Woods Tea Company is an American folk music group based in Vermont. They perform a wide variety of songs, including sea shanties

Sea shanty

A shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...

, folk songs, Irish drinking songs, and Celtic music. The group is known for their energy, musical talent, and their dry sense of humor between songs.

History

Woods Tea Company was started in 1981 in Burlington, Vermont

Burlington, Vermont

Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....

 by Bruce Morgan and Rusty Jacobs. The band got its name from a wooden storage box owned by Jacobs that had "Woods Tea Co." printed on its side. Mike Lussen joined the band several years later.

Bruce Morgan left the band in the late 1980s. Howard Wooden officially joined the band in 1992, and Tom MacKenzie followed a year later. In 2000, MacKenzie left the band, and was replaced by Chip Chase.

The band became a regular feature at Colgate University

Colgate University

Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...

, where the students knew the band's material. Between songs, students often shout 'Arrgh!' to poke fun at the group's sea shanties. To honor this, MacKenzie wrote a song called "Aargh!" for the students.

The band suffered several losses in its third decade. On October 6, 2006, Chase died from a massive pulmonary embolism. He had been hit by a pickup truck while riding his motorcycle several weeks earlier. A year later, on August 15, 2007, Jacobs died of a heart attack.

Following the deaths, MacKenzie started touring with the group, and eventually rejoined the band full-time. In late 2008, Patti Casey became the band's newest member. In June of, 2010 Mike Lussen retired from the group.

Members

There are currently three members of Woods Tea Company:

• Howard Wooden - vocals, guitar, bass, bodhran
• Tom MacKenzie - vocals, hammered dulcimer
  Hammered dulcimer
  The hammered dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. Typically, the hammered dulcimer is set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who holds small mallet hammers in each hand to strike the strings...
  
  , guitar, banjo, keyboards, ukelele
• Patti Casey - vocals, guitar, penny whistle, flute, bodhran

Former Members

• Mike Lussen - vocals, 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...
  
  , guitar, bouzouki
  Bouzouki
  The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
  
  , bodhran
• Bruce Morgan - Vocals, guitar, mandolin, concertina
• (D) Chip Chase - vocals, fiddle
  Fiddle
  The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
  
  , guitar, mandolin, banjo, bodhran
• (D) Rusty Jacobs - vocals, guitar, tin whistle

1995 - Side By Each

1. Irish Rain
2. Lazy
3. Clam Flats / Oyster River / The Bridge / Mud Walk
4. Spotted Pony / Sugar Hill
5. She Was
6. Wayfaring Stranger
7. Roll the Old Chariot / Green Willis
8. Home Sweet Home
9. April Wood
10. Three Fishers
    Three Fishers
    "Three Fishers" is a poem and a folk song written in 1851. The original poem was written by English poet, novelist and preacher, Charles Kingsley. It was first set to music by English composer John Hullah shortly thereafter...
    
    
11. Petticoat Whalers / Nantucket Sleigh Ride
12. Chilly Winds
13. The Trip
14. Daughters and Sons

1999 - The Wood's Tea Co. - Live!

1. Daughters & Sons
2. The Wild Rover
   The Wild Rover
   The Wild Rover is a popular folk song whose origins are contested.According to Professor T. M. Devine in his book The Scottish Nation 1700 - 2000 the song was written as a temperance song. The song is found printed in a book, The American Songster, printed in the USA by W.A...
   
   
3. Banks of Newfoundland
4. Wee Wee
5. Jenny Glenn
6. The Scotsman's Kilt
7. The Folker
   The Boxer
   "The Boxer" is a folk rock ballad written by Paul Simon in 1968 and first recorded by Simon & Garfunkel. It was released as the follow-up single to their number one hit "Mrs. Robinson", and reached #7 in the US charts. It later appeared on their last studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, along...
   
   
8. 'Aargh!'
9. Here I Am
10. Blarney Pilgrim / Morpeth Rant
11. Roll the Old Chariots
12. The Dutchman
    The Dutchman
    "The Dutchman" is a song written by Michael Peter Smith in 1968 and popularized by Steve Goodman. At the time Smith wrote the song, he had never visited the Netherlands....
    
