The former lyricist and singer for a Jamestown NY rock band has solo albums with powerful settings of some folk classics

The Folk Music Hour 21-08-2022 Natalie Merchant

David Calder presents the music he loves in The Folk Music Hour, with the aim of rekindling listeners' interest in acoustic music in the Anglo-American tradition, including NZ folk song, and world folk music such as that heard at WOMAD in New Plymouth's beautiful Brookland's Park.

Almost all music has a folk origin: blues, jazz, rock and even so-called classical. As Big Bill Broonzy famously said - "all songs are folk songs; ain't never heard a horse sing!"

Arguably the first Kiwi to make a living with a mandolin, David spent some of his musical life playing bluegrass, but was performing in the folk boom as early as 1964. He was playing in Europe and the UK in the 70's, dabbling in folk rock and pop in California in the 80's, and creating a country garden in the 90's and teaching children to read.
These days, kind of retired, he is free to pursue any of the musical paths he loves: song-writing, tuition, and performance with guitar, piano, banjo, mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer, even bass; playing jazz, folk, blues and originals. Or to just kick back and listen to Bach or Grappelli ...
He is a long-standing performer of NZ folk, and maintains a love affair with US old-time music nurtured since Doc Watson's LPs first made it to these shores. A natural entertainer since his debut on radio aged six, David thinks radio is the perfect performance medium.

David Calder presents the music he loves in The Folk Music Hour, with the aim of rekindling listeners' interest in acoustic music in the Anglo-American tradition, including NZ folk song, and world folk music such as that heard at WOMAD in New Plymouth's beautiful Brookland's Park. Almost all music has a folk origin: blues, jazz, rock and even so-called classical. As Big Bill Broonzy famously said - "all songs are folk songs; ain't never heard a horse sing!" Arguably the first Kiwi to make a living with a mandolin, David spent some of his musical life playing bluegrass, but was performing in the folk boom as early as 1964. He was playing in Europe and the UK in the 70's, dabbling in folk rock and pop in California in the 80's, and creating a country garden in the 90's and teaching children to read. These days, kind of retired, he is free to pursue any of the musical paths he loves: song-writing, tuition, and performance with guitar, piano, banjo, mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer, even bass; playing jazz, folk, blues and originals. Or to just kick back and listen to Bach or Grappelli ... He is a long-standing performer of NZ folk, and maintains a love affair with US old-time music nurtured since Doc Watson's LPs first made it to these shores. A natural entertainer since his debut on radio aged six, David thinks radio is the perfect performance medium.

Share The Folk Music Hour 21-08-2022 Natalie Merchant

Sign up to save your podcasts

The Folk Music Hour 21-08-2022 Natalie Merchant

The Folk Music Hour 21-08-2022 Natalie Merchant

More shows like The Folk Music Hour

Fresh Air

In Our Time

The Bookshelf

Pod Save America

The Rest Is History

The Ezra Klein Show

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

The Rest Is Politics

The Rest Is Politics: US