Rod MacDonald
Encyclopedia
Rod MacDonald is an American
folk
singer/songwriter. He was a "big part of the 1980s folk revival in Greenwich Village
clubs," performing at the Speakeasy, The Bottom Line, Folk City, and the Songwriter's Exchange at the Cornelia Street Cafe
for many years. He co-founded the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. He is perhaps best known for his songs "American Jerusalem", about the "contrast between the rich and the poor in Manhattan" (Sing Out!
), "A Sailor's Prayer", "Coming of the Snow", "Every Living Thing", and "My Neighbors In Delray", a description of the 9/11 hijackers' last days in Delray Beach, FL, where MacDonald has lived since 1995. His songs have been covered by Dave Van Ronk
, Shawn Colvin
, Four Bitchin' Babes
, Jonathan Edwards
, Garnet Rogers
, and others.
A self-proclaimed non-commercial artist, MacDonald has released 10 solo recordings on several record labels in the US, 8 in Europe on the Swiss label Brambus, and 21 songs with Smithsonian Folkways
(through the Fast Folk Musical Magazine). As with many independent artists, his recordings are often sold directly at concerts, with no definitive sales figures. He has appeared onstage with fellow artists, including Pete Seeger
, Peter Yarrow
, Odetta
, Tom Paxton
, the Violent Femmes, Suzanne Vega
, Shawn Colvin
, Dave Van Ronk
, Emmylou Harris
, Richie Havens
, Ani DiFranco
, Tom Chapin
, Jack Hardy
and David Massengill
. He has performed at the Philadelphia, Winnipeg, Florida, South Florida, Riverhawk, Boston, Kerrville, Greenwich Village, Port Fairy (Australia) and Trowbridge (UK) festivals, and on the radio program Mountain Stage
. He was reportedly the first American singer to tour the newly-liberated Czech Republic in 1991, and has made 35 tours in Europe since 1985, nearly all of them with NYC bassist Mark Dann.
A tenor with a clear voice and wide range, MacDonald is often cited for both his musicality and the content of his songs about political and social events: “Rod MacDonald is a brilliant folk singer and composer. His melodic songs possess words that go straight into your heart and soul.” The Press Of Atlantic City
....“A poet with a lot on his mind who has never allowed himself to make points at the expense of making music.” Boston Globe....“True to the folk tradition, MacDonald is not afraid to get political, take chances, and perhaps shock some people....MacDonald's place in the folk hall of fame is assured by his 'A Sailor's Prayer,' a hymn-styled tune that many people have mistaken for a traditional song.” All-Music Guide. Although usually labeled a folk singer, his musical styles include rock, pop, country, light jazz, and blues. In addition to his work in Greenwich Village, he has written extensively of experiences on US Indian reservations and in Europe, living in Italy from 1989-1992. His 1985 recording "White Buffalo" is dedicated to Lakota Sioux ceremonial chief and healer Frank Fools Crow
, whom he visited in 1981 and 1985, and who appears with MacDonald in the cover photograph.
MacDonald began his musical education as a slide trombonist at 11, switching to guitar in his mid-teens as he learned the popular 1960s folk songs. He attended the University of Virginia
, where he was managing editor of the student newspaper The Cavalier Daily
and toured statewide with the five-piece folk group The Lovin' Sound. Graduating in 1970 with a degree in history
, he attended Columbia Law School
and joined the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy
. He worked summers as a reporter for the Hartford Courant in 1969 and Newsweek
in Atlanta (1970) and Washington, DC (1971), for whom he covered the Pentagon Papers trial. In 1972, while at Officer's Training School in Newport, RI, he began working as a solo singer/guitarist at the waterfont bar, The Black Pearl, on a nightly basis. He was honorably discharged as a conscientious objector in August 1972. He graduated school in 1973 but did not take the bar exam, instead continuing his professional career in music.
