Bob Zentz is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musician and educator from Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 who has been performing for more than thirty years. He is a guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist and also plays the autoharp

Autoharp

The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...

, lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

, melodeon

Melodeon (organ)

A melodeon is a type of 19th century reed organ with a foot-operated vacuum bellows, and a piano keyboard. It differs from the related harmonium, which uses a pressure bellows. Melodeons were manufactured in the United States sometime after 1812 until the Civil War era...

, mouth harp

Mouth harp

Mouth harp may refer to:* Harmonica* Jew's harp...

, banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

, concertina

Concertina

A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...

 and mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

. He specializes in historical and maritime music, and claims a repertoire of more than 2,000 songs.

Currently a resident of Norfolk, Virginia, in addition to his continuing performance activities Zentz also serves an instructor for the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT); and is a program developer and leader for Elderhostel along the Intracoastal Waterway. He also presents a program, "Homemade Music" to elementary school students.

Early Years

Zentz began performing professionally in Norfolk, Virginia in 1962, in the group "The Troubadours," with James Lee Stanley. While in college, he was a founding member of the College of William & Mary's "Minutemen" singers from 1962–64, and president of the Old Dominion College Folk Music Society from 1965-66.

Beginning in 1966, Zentz began two years serving as a sonar man in the U.S. Coast Guard, aboard the high-endurance cutter CGC Sebago. Upon leaving the Coast Guard in 1969 he was hired as a songwriter for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is an American comedy and variety show hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.-History:...

. After the show was cancelled, Zentz remained in Los Angeles, teaching guitar at Long Beach City College and continuing to perform and write. In 1970 he won the William E. Oliver Songwriting Award in Los Angeles for his song, "Jeremy."

Ramblin' Conrad's Guitar Shop & Folklore Center, Songmakers of Virginia

In 1971, following the San Fernando earthquake, Zentz returned to Norfolk where he created Ramblin' Conrad’s Guitar Shop & Folklore Center. It was named for the man who embodied Zentz's ideal of the singer, and the song—the late Norfolk country singer William Conrad Buhler. (Zentz also wrote a song about Buhler, "Ramblin' Conrad.")

Ramblin' Conrad’s Guitar Shop & Folklore Center became the hub for folk music and culture in Hampton Roads for 23 years before closing in 1995. The Ramblin' Conrad's experience was also on public radio WHRO-FM, Norfolk, through the program "In The Folk Tradition," which ran from 1977-2004. Additionally, in 1971 Zentz founded the Songmakers of Virginia (now known as the Tidewater Friends of Folk Music). Zentz modeled the Songmakers of Virginia after Songmakers of California, which he had become familiar with during his time in Los Angeles.

Teaching and Performance

In 1971, Zentz began teaching folk music classes in Old Dominion University’s Rainbow Program. In 1971 he created the Old Dominion Folk Festival, which he ran until 1981. Beginning in 1980 he began appearing at the Virginia State Fair, appearing for his 26th year consecutive year as resident performer in the Heritage Village in September 2007.

In 1982 Zentz appeared on PBS's program "A Prairie Home Companion."

From 1982 to 1991, Zentz crewed on and performed in connection with Pete Seeger's

Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

 Hudson River sloop "Clearwater,"

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater

The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. is an organization based in Beacon, New York that seeks to protect the Hudson River and surrounding wetlands and waterways through advocacy and public education...

 repairing the Hudson River and spreading the word about preserving the waterways.

Festivals

In 1997, Zentz represented America and its folk traditions at the Shanty Tour in Finland. In 2002 he was an instructor at the inaugural Common Ground, Scotland and performed at the Scottish National Folk Festival. Also in 2002, he composed and performed "Ode to the Schooner Virginia" at the keel-laying ceremony at the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, and performed it again in 2004 at the launching ceremony.

In 2004, Zentz was a featured U.S. artist at the Australian National Folk Festival in Canberra and performed in Auckland and Wellington for the New Zealand Maritime Museums. Also in 2004, he was a featured performer at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held for two weeks around the Fourth of July holiday...

. Since that time Zentz has also been a regular member of the faculty each summer at Common Ground on the Hill, held at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.

Programs

In 1995, Zentz created the program, "Life of the 19th Century Mariner" for the Mariners Museum in Newport News. In 2003, Zentz was a founding member of the Outer Banks Opry. In 2004, Zentz was music consultant and performer for the multimedia theater experience, "Chesapeake Celebration." Also in 2004, he received a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to present "Music of the Chesapeake" in Virginia Schools.

Covers and Publications of Bob Zentz songs

Dozens of performers have covered his original compositions and three of them have been included in Rise Up Singing, a songbook published by Sing Out! magazine

Sing Out!

Sing Out! is a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that has been published since May 1950.-Background:Sing Out! is the primary publication of the tax exempt, not-for-profit, educational corporation of the same name...

. The three songs in Rise Up Singing are: "Sweet Song of Yesterday," "This Old Earth," and "When All Thy Names."

Awards and Honors

In 1970 won the William E. Oliver Songwriting Award in Los Angeles for the song, "Jeremy."

In 1992, received the John Sears Award for Community Service from Fest events and the City of Norfolk.

In 2004, profiled on the public television program, Virginia Currents in recognition of his contributions to music and the community, at home and abroad.

Discography

• Mirrors and Changes (1974)
• Beaucatcher Farewell
• It's About Time
• Hove-to, and Drifting . . .
• Suttlebutt/Tall Ships (With Rick Epping & Rick Lee)
• Closehauled on the Wind of a Dream (2007)
• Horizons
• Musical Virginiana Vol. 1 (with Jeanne McDougall)
• Homemade Music (with Jeanne McDougall)

• Included in compilations:
  • Rachel Carson
    Rachel Carson
    Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....
    
    Anthology (includes song, "Horizons") (2007)
  • Coastal Folk (includes song, "Horizons")
  • Ocrafolk III (includes song, "Sea Dream")
  • Thomas Point Light (includes song, "The Light from the Lighthouse" and "This Old Bay.")