Bob Zentz and Jeanne McDougall Zentz

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Bob Zentz & Jeanne McDougall Zentz

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Bob and Jeanne are old friends and life partners who share a love of music and history -- which they love sharing with others!

With a friendship dating back to the early 1970s, Bob and Jeanne combine his lifetime of bringing traditional music as "edu-tainment" to students of all ages, with her work as a History Ph.D. with a growing reputation for helping restore lost musical "soundscapes" and adding to an understanding of music in a historical context.

Projects include:

The Waters (2018) -- A collection of Jeanne's songs about watery places that she and partner Bob have visited and loved over the past few years ... featuring artists including Bob and Jeanne, Michael G. Ronstadt, and Serenity Fisher ... recommended for anyone who was ever curious about water, tides, wetlands, the planet … anyone who is interested in music, words, history, science, math … anyone who loves people and other animals, plants, rocks, anything in nature … brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents, babies, kids, grownups, you!

The Ramblin' Conrad Folklife Institute (2016) -- A combination of seminars, concerts, workshops, and coffeehouses using the theme "Roots and Branches: The Transmission of Tradition Through the 'Folk Process'" as a way of providing a places for all folk to explore the transmission of tradition among people, for people; preserving documents, images, books, recordings, and other artifacts of folk production; and uniting people of all cultures by sharing and exploring our rich diversity while celebrating our commonality

The Ramblin' Road Show and Homemade Hootenanny (2016) -- A colorful, jubilant re-creation of the essence of Ramblin' Conrad's Guitar Shop and Folklore Center that existed in various locations and formats in Norfolk VA from 1972-1995, nurturing the folk revival of that place and time.

“Fit to be sung in Streets:” Political song in British Colonial America, 1750-1776 (2014) – based on Jeanne’s dissertation of the same name, this program reveals the soundtrack to revolution.

Created Equal (2012-2013) – a musical setting and video adapted from the Gettysburg Address, with a study guide, for the 150th anniversary of the address, November 2013.

“The Prints They All Tell Us:” National Song Selections from 1810 to 1821 (2011) -- A collection of newspaper songs that appeared in American publications during the long war of 1812, prepared for the USC/ Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute’s symposium for The Civil War of 1812 by Alan Taylor.

Shipmates (2010-2012) -- A nautical trip through a collection of traditional and original maritime songs, with two more adaptations of nautical poetry by C. Fox Smith, including the title track.

The Day Kikotan Became Hampton (2010) -- Part of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Hampton VA, the oldest continuous English-speaking settlement in North American, this program features a "re-imagining" of musical encounters between Algonquian and Anglophonic cultures on the lower Virginia peninsula.

Homemade Music (2009) -- Based on the program Bob has taught for many years to help students of all ages to learn some of the fundamentals of music, combined with songs from Jeanne's repertoire – a gift for your family from ours.

Musical Virginiana, Vol. 1: Stories from the Rappahannock and Potomac (2008) -- Music from the previous two projects, in the first of a series of music from our home state of Virginia.

The Stingray Point Story (2008) -- A collection of original songs composed for Raynell Smith's play of the same name, written for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of John Smith's shallop at the present-day Stingray Point, Virginia, where the Rappahannock River meets the Chesapeake Bay. This project was selected to be part of the Opening Plenary Session of the American Historican Association Annual Meeting in January 2010.

It Happened at the White House (2007) -- A selection of traditional American tunes prepared for storyteller Lynn Ruehlmann's dramatic presentation of true stories of the lives of the eight Virginia presidents and their wives, near the banks of the Potomac River.

Click here to contact Bob for more information!

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