Sorry I've been out of the loop on this one. I sang with Walt Robertson back in the dark ages in Seattle. Met him just after he got back from his hitch in the Army. He got himself a beautiful Pietro Carbone 12-string guitar while he was in New York. I remember him telling about Pietro making him sing while playing it, just to be sure he had enough voice to sing over it, before he'd agree to sell it to him. Then he crossed the country on his motorcycle with that precious instrument slung across his back!

I was living in a houseboat on Portage Bay and we had some fine song swaps there. I learned "Acres of Clams," "The Housewife's Lament," "My Old Man was a Man Like Lincoln," and many other songs from Walt. For me, he was a real goldmine and a cherished friend.

When I decided to leave Seattle, he volunteered to sing at the auction/party we threw to help raise money for my trip to New York. Another friend acted as auctioneer, and we sold all of my paintings to friends who gatheered for the great send-off. Walt must have done three sets for us that night. I guess this was just before he began doing his 15-minute folksong program on KING-TV, because I heard about it, but never saw it.

Some twenty years later, Walt came through here and stayed with us at Folk-Legacy. Caroline and I were doing a gig at the Sounding Board and took Walt along as our guest artist. He had been working as a newspaper editor (was it in Vancouver, Washington?), and had not been doing much music in the interim. Mostly he was doing the good old songs we had shared in Seattle, plus a couple of his own creation.

I was very sorry I couldn't make it to Seattle for the "celebration of his life" after he died. He played a very important part in my growing interest in folksong at a critical point in my life. Probably had more to do with the direction my life finally took that I recognized at the time. I sure am glad that Bob has his song notes, and that I now know who "deckman" is!

By the way, James Stevens also wrote some pretty good "proletarian" novels. I've just picked up a copy of Big Jim Turner, partly because one chapter describes his meeting with Joe Hill. Haven't read it all yet, but... so many other things to be done!

Sandy (remembering the good old days)