After two decades in Greenwich Village, MacDonald moved to south Florida in 1995. Currently living in Delray Beach, FL with wife Nicole Hitz, of Chur, Switzerland, and daughters Ella and Alena, he remains active, touring in Florida, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Pacific NW, New York and New England in 2011. In May 2011 Brambus Records and Blue Flute Music released "Songs Of Freedom," a collection of 16 previously unreleased songs, in Switzerland and the US; Blue Flute also released Big Brass Bed's "Dylan Jam + 2", a new set of 9 Bob Dylan
compositions and 2 originals. He appears locally as a guitarist/vocalist with the Bob Dylan
cover band, Big Brass Bed, with Irish singer Tracy Sands, with songwriter George Goehring's show "My Life In The Brill Building," and solo. The Palm Beach Post
has called him one of the "Ten Magnificent Musicians of Palm Beach County." Since 2006 he is also an instructor for the Florida Atlantic University
(Lifelong Learning Center), hosting the lecture and performance series "Music Americana."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
singer/songwriter. He was a "big part of the 1980s folk revival in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
clubs," performing at the Speakeasy, The Bottom Line, Folk City, and the Songwriter's Exchange at the Cornelia Street Cafe
Cornelia Street Cafe
The Cornelia Street Cafe, in New York City's Greenwich Village, first opened its doors in July 1977. It quickly became a magnet for the artistic and highly creative folk who loved their art just off the beaten path. On any given night, one might hear writers, poets, or musicians, spilling their...
for many years. He co-founded the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. He is perhaps best known for his songs "American Jerusalem", about the "contrast between the rich and the poor in Manhattan" (Sing Out!
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...
), "A Sailor's Prayer", "Coming of the Snow", "Every Living Thing", and "My Neighbors In Delray", a description of the 9/11 hijackers' last days in Delray Beach, FL, where MacDonald has lived since 1995. His songs have been covered by Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
, Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
, Four Bitchin' Babes
Four Bitchin' Babes
The Four Bitchin' Babes is a group of female singer-songwriters with rotating membership, performing mainly humorous, satirical or light-hearted songs in the folk genre. The group was described as "slyly outre" writing songs about the "humorous satire of everyday life" with an "inherent charm"...
, Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards was a preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans. Edwards "is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian," and one of America's greatest intellectuals...
, Garnet Rogers
Garnet Rogers
Garnet Rogers is a Canadian folk musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He began his professional career working with his brother, folk musician Stan Rogers, and arranging Stan's music.-Career:...
, and others.
A self-proclaimed non-commercial artist, MacDonald has released 10 solo recordings on several record labels in the US, 8 in Europe on the Swiss label Brambus, and 21 songs with Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
(through the Fast Folk Musical Magazine). As with many independent artists, his recordings are often sold directly at concerts, with no definitive sales figures. He has appeared onstage with fellow artists, including Pete Seeger
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...
, Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon"...
, Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
, Tom Paxton
Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...
, the Violent Femmes, Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Nadine Vega is an American songwriter and singer known for her eclectic folk-inspired music.Two of Vega's songs reached the top 10 of various international chart listings: "Luka" and "Tom's Diner"...
, Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
, Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
, Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
, Tom Chapin
Tom Chapin
Tom Chapin is a Grammy Award-winning American musician, entertainer, singer-songwriter and storyteller.-Biography:Chapin attended State University of New York at Plattsburgh and graduated in 1966. From 1971-1976, he hosted a TV show called Make a Wish...
, Jack Hardy
Jack Hardy
Jackson Alexander Hardy was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was the mayor of St. Vital, and served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1969 to 1971 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party....
and David Massengill
David Massengill
David Massengill is an American folk singer/songwriter, guitar and appalachian dulcimer player. His best-known songs include "On The Road to Fairfax County," recorded by The Roches and by Joan Baez, "The Great American Dream," and "My Name Joe," about an illegal immigrant restaurant worker...
. He has performed at the Philadelphia, Winnipeg, Florida, South Florida, Riverhawk, Boston, Kerrville, Greenwich Village, Port Fairy (Australia) and Trowbridge (UK) festivals, and on the radio program Mountain Stage
Mountain Stage
Mountain Stage is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by WV Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio and the Voice of America's satellite radio service. Hosted by Larry Groce, the program showcases diverse music, from the traditional to modern...
. He was reportedly the first American singer to tour the newly-liberated Czech Republic in 1991, and has made 35 tours in Europe since 1985, nearly all of them with NYC bassist Mark Dann.
A tenor with a clear voice and wide range, MacDonald is often cited for both his musicality and the content of his songs about political and social events: “Rod MacDonald is a brilliant folk singer and composer. His melodic songs possess words that go straight into your heart and soul.” The Press Of Atlantic City
The Press of Atlantic City
The Press of Atlantic City is a daily newspaper based in Pleasantville, New Jersey. It is the primary newspaper for most of southeastern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore, publishing regional editions for Atlantic County, Cumberland County, Cape May County, and southern Ocean County...
