This is a fascinating thread, so many fine names!

If I'm naming names I probably could name most of the ones mentioned above but who are the ones that have most to do with what I'm singing now? Well, that's a smaller group.

First, there's my family friends Bill and Gene Bonyun who taught me the joy of singing together for fun, along with my parents. There was Pete Seeger and Malvina Reynolds who demonstrated what one could sing for topical songs. There was also Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger for political songs and traditional songs. There was Obray Ramsey for traditional Appalachian songs. There was the incredible Utah Phillips for great songs which were also political. There was Stan Hugill for the nautical songs. There was Danny McLeod whor introducied me to the the nautical poetry of C. Fox Smith. There's the Roaring Forties from Australia who introduced me to the poems of Henry Lawson and the fine songs of John Warner. There's the Pretty Shaky String Band of East Lansing who introduced me to contradance tunes which I'm still recycling. There's a whole crew of nautical singers who I've met via the Mystic Sea Music Festival and the Press Room monthly gatherings. And I think Gordon Bok, Stan Rogers, and Jez Lowe also are musical references, musicians that I compare what I do with.

There's also the members of Roll & Go who I've worked with for over 15 years. We generally have had six members but at least 20 people have actually cycled through our group.

And there's also members of Mudcat that have had an impact on what I do.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble