Biography
"A man who has chosen to make his own way, to fulfill his destiny, and to include you in his journeys."
A Few Highlights:
Florida Atlantic University Instructor
9 Albums in a 35 year international touring and recording career
Featured artist in Sing Out! 2003 early summer issue
Finalist in the 2003 USA Songwriting Competition
1st American Folksinger to tour liberated Czech Republic
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings of The Fast Folk Music Collection includes more than 20 of Rod's original compositions
Signature songs "American Jerusalem" & "Sailor's Prayer" covered by many notable artists
Featured artist in Acoustic Live April 2002
Named Best Local Acoustic Performer by The New Times Broward-Palm Beach May 2001
Named Best Acoustic Act by Best of Palm Beach November 2000 Free Press
Co-founded the Greenwich Village Folk Festival
Throughout a 35-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 performed with 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 memorable performance at The Bottom Line of what became his signature song, "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 more than 20 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 "American Jerusalem", "a brilliant contrast of rich and poor, of the powerful and the powerless in Manhattan." (Sing Out! * Summer 2003).
Throughout his career Rod has remained a vital force in the folk music world. 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 enchantingly romantic love songs, when his satire is turned towards politics and current events, he is at his wittiest.
Residing in Delray Beach, Florida, 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 NPR 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" says Rod. "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 ... something in his physical demeanor and i 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)
"A Tale of Two Americas", Rod's 2007 release 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, has twice been an instructor for Common Ground on the Hill, a two-week workshop sponsored by McDaniel College in Westminster, MD., and has conducted songwriting workshops at the New York Open Center in New York City.
Rod has just released his newest CD, "After The War", featuring the song of the same name (Fred Pohlman, copyrighted 1980 Blue Flute Music ASCAP), and "This One", Europe's version, was released in October 2008 by Brambus Records.
This is the first cd released on Blue Flute Music, Rod's own independent label, since his first release in the mid-70s, "No Commercial Traffic".
Produced by JP Bowersock, this cd brings together a top-flight band and demonstratres Rod's powerful vocals and range as a singer. While not categorically a greatest hits cd, "After The War" shows the expansiveness of Rod's career that has brought him to audiences throughout North America, Europe and Australia, and also to a rich personal life in Greenwich Village, Italy, the Czech Republic, US Native American reservations, and since 1995, south Florida, where he and his wife reside with their two young children.
"A fraction of the songs that exist in the public domain possess much more than a fleeting immediacy. MacDonald has for decades crafted in word and melody, living and breathing entities that bear repeated hearing", writes Arthur Wood in FolkWax. After three and a half decades soldiering in the trenches of folk music, Rod MacDonald has emerged with what well may be the cd of his career ... and yet, there is undoubtedly still much more to come.
Following previous 8-week lecture series including "Folksinging In Modern Times", "Folksinging In Modern Times II', "Milestones In American Music: A Personal Journey", and "Music Americana-The Roots of Rock & Roll", which he taught at Florida Atlantic University, Rod has continued to teach at several FAU campuses through their Lifelong Learning Program. In October of 2009, he begins his 8-week series "Music Americana: The Great American Songbook", which also includes special performance lectures.
"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."
Instrumentation
Rod MacDonald
Acoustic Guitar
Electric Guitar
Harmonica
Discography
After The War (US)
This One (Europe)
A Tale of Two Americas (US/Europe)
Recognition (US/Europe)
Into The Blue (US/Europe)
And Then He Woke Up (US)
Highway To Nowhere (US)
The Man On The Ledge (US)
Bring On The Lions (Europe)
White Buffalo (US/Europe)
No Commercial Traffic (US - 1983 and 2002)
To read Kevin McCarthy's review from Celtic Folk Music of "A Tale of Two Americas", go to:
http://www.icogitate.com/~celticfolkmusic/fr-RodMacDonald2.htm.
To read Arthur Wood's review from FolkWax, go to:
http://www.visnat.com. Wait for the FolkWax icon to appear.
Links
| http://www.rodmacdonald.net |
| Smoke-Video from Broward PAC June 2009 |
| American Jerusalem-Video-Broward PAC |
| Reverbnation |
| My Space |
| Concerts In Your Home |