65 years a folk singer. It's what I've done, and it's who I am.
The first time I stood on a stage I was 15, with a banjo, a guitar, and a couple of friends. Folk music has been the through line of my life ever since: singing solo since I picked up a guitar at 14 to entertain my family, singing with my friend Mike McCoy since college, and with The Brothers Four since 1969. Through it all, songwriting has given me a chance to explore the world inside and out.
In this video I share the artists who lit the way for me, from Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger to Rhiannon Giddens and Our Native Daughters, and why I believe there's an ethos to folk music, the music of the people, that has helped shape who we are as a country.
I also tell the story of the summer of 1968, when I brought my guitar from Spokane, Washington to the Lower East Side of Manhattan hoping to change the world, and found a world that was about to change me.
After 65 years, I've come to believe that life is, for all of us, a love story. I may doubt that love will change the world, but I have no doubt that love is the only thing that can.
