Steve Suffet: American Folksinger
41-05 47th Street
Sunnyside, NY 11104
USA
Phone:
718-786-1533
Born Stephen Lawrence Suffet in 1947, Steve Suffet is best described as an old fashioned folksinger. His repertoire is a mixture of railroad songs, trucker songs, miner songs, cowboy songs, union songs, old time ballads, blues, ragtime, Gospel, bluegrass, topical-political songs, and whatever else tickles his fancy. He takes songs from whatever sources he wishes and then he sings them his own way, maybe rewriting the lyrics on the spot, flatting a 7th, or changing a major key to a mountain modal.
Steve also writes his own songs, sometimes set to the tunes of traditional folk songs, but more often set to an original tune written in traditional style. Some of Steve's songs have appeared in The Folk Process section of Sing Out! magazine over the years. Others can be found in The Digital Tradition on-line folk song database, as well as in the archives of the Centre for Political Song at Glasgow Caledonian University.
In the 1960s, Steve appeared at several of the legendary Broadside hoots in New York City and was a guest on Izzy Young's radio program on WBAI-FM. Back then, Steve also performed at the various pass-the-basket houses in Greenwich Village, and on warm Sunday afternoons he could be found partaking in the music making around the fountain in Washington Square Park. Steve then left the organized folk scene for nearly 30 years, playing instead at political rallies and demonstrations, campgrounds, schools, day care centers, weddings, parks, pubs, and pick-up jam sessions.
Steve returned to the organized folk scene when invited to appear at a Sis Cunningham Tribute Concert in New York City in 1997. Since then he has played gigs all around the New York City metro area, including the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, South Street Seaport, Sun Music Company, the Community Church of New York, CB's 313 Gallery, the Baggot Inn, the Bowery Poetry Club, the Yippie Museum, the Vox Pop, and the Peoples' Voice Cafe. In addition, Steve has been featured on the Songs of Freedom cable television program, has appeared in the Songs of the Spirit celebration at the Clearwater Hudson River Festival, has performed at the New England Folk Festival and at the NOMAD Folk Festival, and has led or co-led workshops for the People's Music Network, the New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club, the Philadelphia Folk Song Society, and the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. He has also appeared at the Jacob's Ladder Folk Festival in Israel.
In 2003, Steve became part of a newly formed folk group, MacDougal Street Rent Party, although he also continued to perform individually. The group dissolved in 2008, after the death of its musical director, Eric Levine.
Steve's two CDs, Now the Wheel Has Turned, and I've Been Up On the Mountain, can be ordered on-line from CD Baby. Please click here for more information. In addition, Steve's CDs are available in the United Kingdom from Four Dogs Music. Please click here for their website.
In Israel, Steve's CDs can be purchased from Ze'ev Verchovsky, bookseller, in the artists' village of Ein Hod. Phone 04-9841107 or click here to e-mail.
If you find yourself in Manchester Center, Vermont, you can purchase Steve's CDs from the Northshire Bookstore on Route 7A. Please click here to view their website. Steve's CDs are also availabe from the Alternative Bookstore at 35 North Front Street in Kingston, New York. Their phone number is 845-331-5439.
American Federation of Musicians, AFL-CIO.
Top photo by Jody Kolodzey. Bottom photo by Joel Landy.
- Link to Steve Suffet's downloadable sound files.
- Link to video of Steve Suffet performing at the 2007 Jacob's Ladder Folk Festival.
- Link to Steve Suffet's song Union Warriors.
- Link to Steve Suffet's song Troubled Waters Rising.
- Link to Steve Suffet's song Let's Organize!
- Link to MacDougal Street Rent Party website.
- Link to photos and MP3s from the 2007 Woody Guthrie Birthday Bash.
- Link to page with some of Steve Suffet's musical friends.
- Link to page with festivals and organizations.
- Link to tribute page for Eric Levine (1957-2008).
at the Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights,
Queens, New York. January 29, 2005.
E-mail:suffet@att.net
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