Rod MacDonald

Rod MacDonald figured prominently in the folk revival that swept through Greenwich Village clubs throughout the 1980s, establishing himself as both singer and songwriter. After earning his degree from Columbia Law School and taking a position at Newsweek, he decided in the 1970s to devote himself instead to performing folk music. Working through the Fast Folk Music Cooperative, he collaborated with Richard Meyer, Christine Lavin, and Michael Jerling to help restore vitality to New York’s folk community during that same decade. Though already known to local audiences, MacDonald began attracting wider attention in the early 1990s by appearing at festivals and coffeehouses across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

His songwriting draws from the examples of Phil Ochs, Richard Fariña, and Bob Dylan. Consistent with folk practice, he addresses political subjects directly, takes creative risks, and occasionally challenges listeners. Compositions such as “American Jerusalem,” “White Buffalo,” and “Every Living Thing” have been recorded by fellow artists and senior figures including Garnet Rogers, Jean Redpath, Gordon Bok, Happy Traum, and Shawn Colvin. His reputation rests securely on “A Sailor’s Prayer,” a hymn-like piece frequently assumed to be traditional.

Two albums appeared in the 1980s—No Commercial Traffic in 1983 and White Buffalo in 1985—followed in the next decade by Highway to Nowhere in 1992 and The Man on the Ledge in 1994, both issued on Shanachie Records. Gadfly released And Then He Woke Up in 1996 and Into the Blue in 1999; subsequent recordings include Recognition in 2002, A Tale of Two Americas in 2005, After the War in 2009, and Songs of Freedom in 2011. Since the mid-1990s MacDonald has made his home in Florida.