John Roberts is an English musician residing in Schenectady, New York

Schenectady, New York

Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...

.

He is best known for his musical collaborations with Tony Barrand

Tony Barrand

Dr. Anthony Grant Barrand is an academic and musician residing in Brattleboro, Vermont. He is Professor of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, where his courses include "Stalking the Wild Mind: The Psychology and Folklore of Extra-Sensory Perception and Psychic...

. As Roberts and Barrand

Roberts and Barrand

Roberts and Barrand is a musical group formed in 1969 by John Roberts and Tony Barrand while they were graduate students in psychology at Cornell University...

, they perform a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 and accompanied performances of traditional English folk music. They also perform and record fare such as sea shanties

Sea Shanties

Sea Shanties is the debut album of Progressive Rock band High Tide. The cover artwork was drawn by Paul Whitehead.-Production:Denny Gerrard produced Sea Shanties in return for High Tide acting as the backing band on his solo album Sinister Morning...

 of the North Atlantic, and an album of traditional drinking songs. The duo is also half of the related act Nowell Sing We Clear

Nowell Sing We Clear

Nowell Sing We Clear is a four member musical group that performs an annual yuletide concert series. They have also released a series of related albums.The concerts consist of yuletide stories and music, and often include a Mummers Play.-Members:...

—which in addition to a number of albums—performs an annual yuletide concert series.

Born in England, Roberts moved to the United States to study graduate level psychology at Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, where he formed his ongoing music partnership with Tony Barrand.

Roberts also has a solo career, is a member of the trio Ye Mariners All (with John Rockwell and Larry Young), and performs regularly with upstate New York's Broken String Band.

Solo

Sea Fever (2003) Golden Hind Music

1. "Campañero"
2. "Diego's Bold Shore"
3. "The Bonny Ship the Diamond"
4. "Candlelight Fisherman"
5. "Farewell Nancy"
6. "The Weeping Willow Tree"
7. "The Boatman's Cure"
8. "Short Jacket and White Trousers"
9. "Sir Patrick Spens"
10. "Let the Bulgine Run/Sally in the Garden/Hog-Eye Man"
11. "The Black Cook"
12. "The Saucy Sailor"
13. "The Old Figurehead Carver"
14. "What Fortunes Guide a Sailor/Leave Her Johnny"

Ye Mariners All

Songs of the Sea (2003) Golden Hind Music

1. "The 'Fame' of Salem"
2. "Marcherot"
3. "The Steam Packet"
4. "Wings of a Goney"
5. "Pique la Baleine"
6. "Three Jolly Fishermen"
7. "Jack Robinson"
8. "Old Billy Riley-O"
9. "Hourra les Filles"
10. "Serafina"
11. "Rolling Down to Old Maui"
12. "Yangtse River Chantey"
13. "The 'Balaena'"
14. "Hullabaloo Belay"
15. "You Gentlemen of Boston"
16. "Nantucket Point/Off She Goes"
17. "Noah's Ark Chantey"
18. "The 'Jamestown' Homeward Bound"

Roberts and Barrand

• Spencer the Rover is Alive and Well… (1971, 2001)
• Across the Western Ocean (1973, 2000)
• Mellow With Ale From the Horn (1975)
• Dark Ships in the Forest (1977, 1997)
• Live at Holsteins! (1983)
• A Present from the Gentlemen (1992)
• Naulakha Redux (1997)
• Heartoutbursts (1998)
• Twiddlum Twaddlum (2003)

Nowell Sing We Clear

• Nowell Sing We Clear (1977)
• To Welcome In The Spring (1980)
• The Second Nowell (1981)
• Nowell Sing We Clear, Vol. 3 (1985)
• Nowell Sing We Four (1988)
• the best of Nowell Sing We Clear 1975–1986 (1989)
• Hail Smiling Morn! (1995)
• Just Say Nowell (2000)
• Nowell Nowell Nowell! (2008)

External links

• Roberts and Barrand homepage
• Golden Hind Music (official site)