Album Notes

Noted as a fluent instrumentalist on six and twelve string guitars, Lee Murdock combines ragtime, Irish, blues and folk styles with his flair for storytelling in songs. His musical influences span fifteen generations. Murdock began his folk career in the Chicago area in the mid 1970's, expanding his repertoire of blues and popular music as his interest in folk music and the maritime tradition grew.

While some might think that Lee Murdock's fascination with freshwater maritime music is limiting, nothing could be further from the truth! Murdock's 12 CDs are aired on radio stations in all parts of the USA, Canada, and Europe, and he has a special ability to present these songs and stories in a style that appeals to the contemporary music sensibility.

Lee's original songs are combined with some of the traditional songs of the Great Lakes mariners, collected all over North America in the 1930-1950's by University of Michigan professor Ivan Walton. Song titles such as Reuben Ranzo and Rolling Home on this CD are delightful Great Lakes variants of those well-known saltwater shanties. The verses Murdock has recorded here (and on other CDs) were actually sung by Great Lakes sailors in the 1800s.

The songbook, Windjammers, Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors, is also available at bookstores or at Lee Murdock's web site, leemurdock.com