A Little Bit of Background
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I got interested in folk music in the mid 40's while in high school. I started listening to recordings by Burl Ives, The Weavers and Josh White and was immediately hooked. There was an old Gibson archtop guitar that the school kept in the music room with some instructional material by Nick Lucas (how many of you remember Nick Lucas, or Nick Lucas guitar picks?). A group of us formed a folk quartet called The Midland Minstrels and started performing for the students. I started performing professionally in the mid '50's while serving in the Air Force and got involved with a jazz group as well as a country western band that played various private parties and special events in Merced, CA where I was stationed. I never knew that making a little spare cash could be so much fun. It was a great way to spend some time on the weekend and get away from life in the military.

After spending some time in college, I became involved with the folk music boom of the '60s and '70's and that was the end of my educational career. I started playing at a coffee house in San Diego called The Ballad Man (the first folk music club in San Diego county) and started hearing some of the civil rights protest songs as well as work songs by such artists as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Odetta. I soon expanded my performance schedule to include coffee houses and clubs in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.

After about fifteen years of this, my wife told me that I had to go and get A REAL JOB and I soon dropped out of the music scene altogether.

About 1988 or '89 interest in acoustic music, including folk, had a resurgence. During this period I met Bill Craig, a very talented Irish singer and musician who now makes his home in Toronto, Canada. He introduced me to a lot of new material and talent that filled in a lot of the gaps from the previous twenty years. I now perform on a regular basis at many of the coffee houses and clubs where traditional folk music is still appreciated.

If you are in the San Diego area and happen to see my name listed in the entertainment section of one of the local papers, come on by the coffee house and say hello. I have a great time at these places and I'm sure you would too.

Bill Sherman