Backgrounder: Folk-Legacy Records

Folk-Legacy Records is an independent recording company specializing in traditional and contemporary folk music of the English-speaking world. It was founded in 1961 by Sandy and Caroline Paton along with the late Lee Baker Haggerty. Since the passing of Sandy Paton in July 2009, Caroline continues to run the business with sons David and Rob Paton.

Over the past five decades, Folk-Legacy has produced more than 140 recordings, most with Sandy doing the actual recording and taking cover photographs and Lee acting as business manager, under the familiar "Green Man" logo. "Horizons," recorded in studios in Virginia and North Carolina, will become Folk-Legacy album CD-139.

Over the years, Folk-Legacy recorded music from two main categories: traditional singers from both sides of the Atlantic, such as Frank Proffitt, Lawrence Older, Peg Clancy Powers, and Paddy Tunney and the Copper Family; and folk revival performers from throughout the English-speaking world, including well-known artists Gordon Bok, Bill Staines, Archie Fisher, and Jean Redpath.

Many of these albums are now available on CD, and some on the original vinyl, from Folk-Legacy Records at: http://www.folk-legacy.com/store/Scripts/default.asp

As singers in their own right, Sandy and Caroline recorded a number of albums and became a fixture at festivals and folk venues around the country. They were designated the Official Connecticut State Troubadours for 1993-1994. Drawing upon a vast repertoire developed over their many years of collecting folksongs throughout the English-speaking world, from the Southern Appalachians to the Ozarks, and from Scotland and England to the Maritime Provinces of Canada, Sandy and Caroline shared their personal memories as well as their musical talents, inviting their audiences to join in on many choruses, and encouraging them to actively participate in the experience.

"We prefer to sing with people, rather than at them," Caroline explained. "Folk music has been a participatory sport for many centuries, and we would like to see it continue to be just that."

Accompanying themselves with guitar, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp, the Patons skillfully blended their voices in harmonies that offered more than just a pleasant musical interlude in our daily lives. Many of their older songs provide insights into our nation's history, reflecting the concerns, the delights, the joys and the sorrows of those families who braved the wilderness to settle in the New World, in a program enjoyed by parents and grandparents, and children of all ages.

Among the artists who have appeared on Folk-Legacy recordings are:

Cathy Barton & Dave Para
The Boarding Party
Gordon Bok
Howie Bursen
A. J. Cargill
Bob Conroy
Michael Cooney
Bob and Ron Copper
Deb Cowan
Rick Fielding
Archie Fisher
Ray Fisher
Sara Grey
Joe Hickerson
The Johnson Girls
Cindy Kallet
Larry Kaplan
Dan Milner
Kendall Morse
Ann Mayo Muir
Lawrence Older
David Paton
Sandy & Caroline Paton
Frank Proffitt
Jean Redpath
Jim Ringer
Ian Robb
John Roberts & Tony Barrand
Tony & Irene Saletan
Helen Bonchek Schneyer
Bill Shute & Lisa Null
Rosalie Sorrels
Bill Staines
Arnold Keith Storm
Art Thieme
Ed Trickett
Harry Tuft
Bob Zentz

UPDATED December 15, 2009

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