Rick Spencer (born October 21, 1952) Ft. Huachuca, Arizona is an American folk singer-songwriter and musical historian. He grew up in

Newtown, Connecticut Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 censu ...

and graduated from

Western Connecticut State University Western Connecticut State University (WCSU and WestConn) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1903 as a teacher's college and is part of the Connecticut State University System. WCSU consists of four schools: the Anc ...

in 1975.

Associated acts

Spencer was a founding member of

Forebitter Forebitter is an American band with an international following specializing in sea shanties. It consists of four "chanteymen" employed by Mystic Seaport museum in Mystic, Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New Engla ...

with whom he toured extensively and recorded five albums. He is a current member of the Jovial Crew, and the trio, LongSplice, with Joseph Morneault and Dawn Indermuehle. Spencer worked with

Stan Hugill Stanley James Hugill () (19 November 1906 – 13 May 1992) was a British folk music performer, artist and sea music historian, known as the "Last Working Shantyman" and described as the "20th century guardian of the tradition". Biography He wa ...

delving into the history of sea music and singing

sea shanties A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ''shanty ...

. He worked for 20 years as a staff musician, interpreter, researcher and program developer at

Mystic Seaport Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the craf ...

Museum. Spencer is recognized internationally, as an authority on the history and presentation of English language

maritime music This is a list of performers who focus on maritime music or who have at some point made notable contributions to that genre. Traditional-style performers * Jerry Bryant, singer-songwriter from Maine, also performs historical shanties in a tradit ...

. He has been on stage with

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

Oscar Brand Oscar Brand (February 7, 1920 – September 30, 2016) was a Canadian-born American folk singer-songwriter, radio host, and author. In his career, spanning 70 years, he composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Can ...

Paul Winter Paul Winter (born August 31, 1939) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The ...

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including ''Nati ...

, Jerry Bryant, and many others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Rick 1952 births Living people American acoustic guitarists American male guitarists American folk guitarists American folk singers American male singer-songwriters American banjoists People from Fort Huachuca, Arizona People from Newtown, Connecticut 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Singer-songwriters from Arizona Singer-songwriters from Connecticut