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Listen to Bill Staines, watch music videos, read bio, see tour dates & more!

Bill Staines

Singer/Songwriter

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Top Songs By Bill Staines

Listen to River by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
RiverBill Staines
Listen to The Logging Song by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
The Logging SongBill Staines
Listen to A Place In the Choir by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
A Place In the ChoirBill Staines
Listen to The Fox by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
The FoxBill Staines
Listen to The Happy Wanderer by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
The Happy WandererBill Staines
Listen to The Roseville Fair by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
The Roseville FairBill Staines
Listen to Piney River Girl by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
Piney River GirlBill Staines
Listen to The Philosopher's Song by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
The Philosopher's SongBill Staines
Listen to Child of Mine by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
Child of MineBill Staines
Listen to Missouri Road Song by Bill Staines, see lyrics, music video & more!
Missouri Road SongBill Staines

More albums from Bill Staines

Listen to Beneath Some Lucky Star by Bill Staines
ALBUMBeneath Some Lucky StarBill Staines
Listen to Old Dogs by Bill Staines
ALBUMOld DogsBill Staines
Listen to Journey Home by Bill Staines
ALBUMJourney HomeBill Staines
Listen to October's Hill by Bill Staines
ALBUMOctober's HillBill Staines
Listen to One More River by Bill Staines
ALBUMOne More RiverBill Staines
Listen to Looking for the Wind by Bill Staines
ALBUMLooking for the WindBill Staines
Listen to Going to the West by Bill Staines
ALBUMGoing to the WestBill Staines
Listen to The Happy Wanderer by Bill Staines
ALBUMThe Happy WandererBill Staines
Listen to Tracks And Trails by Bill Staines
ALBUMTracks And TrailsBill Staines
Listen to Bridges by Bill Staines
ALBUMBridgesBill Staines
Listen to The Whistle of the Jay by Bill Staines
ALBUMThe Whistle of the JayBill Staines
Listen to Just Play One Tune More by Bill Staines
ALBUMJust Play One Tune MoreBill Staines

About Bill Staines

Listen to Bill Staines, watch music videos, read bio, see tour dates & more!
Hometown
Medford, MA, United States
Born
February 6, 1947
Genre
Singer/Songwriter
The American landscape has been a major theme for New Hampshire-based singer/songwriter Bill Staines. His songs have captured the beauty of rivers, mountains, and the open space of the American West. Staines' ability to write songs that seem like traditional folk tunes has made him a favorite source of new material. His original tunes, including "The Roseville Fair," "River," "Wild, Wild Heart," "Yellowstone Winds," and "A Place in the Choir (All God's Critters)," have been covered by artists such as Nanci Griffith, Jerry Jeff Walker, Grandpa Jones, Fairport Convention, Priscilla Herdman, Gordon Bok, and Mason Williams. Although his country-folk songs reflect on the personalities, lifestyle, and environment of such places as Wyoming, Colorado, and Alaska, Staines hails from Lexington, Massachusetts, a small city northwest of Boston. As a teenager, Staines was heavily inspired by the folk scene in Boston and Cambridge in the early '60s. Together with a junior high school friend, Dick Curtis, and his younger brother, John, who later played with the Pousette-Dart Band, Staines formed a folk band, the Green Mountain Boys. Although the Curtis brothers preferred old-timey string music and bluegrass, Staines remained tied to romantic folk ballads. He later organized and ran a student folk music coffeehouse, The Barn, at Lexington High School. The experience prepared him for hosting of a weekly open mic hootenanny at the folk music venue Club 47 in Harvard Square. Staines gained popularity as a songwriter when Randy Burns & the Skydog Band recorded his first original song, "That's the Way It's Going to Go in Time," in 1966. He released his debut album, Bag of Rainbows, the same year. Staines initially attracted national attention with his yodeling. In 1975, he won the prestigious National Yodeling Championship at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas. His album Miles, released the following year, included the heartfelt ballad "Sweet Wyoming Home." A self-taught fingerstyle acoustic guitarist, Staines was heavily influenced by the playing of Jackie Washington, a regular performer at Club 47, and Tom Paxton. Staines uses a right-handed Martin D-18 guitar that he turns over and plays left-handed. Staines has been increasingly inspired by his experiences as an amateur pilot. His 1995 album Looking for the Wind included several aviation-themed songs, including "Bill Hosie," about an airplane builder, and "Song for Tingmissartaq," written for Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. In 1993, Staines composed The Alaska Suite, a 15-tune instrumental suite for strings and brass that was inspired by his many flights to Alaska. Staines' song "A Place in the Choir (All God's Critters)" has become a children's music classic. In the '80s, Staines periodically performed with the Passim All-Stars, an informal folk group that also included Mason Daring, Jeanie Stahl, Billy Novick, and Guy Van Duser. In 1993, he released an album of children's songs, The Happy Wanderer on the Red House Records label, that included "The Hound Dog Song" and "I Can Feel the Sweet Winds Blowing (Bless My Soul)" as well as interpretations of "Home on the Range," "The Gypsy Rover," and "Kookaburra." Staines continued recording for Red House during the remainder of the '90s and into the 21st century, releasing such albums as Going to the West (1993), the aforementioned Looking for the Wind (1995), One More River (1998), October’s Hill (2000), Journey Home (2004), and Old Dogs (2007). Staines' songs have been featured in the songbooks If I Were a Word Then I'd Be a Song (Folk-Legacy, 1980), All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir (Puffin, 1989), River (Viking, 1993), and Music to Me (Hal Leonard, 1994). Bill Staines died on December 5, 2021 due to prostate cancer; he was 74 years old. ~ Craig Harris

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