Patrick Sky (born Patrick Linch; October 2, 1940May 26, 2021) was an American musician, folk singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was noted for his album ''

Songs That Made America Famous ''Songs That Made America Famous'' is the fifth album by Patrick Sky, released on Adelphi Records in 1973. Sky recorded the album in 1971 but had difficulty finding a label to release it, as the satirical lyrics are explicit. Track listing Al ...

'' (1973). He was of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and Native American ancestry, and played Irish traditional music and

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

in the later part of his career.

Early life

Sky was born in

College Park, Georgia College Park is a city in Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton and Clayton County, Georgia, Clayton counties, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, adjacent to the southern boundary of the city of Atlanta. As of the 2020 United States Census, 20 ...

, on October 2, 1940. He was of

Creek Indian The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southe ...

and

descent. He grew up near the Lafourche Swamps of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where he learned guitar, banjo, and harmonica. He moved to New York City after military service in the early 1960s, and began playing traditional folk songs in clubs before starting to write his own material.

Career

A close contemporary of

Dave Van Ronk David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Ma ...

and others in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

folk boom, Sky released four well received albums from 1965 to 1969. He played with many of the leading performers of the period, particularly

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American ( Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these ...

Eric Andersen Eric Andersen (born February 14, 1943) is an American folk music singer-songwriter, who has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, the Grateful Dead and many others. Early in his career, in the 1960s, he ...

and the blues singer

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist. Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. He w ...

(whose

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

albums Sky produced). Sky's song "Many a Mile" became a folk club staple; it has been recorded by Sainte-Marie and others. Being politically radical, Sky wrote, recorded, and released the satirical ''

'' in 1973 (the album was recorded in 1971 but rejected by several record companies before it found a home). This album featured the earliest known recorded version of the song "

Luang Prabang Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...

", written by Sky's friend

. Sky had honed his politically charged satire in earlier albums, but ''Songs That Made America Famous'' raised the stakes. The Adelphi Records website describes how the content was, indeed, shocking, yet how several critics encouraged the public to rush to buy these timely and brilliant "explicit lyrics" while it could. Sky gradually moved into the field of Irish traditional music, producing artists, and founding

Green Linnet Records Green Linnet Records was an American independent record label that specialized in Celtic music. Founded by Lisa Null and Patrick Sky as Innisfree Records in 1973, the label was initially based in Null's house in New Canaan, Connecticut. In 1975, t ...

in 1973. He was recognised as an expert in building and playing the Irish

, often performing with his wife, Cathy. Sky edited a reissued version of the important 19th century dance tune book ''Ryan's Mammoth Collection'' in 1995. This was followed up with a reissue of ''Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels'' six years later. Sky released his final full-length studio album, ''Through a Window'', in 1985.

Personal life

Sky married Cathy Larson Sky in 1981. They met three years earlier and moved to North Carolina six years after getting married. Together, they had one child, Liam. Sky died on May 26, 2021, while in hospice care in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. He was 80, and suffered 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 ...

and

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...

prior to his death. He had also been diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in 2017.

Discography

* ''Singer Songwriter Project'' ( Elektra, 1965) (Sky is one of four artists, contributing three tracks, alongside David Cohen,

Richard Fariña Richard George Fariña ( Spanish IPA: ) (March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966) was an American folksinger, songwriter, poet and novelist. Early years and education Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, the son of an Irish mother, ...

, and Bruce Murdoch) * ''

Patrick Sky Patrick Sky (born Patrick Linch; October 2, 1940May 26, 2021) was an American musician, folk singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was noted for his album ''Songs That Made America Famous'' (1973). He was of Irish and Native American anc ...

'' (1965) * ''

A Harvest of Gentle Clang ''A Harvest of Gentle Clang'' is the second album by Patrick Sky, dedicated to Buffy Sainte-Marie. History With tracks such as "Jay Gould's Daughter," " John Riley" and "Farmer's Cursed Wife" (a re-working of "Old Lady and the Devil" by Bill & B ...

'' (1966) * ''

Reality Is Bad Enough ''Reality Is Bad Enough'' is the third album by Patrick Sky, and his first for the Verve Forecast label. Track listing All tracks composed by Patrick Sky; except where indicated Side one #"She's Up for Grabs" – 2:46 #"Children's Song" – 2: ...

'' (1968) * ''

Photographs A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created ...

'' (1969) * ''

'' (1973) (also Producer) * '' Two Steps Forward, One Step Back'' (1975) (also Producer) * '' Through a Window'' (1985) (also Producer) ''With Cathy Sky'' * '' Down to Us'' (2009)

Legacy

The refrain of the title song of his third album, "Reality is bad enough, why should I tell the truth?" is included in Buckminster Fuller's 1970 book, ''I Seem to Be a Verb''. Joni Mitchell identified Sky as "Richard" from her song "

The Last Time I Saw Richard "The Last Time I Saw Richard" is a song by Joni Mitchell from her 1971 album ''Blue''. It is the last track on the album. Contrary to rumours regarding the song being about Mitchell's first husband Chuck Mitchell, she has said it was inspired by ...

" from her ''Blue'' album.

Citations

General bibliography

* Okun, Milton (1968). ''Something to Sing About''. New York: Macmillan.

External links

Patrick Sky and Cathy Sky's webpage
– Official website of Patrick and Cathy Sky, including a biography and a link to a discography

– In-context description of the album ''Songs That Made America Famous'' and contemporaneous reviews * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sky, Patrick 1940 births 2021 deaths American male singer-songwriters American people of Irish descent American people of Native American descent Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)