I heard one of William Clauson's records back in the early Sixties and I thought he was terrific. I was strapped at the time so I didn't buy the record, and when I came back the next day, it was gone. I do know that William Clauson attended Richard Dyer-Bennet's "School of Modern Minstrelsy" in Aspen, Colorado in the late Forties. He sang around the U. S. for awhile, made a couple of recordings, then, as I understand it, he went to Sweden.

Dyer-Bennet's Swedish mentor, Sven Scholander, had either revived or had take part in a revival of the ancient minstrel tradition in the Scandinavian countries, and the word I got was that Clauson (Swedish ancestry) went to do the same thing. I don't know what became of him after that, but a google search turns up a Swedish web site that mentions a William Clauson. It's in Swedish, and although it has a link to what appears to be an English translation, when I click it, the mention of Clauson disappears. I don't speak Swedish, but I was able to transliterate a few words such as "Swedish-American troubadour and folk singer born 2 May 1930." Wish I could read the rest of it, because it looks like a fairly extensive article about him. Anyway, here's a link if you want to give it a look[SUNKIT] (which, I think, is a radio station, but I'm just guessing).

Maybe a Swedish-speaking Mudcatter could provide us with a translation!!??? Somebody? Please?

I also turned up a mention of a singer named William Clauson in Australia. And there is a William Clauson who did a record of mariachi songs (!). Is it possible that these could all be the same person? I dunno. But I'm sure curious.

Don Firth