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  • Stuart's Specialties

Bio

A fixture on Long Island's folk and acoustic scene since the mid-1990s, Stuart Markus has been writing songs since middle school and has played professionally for over 24 years. 

Stuart is perhaps best known outside of Long Island as a member of the folk-rock/Americana harmony trio Gathering Time (www.gathering-time.com), along with fellow Long Islanders  Hillary Foxsong and Gerry McKeveny.  Described alternately as a rocked-up Peter, Paul & Mary or a co-ed Crosby, Stills & Nash, the trio has been turning heads with their stunning vocal blend, strong songwriting, and creative yet faithful interpretations of traditional folk, '60s classics and songs by other local songwriters. 

Listed in Newsday as one of "Long Island's Best" and sometimes called the Island's "hardest-working man in folk music," Stuart actually grew up in Rochester, NY, where he studied at the Eastman School of Music while in high school.

While at the University of Pennsylvania he played French horn in the marching band and wind ensemble, sang in the University Choir and several a-cappella groups, and eventually became president, musical director and arranger (all at the same time) of the nine-voice Chord-On-Blues. 

His classical training notwithstanding, Stuart found himself gravitating towards modern folk music out of a love of acoustic guitars and deep, honest songwriting. A full-time musician after years as an ad man and journalist, Stuart has also organized a number of community folk concerts, most notably the annual "Just Wild About Harry" Chapin tribute concerts by top Long Island songwriters since 2004. (To date the concerts have raised nearly 7 tons of food.) From 1996-2009 his yearly performance of "The Ballad of Malverne Mel" - the theme song he wrote for Nassau County's official Groundhog's Day celebration - received widespread media coverage.

He currently serves on the board of the Folk Music Society of Huntington (www.fmsh.org), the Island's premier folk music organization, where he chairs the community outreach committee, bringing the many local folk scenes into contact and cooperation. 

A lover of history and all things maritime, Stuart is also half of the sea chantey duo The Royal Yard with singer-songstress Robin Greenstein. A lifelong small boat sailor, he made his first voyage on a tall ship in OpSail '92 as a trainee on the HMS Rose - a replica of a 1757 British frigate (which appeared as Russell Crowe's ship in the movie Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World). 

Stuart has shared the stage with such notable performers as Tom Paxton, Oscar Brand, Christine Lavin, Dan Bern, David Buskin, Dar Williams, Ashford & Simpson, David Johansen, Tom Chapin and John Hall of the band Orleans; and shared a mic with both Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey. He has been a three-time M.C. of the Nassau Community College Folk Fest; twice solo, once with the chantey duo Strike the Bell.

His 1996 CD release, 'Not the Only One Who Feels This Way,' and his second, 'The View from the Side of the Road,' have received college and folk radio play across the eastern U.S. A CD of parodies and satire, 'Welcome to Sunny Nassau (County, Long Island)' debuted in November, '07. With Gathering Time, he has released 'Songs of Hope and Freedom' (2008) 'Red Apples & Gold.' (2012), 'When One Door Closes...' (2014) and 'Keepsake' (2016). (The latter 3 placed #5, #3 and #1 respectively on the international Folk Radio Chart the months they were released.)

Stuart also has a repertoire of hundreds of popular songs from the 1940s to the present day, which he performs regularly, along with his originals, at private parties, local establishments and country clubs

"Markus has a gentle, clean voice and his writing shows a good sense of his place in the world. This is an artist that everyone should check out live," Good Times Magazine writes. "... a true troubadour," says Long Island Entertainment. "Bottom line, Stuart Markus is an artist that has continued to work his craft and he's entering a new level of songwriting and performing that should have people flocking to record stores to grab his wares." 

Contact Stuart Markus at  (516) 661-7161, or email him at StuartJMarkus@aol.com.

Stuart Markus (photo by C.C. Kagan)

Stuart Markus (photo by C.C. Kagan)

Original Music:
   Stuart Markus' original music can be called acoustic rock, folk-rock, adult album alternative or modern folk. His songs include straight-up, four-beat rockers and melodic ballads.
   He's been compared to James Taylor by many, but his influences include Simon & Garfunkel, the Beatles, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, traditional sea chanteys and classic rock. "If I find it interesting, it'll find its way into my music," he says.
   Stuart works in pop song structures, making the music easy for the listener to grasp onto, yet his musical training brings a richness that stretches beyond typical 3- or 4-song pop. Lyrically, Stuart uses personal experience and observation to tap into universal feelings and thoughts. Concise lines and concrete imagery about specific situations still frequently evoke reactions of "That could've been written about me" or "I've definitely been there."
   His lyrics range from dark to hopeful, romantic to bizarre, angry to twisted, taking the listener through a wide range of emotions and stories over the course of a concert or an album.
  A founding member of the folk-rock harmony trio Gathering Time (www.gathering-time.com), Stuart mainly performs original songs in that configuration. However, he has written scores of songs that he is happy to play solo in situations where that may be preferred, or to work them into sets of cover songs where appropriate. Look for his original music on the music page of this website, or on the GT site.