....“A poet with a lot on his mind who has never allowed himself to make points at the expense of making music.” Boston Globe....“True to the folk tradition, MacDonald is not afraid to get political, take chances, and perhaps shock some people....MacDonald's place in the folk hall of fame is assured by his 'A Sailor's Prayer,' a hymn-styled tune that many people have mistaken for a traditional song.” All-Music Guide. Although usually labeled a folk singer, his musical styles include rock, pop, country, light jazz, and blues. In addition to his work in Greenwich Village, he has written extensively of experiences on US Indian reservations and in Europe, living in Italy from 1989-1992. His 1985 recording "White Buffalo" is dedicated to Lakota Sioux ceremonial chief and healer Frank Fools Crow
Frank Fools Crow
Frank Fools Crow was a Lakota Sioux spiritual leader, Yuwipi medicine man, and the nephew of Black Elk. He was instrumental in negotiating the end of the insurrection at Wounded Knee in 1973 and the subject of a biography by Thomas Mails.-Life:...
, whom he visited in 1981 and 1985, and who appears with MacDonald in the cover photograph.
MacDonald began his musical education as a slide trombonist at 11, switching to guitar in his mid-teens as he learned the popular 1960s folk songs. He attended the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, where he was managing editor of the student newspaper The Cavalier Daily
The Cavalier Daily
The Cavalier Daily is the fully independent student-run newspaper at the University of Virginia, founded in 1890. It is the oldest daily college newspaper in Virginia and the oldest newspaper in Charlottesville, Virginia...
and toured statewide with the five-piece folk group The Lovin' Sound. Graduating in 1970 with a degree in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, he attended Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
and joined the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy
Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy
The Judge Advocate General's Corps also known as the "JAG Corps" or "JAG" is the legal arm of the United States Navy. Today, the corps consists of a worldwide organization of more than 730 Judge Advocates, 30 limited duty officers , 500 enlisted members and nearly 275 civilian personnel, serving...
. He worked summers as a reporter for the Hartford Courant in 1969 and Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
in Atlanta (1970) and Washington, DC (1971), for whom he covered the Pentagon Papers trial. In 1972, while at Officer's Training School in Newport, RI, he began working as a solo singer/guitarist at the waterfont bar, The Black Pearl, on a nightly basis. He was honorably discharged as a conscientious objector in August 1972. He graduated school in 1973 but did not take the bar exam, instead continuing his professional career in music.
After two decades in Greenwich Village, MacDonald moved to south Florida in 1995. Currently living in Delray Beach, FL with wife Nicole Hitz, of Chur, Switzerland, and daughters Ella and Alena, he remains active, touring in Florida, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Pacific NW, New York and New England in 2011. In May 2011 Brambus Records and Blue Flute Music released "Songs Of Freedom," a collection of 16 previously unreleased songs, in Switzerland and the US; Blue Flute also released Big Brass Bed's "Dylan Jam + 2", a new set of 9 Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
compositions and 2 originals. He appears locally as a guitarist/vocalist with the Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
cover band, Big Brass Bed, with Irish singer Tracy Sands, with songwriter George Goehring's show "My Life In The Brill Building," and solo. The Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach Post is a major daily newspaper in Florida, serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and the Treasure Coast area. It is the 72nd largest daily newspaper in the United States and the sixth largest in Florida.-History:...
has called him one of the "Ten Magnificent Musicians of Palm Beach County." Since 2006 he is also an instructor for the Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University, also referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a public, coeducational, research university located in , United States. The university has six satellite campuses located in the Florida cities of Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie, and in Fort...
(Lifelong Learning Center), hosting the lecture and performance series "Music Americana."
Discography
- No Commercial Traffic (1983)
- White Buffalo (1985)
- Highway to Nowhere (1992)
- Man on the Ledge (1994)
- And Then He Woke Up (1996)
- Into the Blue (1999)
- Recognition (2002)
- Big Brass Bed: A Few Dylan Songs (2003) (band album of Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
coversCover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
) - A Tale of Two Americas (2005)
- After The War (2009)
- Songs Of Freedom (2011)
- Big Brass Bed: Dylan Jam + 2 (2011) (band album of 9 Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
coversCover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
plus 2 originals)