Mr. Chase was an imposing figure at the first University Of Chicago Folk Festival in 1961. An old gentleman with a long gnarled walking stick in a leather cape---not unlike Gandalf 45 years later. I got to talk with him extensively walking around that campus in the cold air of February before global warming had taken hold. His tall tales, then, helped me onto that path to becoming a decent "liar" myself.

His LP album for the Tradition Records label---alternating tracks with Paul Clayton and Jean Ritchie, is still a huge favorite of mine---as is the one Sandy Paton and Lee Haggerty issued of Richard Chase on Folk Legacy Records.

If there is a booklet to go with the Richard Chase CD that, I'm sure, is now available from Folk Legacy, you can get the notes from Sandy at www.folklegacy.com for a dollar or two at most.

Art Thieme