Cover Songs:
   Besides being a recording and touring songwriter, Stuart has been a working musician since 1993, with a collection of hundreds of popular songs from the past six decades. The lion's share of his repertoire is from the classic rock and folk-rock eras of the 1960s and '70s, but he stretches back to the swing era and forward to the current decade, to please audiences of all ages -- all adapted to the acoustic guitar.
   Stuart is equally at home providing mellow background music for an evening's dinner gathering, or rocking it up for a crowd that wants to dance, clap and sing along. And he has no problem changing gears once the dining is done and the party hats come out. He can provide a sound system more than capable of filling a large room or a small yard.
   For larger events, Stu can team up with other musicians to work as a duo, trio, or foursome. He is also available for sideman duties on guitar, bass, and backing vocals.
   Though he has never had an incident resulting in damage or injury (except to himself), he carries performers' liability insurance to a level of $2,000,000.
His covers repertoire includes songs by:
•America •The Beatles •Jackson Browne •Jimmy Buffett •The Byrds •Harry Chapin •Eric Clapton •Creedence Clearwater Revival •Jim Croce •Crosby, Stills & Nash •John Denver •Neil Diamond •Doobie Brothers •The Drifters •Bob Dylan •Eagles •Fleetwood Mac •Dan Fogelberg •Gin Blossoms •Grateful Dead •Arlo Guthrie •Buddy Holly •Joe Jackson •Jethro Tull •Billy Joel •Elton John •Gordon Lightfoot •Loggins & Messina •John Mayer •Steve Miller •Joni Mitchell •The Monkees •Moody Blues •Van Morrison •Peter, Paul & Mary •REM •Bob Seger •Simon & Garfunkel •Steely Dan •Matthew Sweet •Cat Stevens •Al Stewart
•James Taylor •The Who •Neil Young
... and many others!

Traditional Music:
Sea Chanteys and Maritime Ballads
A lifelong small-boat sailor, Stuart made his first voyage on a tall ship in OpSail 1992 on the HMS Rose, a replica of a British frigate that patrolled Long Island Sound in colonial days. Then based in Bridgeport, CT, the modern Rose went on to play the part of Russell Crowe's command in the 2004 Fox/Miramax release Master & Commander: Far Side of the World. Stuart has since volunteered at South St. Seaport Museum in New York City, helping restore the Cape Horn Clipper RMS Wavertree and sail her during OpSail 2000.

Technically, sea chanteys are work songs - sung to keep a rhythm as all hands needed to haul on a line or heave on a pump handle together to make the ship run. Most have a call-and-response structure like other work songs, and served the additional function of providing a bit of distraction from the tedious but tiring work. They could also be a bit of a pressure relief valve, incorporating some creative group gripes about the less pleasant aspects of the sailor's life. Other sea songs - nautical ballads and 'forebitters' - so-called because they were typically sung by someone sitting or standing on the fore-bit, a wooden structure for tying off heavy lines - provided entertainment, distraction and comradeship for sailors off watch in the days before radio, TV, or even widespread literacy.

Stuart Markus has been performing traditional nautical music since 1998, and is currently a member of the duo The Royal Yard (www.TheRoyalYard.com) with noted singer-songwriter and traditional music performer Robin Greenstein. (www.robingreenstein.com). Stuart's performances are enhanced by his experiences sailing on the Rose and Wavertree. Their most popular show is entitled:
"Pirate Tunes, Sailor Songs and Salty Language" -- a 60 to 90-minute show of many sea chanteys and the various types of shipboard work they went with, traditional maritime ballads, and forebitters (songs for fun) -- plus explanations of the many words and phrases still in common use that have come down to us from the sea. 

Other Traditional Music Shows
"Four Centuries of Folk Music" – If you think only of Pete Seeger or Peter, Paul & Mary when you think of folk music, think again! Stuart also has originated a new program called Four Centuries of Folk Music, a 90-minute program of folk songs incorporating 17th & 18th-century ballads of the Francis Child collection, popular folk songs from the Civil War & Reconstruction era, sea chanteys, labor songs from the 1890s to the 1930s, songs from the 1950s folk revival, civil rights and anti-war songs from the '60s and modern singer-songwriters in the folk tradition.

"A Very Victorian Holiday Season" – Many of the traditions associated with Christmas today came from Victorian England, but many of those were rooted in centuries past drawing on even older celebrations of the new year, winter solstice and winter weather. Performed with Robin Greenstein (www.RobinGreenstein.com), this program includes songs both familiar and obscure, providing a peak into how the holidays were celebrated a century and a half ago.

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