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Performance Powerful, Hypnotic (Tampa Tribune)
Throughout a 30-year performing career, Rod MacDonald has been entertaining audiences worldwide with his timeless ballads, modern folk songs, and his musical versatility. Possessing the heart of a troubadour, the soul of a poet and the voice of a virtuoso, he is as distinctive an entertainer as he is a songwriter. Known for his passionate interest in the events that shape our world's societies, Rod is a prolific and poignant communicator who is regarded as "one of the most politically and socially aware lyricists of our time." (All Music Guide).
Rod has released 9 solo albums, and has performed at many of the world's finest clubs and major international festivals in the U.S., Europe and Canada. The first American folksinger to tour the liberated Czech Republic, Rod performed frequently at the 3-4 day Straznice Festival for audiences of 10,000, where he debuted his passionate anthem "For The People", a tribute to the newly freed Czechs. He summered with the Oglala Sioux Indians on their South Dakota reservation where he met Frank Fool's Crow, ceremonial chief and medicine healer and to whom he dedicated his 2nd album, "White Buffalo" featuring the song of the same name. Said Rod, "he is a great inspiration to me, and to everyone who knows him."
Among the more than two dozen artists who have recorded his works are Dave Van Ronk, Four Bitchin' Babes with Christine Lavin, Happy Traum and Garnet Rogers. Rod's albums "No Commercial Traffic" (re-released in 2002) and "White Buffalo" are regarded as "one of the towering achievements in modern folk music." (Boson Herald).
Born and raised in a small Connecticut town, Rod was educated at the University of Virginia and Columbia Law School. Drawn to music since childhood and artistically ambitious by nature, it was not unexpected that during his final year at Columbia, and having done a stint as a correspondent for Newsweek Magazine, he put aside all thoughts of a legal career and instead dedicated himself solely to music. Already performing since his early college days, he graduated from Columbia, never took the bar exam and remained in New York.
Rod became a major part of the 80s Greenwich Village folk renaissance, and appeared onstage with notables like Pete Seeger, Tom Chapin, Dave Van Ronk, Suzanne Vega, Doc Watson, John Gorka, and Emmylou Harris. Rod frequently headlined at New York's Speakeasy and Folk City clubs, and his uforgettable performance at The Bottom Line of what became his signature song, his "American Jerusalem", was heralded by fans and media alike as a "defining moment in folk music history".
In 2002, Smithsonian Folkways recognized Rod's considerable contribution to folk music by including 27 of his songs in their Fast Folk Musical Magazine, honoring him as one of the most heavily represented artists in the series. "MacDonald's place in the folk Hall of Fame is assured by his 'A Sailor's Prayer,' a hymn-styled tune that many people mistook for a traditional song" writes Richard Skelly of All Music Guide. The lead-off track on Smithsonian's anniversary CD featured Rod's enduring classic, "American Jerusalem", "a brilliant contrast of rich and poor, of the powerful and the powerless in Manhattan." (Mike Regenstreif-Sing Out! * Summer 2003).
Throughout his career Rod has remained a vital force in the modern folk music community. His unique eclectic brand of music transcends the typical folk genre and is infused with a reverence for life and concern for humanity, evident in lyrics that are infectious and inspiring, sometimes reckless, often evocative - and always compelling. The Boston Folk Festival wrote "Rod MacDonald is an original Greenwich Village icon-a pivotal folk singer who uses his background in law and journalism to ask the important questions of our time."
In his trademark balladeer style, Rod artfully weaves together a tapestry of journalistically insightful lyrics and poetic imagery offering up to listeners entertaining, thought-provoking honesty - and often humorously satirical commentaries on a variety of topics that invite and inspire his listeners to come to their own conclusions. Although among Rod's works are a number of captivating love songs, when his satire is turned towards politics and current events, he is at his wittiest.
Calling south Florida home since the mid-90s, Rod maintains an aggressive touring, recording and teaching schedule. As distinctive an entertainer as he is a songwriter, he continues adding to an already powerful body of works with songs that document our times and "hit all the right emotional notes", says Michael Stock of Miami's WLRN. "MacDonald approaches the genre differently from most contemporary singer-songwriters. His 'protest' songs are narratives that invite you to draw your own conclusions ... takes listeners on previously untrod paths in his unique stories." (Rich Warren-Sing Out!)
- I Will Always Think Of The Village As
My First Real Adult Home -
"I spent 20 years in Greenwich Village. It provided so much of what I wanted - a seriousness about the music, a living tradition of songwriting excellence and a wealth of brilliant people to interact with and learn from...The clubs gave me a place to develop my own style and writing, and the collective enterprises we formed brought us a higher level of recognition than was available to most of us who weren't playing disco, punk or whatever else the commercial music business was peddling. Though I feel I also have grown as an artist tremendously since moving south, I will always think of The Village as my first real adult home." (From "MacDonald fits right in at Dylan Festival"-Interview with Bob Price, New Jersey Herald)
"Although he has stayed out of the commercial mainstream ... he's considered by many to be one of the preeminent folk musicians of his time, rivaling the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen ..... something in his physical demeanor and in the way he talks about his music and the folk scene, belies the commercial pomp and circumstance ... performance powerful, hypnotic." (Scott Rupp-Brandon News/Tampa Tribune).
His newest CD, "A Tale of Two Americas", released by Wind River Records in the U.S., and Brambus Records in Europe, "provides Rod's perspective on current political and world events, along with putting to words the thoughts and feelings emanating from everyday life." Says Kevin McCarthy of Celtic Folk Music, "MacDonald has proven again here that he is a master at musically portraying the difficult issues facing this country and the world. It's also abundantly clear that MacDonald didn't head to Florida to retire. In fact, he appears to have discovered the fountain of youth. Lucky for us."
In 2003, Rod's 911 tribute, "My Neighbors In Delray", (Recognition) was selected as a Folk Category finalist in the USA Songwriting Competition. In contrast to many other 911 songs written, "Neighbors" is more of a questioning, reflective commentary, an observation of the 911 terrorists' adaptation to Florida's casual lifestyle, their easy integration into the culture, and how they unobtrusively mapped out their terrorist activities while residing only blocks away from Rod's home.
Rod also enjoys teaching "Songwriting for Self Expression", his self-styled 6-week workshop for both experienced and inexperienced songwriters. He was an instructor for Common Ground on the Hill, a two-week workshop sponsored by McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. (2004 & 2007), and has conducted workships at the New York Open Center in NYC.
Following his (3) previous 8-week lecture series "Folksinging In Modern Times", "Folksinging In Modern Times II" and "Milestones In American Music: A Personal Journey", which he taught at several Florida Atlantic University campuses, Rod begins a new lecture series in 2008 at FAU's Lifelong Learning Centers at Boca Raton, Jupiter and Vero Beach Florida campuses.
"He's a restless traveler, seeker and communicator of the truth ... and an obedient servant of his music. What more is there ?" (Arthur Wood, Acoustic Live April 2002)
Of himself and his music, Rod says ...."something to touch your heart .. something to awaken your spirit .. something to tickle your funny bone .. something to make you a little more conscious of your role in life. All of this sounds very serious, but it's really what I feel my job is."
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
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