    
13. Foolish Questions
14. Alberta Bound
15. The Cat Came Back
16. Finnegan's Wake
    Finnegan's Wake
    "Finnegan's Wake" is a ballad that arose in the 1850s in the music-hall tradition of comical Irish songs. The song is a staple of the Irish folk-music group, The Dubliners, who have played it on many occasions and included it on several albums, and is especially well known to fans of The Clancy...
    
    
17. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
    Over the Rainbow
    "Over the Rainbow" is a classic Academy Award-winning ballad song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. It was written for the movie The Wizard of Oz, and was sung by Judy Garland in the movie...
    
    
18. There Were Roses
19. Sandy River Bell / Soldiers Joy

2001 - This Side of the Sea

1. Haul Away Joe
2. St. Patrick's Day in America
3. The Fireman
4. Unst Wedding March
5. The High Cost of Living
6. This Side of the Sea
7. The Morning Comes Early
8. Farewell
9. The Bullgine
10. She Loves the Rain
11. Little Birdie
12. Ode to New Jersey
13. Planxty Fanny Powers
14. Bedford Harbor
15. Lift & Tow

2003 - Standing Room Only

1. Lonesome Traveller
2. The Country Life
3. Morning on the Clam Flats / Oyster River
4. Girl of My Dreams
5. Inspirational Moment
6. RH Intro
7. Robin Hood (written by first-graders in Burlington, Vermont
   Burlington, Vermont
   Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
   
   )
8. Olympic Audience Judging
9. Lament for Henriette / St. Anne's Reel / Soldier's Joy
10. Sweet Appreciation
11. 18 Again
12. Where Am I To Go
13. Santuario
14. Rock / O'Keef's Slide / Lord of The Dance
15. The Schooner I'm Alone
16. Don't Pet the Dog
17. Give Me Just a Little More Time
18. This Land is Your Land
19. Speed The Plow / Mason's Apron / Devil's Dream
20. Rolling Home

2007 - The Passage

1. The Passage / Whistle Jump
2. All The Hard Days Are Gone
3. December's Child
4. Sink The Cheerio
5. My Monday
6. Before They Close The Minstrel Show
7. The Coal Town Road
8. Lovell the Robber
9. The Old Dun Cow
10. For Rusty
11. Reuben James
12. Round The Bend
13. Gin Ye Marry Me or Birnie Bouzle
14. On Board the Saratoga
15. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / O'Carolyn Tune
16. The Waterfall

2009 - A Lively Evening with The Woods Tea Co.

This album was released on February 20, 2009 as a DVD and CD combo.

1. Where Am I To Go?
2. The Old Dun Cow / Star of Munster / Temperance Reel
3. The Remember Song
4. Down From Canada
5. The Wild Rover
   The Wild Rover
   The Wild Rover is a popular folk song whose origins are contested.According to Professor T. M. Devine in his book The Scottish Nation 1700 - 2000 the song was written as a temperance song. The song is found printed in a book, The American Songster, printed in the USA by W.A...
   
   
6. Glencoe Schottische / Lord Of The Dance
7. Little Birdie
8. Sink The Cheerio
9. Ghost Of Pekin Brook
10. The High Cost of Living
11. Handsome Patrick
12. Sandy River Belle / Soldier's Joy
13. Old Man
14. This Little Light Of Mine
    This Little Light of Mine
    "This Little Light of Mine" is a gospel children's song written by Harry Dixon Loes in about 1920. Loes, who studied at the Moody Bible Institute and the American Conservatory of Music, was a musical composer, and teacher, who wrote, and co-wrote, several other gospel songs. The song has since...
    
    
15. Rolling Home
16. Patti's Dance

2010 - 10 For 10

This album was released at various times during 2010 for $10, and it has 10 songs on it, hence the name. It is the first CD released without Mike Lussen.

1. Star of the County Down
2. The Silver Caravan
3. Give Me Just a Little More Time
4. Gander In the Stubble
5. Ste Joseph / Girl With the Blue Dress/Ste Antoine
6. Spotted Pony / Sugar Hill
7. Into This Night
8. Old Woman / Ten Penny Bit
9. The Grey Funnel Line
10. The Dog's Complaint