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For those of you who don't already know us, we're a group of friends with years of individual
performance experience who found ourselves with strong opinions about folk music, and no place to play it. So we made one.
We also have strong opinions about politics, health, spirituality, beer, women, and free
speech, but you didn't ask about that.
We're based out of San Francisco, the birthplace of many strange ideas and nautical traditions.
We perform primarilly traditional American and English Maritime music, with the occasional nod to some of our other roots. Having our
own perspective on performing traditional music, we figure we fit right in.
What the heck are "Ratlines" anyway?
Ratlines are the rungs between the shrouds used for going aloft. The ladder like structure you see in old sailing ships.
The "shrouds" are the major side stays of a mast; "stays" are the lines that support the mast.
If "Salty Walt" is the driving force, the fellas who rattle all around him also support him.
Aren't you glad you asked?
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Who's Walt Anyway?
Walt himself comes from an education background, and never considered himself a "performer." 8 years in San Francisco
later he's had to face facts and come to grips with it. Even though it's been a while since he's worked in Living History,
or for the SF Maritime Museum, education is never far from his heart, so he considers it important to know what
work the songs were used for, the stories behind them, and in what ways the group has taken liberties with them. And he'll
tell you if you don't move quickly enough.
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| Three of us haunting "the Castle" |
What do you mean "Maritime Music" anyway?
There really are enough sites that deal with this. Well.
But, since you asked: The most concise way to put it is:
"Maritime Music" mostly covers three types of folk music:
1)Sea Chanteys- Songs sung
by sailors to help them get work done.
2)Forebitters- Songs created or altered by sailors
sung when off duty.
3)Sea Music- Songs in the style of sailor songs,
usually about the sea and probably written by landlubber folkies. The best of these usually are not.
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