfield, and Levon He ...

, Steve Riley,

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist who founded the rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969John Herald John Herald (September 6, 1939 – July 18, 2005) was an American folk and bluegrass songwriter, solo and studio musician and one-time member of The Greenbriar Boys trio. Biography Herald was born in Manhattan in 1939, to an Armenian born poet ...

. It was produced by Shaw and Tony Markellis. An appearance at the

Old Songs Festival The Old Songs Festival is an American annual folk music festival and dance festival held at Altamont Fairgrounds in Altamont, New York. History In 1981, the first Old Songs Festival was held at Tawasentha Park in Guilderland, New York. It grew ...

served as an album release party. It was praised for "consistently appealing story songs with a sense of tradition and place that most contemporary acoustic music sorely lacks" by ''Dirty Linen''. "Shaw's fifth album is easily his best yet," according to critic Greg Haymes. A sequel holiday album ''Mountain Snow and MistleTWO'' also appeared in 1994, with Bridget Ball, John Kirk, David Malachowski and Brian Melick. Shaw performed at the

Philadelphia Folk Festival The Philadelphia Folk Festival is a folk music festival held annually at Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. The four-night, three-day festival, which is produced and run by the non-profit Philadelphia Fo ...

in 1996, where he also taught a workshop on narrative song. He released a third collaboration with Bridget Ball that same year, a departure from previous releases that focused on original songs. ''Songs from the Big Front Porch'', a collection of traditional folk tunes, was accompanied by guitar chords to foster a sing-along atmosphere. Shaw's last solo album, ''Adirondack Serenade'' was released in 2000, coinciding with a performance at the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

which was also streamed live on the internet. In 2003, Shaw formed a group called Big Trout Radio with

and author Connelly Akstens. An album, ''Songs About Fishing'', along with a tour, followed. Shaw toured widely for many years. In addition to appearances at Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution, he has also performed at

, Adirondack Music Celebration, the Music Festival in the Adirondacks, the Adirondack Music Festival, GottaGetGon Festival, headline concerts in Escondido, California, at me&thee Coffeehouse, Wilkes-Barre, PA, Vergennes Opera House,

''Mountain Snow and Mistletoe''

A cassette tape of Christmas tunes recorded at home with wife Bridget Ball led to the holiday-themed album ''Mountain Snow and Mistletoe'' in 1991. That year, the two began presenting a live show with same name, featuring original Adirondack folk music mixed with traditional songs. Initially performed in libraries and church basements, they quickly graduated to larger venues, including Caffe Lena. In 1994, they released a sequel and began expanding their holiday production to meet demand. After touring their show in the Midwest, they began presenting it annually at

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, is a performance space in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The music hall, renowned for its acoustics and an Odell concert organ, is operated by a not-for-profit organization. It was designated ...

starting in 1996. The concert became a popular regional tradition. The show has featured guest artists including Kevin McKrell, Camille West and Tony Markellis. In 2010, it moved to The Egg. After 25 years, ''Mountain Snow and Mistletoe'' gave its final performance in 2015.

Later life

In addition to music, Shaw performed historical reenactments for schools, including presentations about the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and

Robert Rogers Robert Rogers may refer to: Politics * Robert Rogers (Irish politician) (died 1719), Irish politician, MP for Cork City 1692–1699 *Robert Rogers (Manitoba politician) (1864–1936), Canadian politician * Robert Rogers, Baron Lisvane (born 1950), ...

. Ancestor John Shaw fought in Rogers' unit at the Battle on Snowshoes. For 15 years, Shaw worked as a guitar clinician for

Taylor Guitars Taylor Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer based in El Cajon, California, and is one of the largest manufacturers of acoustic guitars in the United States. They specialize in acoustic guitars and semi-hollow electric guitars. The company w ...

, specializing in folk fingerstyle playing alongside other musicians such as

Livingston Taylor Livingston Taylor (born November 21, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Born in Boston and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he is the brother of singer-songwriter James Taylor, singer-songwriter Kate Taylor, singer ...

and

. Shaw briefly served as the executive director of the Adirondack Folk School, a not-for-profit dedicated to preserving and teaching the skills of Adirondack folk craft. He retired from music in 2015 after obtaining a degree in culinary arts. He is now a food writer for the online publication ''Nippertown''.

Discography

*''Without a Net'' (1985) *''Adirondack'' (1988) *''Born and Raised'' (1991) *''Mountain Snow and Mistletoe'' (1991) with Bridget Ball *''Fireside'' (1993) *''Been to Town and Back Again'' (1994) *''Mountain Snow and MistleTWO'' with Bridget Ball (1994) *''Songs from the Big Front Porch'' with Bridget Ball (1996) *''Adirondack Serenade'' (2000) *''Songs About Fishing'' (2003) as Big Trout Radio (with

and Tom Akstens)

Appears on

*''Duffy Rose'' (1986) Bridget Ball *''Mothers and Daughters'' (1989) Bridget Ball *''Almost Dancing'' (1990) Bridget Ball *''Adirondack Songwriters Live!'' (1991) *''Music from the Adirondacks'' (1992) *''North River, North Woods'' (2009) with Dan Berggren, John Kirk

Television appearances

*''Music from the Adirondacks'' (1992) *''Songs from the Heart of the Adirondacks''

WMHT WMHT can refer to the following broadcasting stations in the Albany, New York area: *WMHT (TV), UHF channel 17 *WMHT-FM WMHT-FM (89.1 MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station licensed to Schenectady, and serving the Capital D ...

(1995) *''Chris Shaw: Live in Concert''

(1996) *''Christmas in the Adirondacks''

(1996) *''Adirondack Wild'' WMHT (2005) *''Seneca Ray Stoddard: an American Original'' (as the voice of Seneca Ray Stoddard)

(2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Christopher Living people 1954 births American folk singers American male singer-songwriters Musicians from New York (state) American folk musicians Fairleigh Dickinson University alumni