About

Paul Race would admit to being a “jack of many trades, master of few.” In part, that’s because he’s always been busy pursuing new and old interests alike – plus raising a family and working 35+ years as a technical writer.

Shadow GuitarBut this is part of Paul’s music site page.

Coming from a family that loved all kinds of music, Paul learned early to appreciate the Weavers, Romberg, Gershwin, Leadbelly, Basie, Coltrane, and Seeger. He also learned to play much of that music, on guitar, banjo, and saxophone. Later, he learned to love and play the music of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Buffy St. Marie, Cat Stevens, Chicago, BS&T, Rich Mullins, Larry Norman, Second Chapter of Acts, Jim Croce, CS&N, and many others.

To the songs Paul learned from his heros, he added songs he wrote himself. For decades, he performed them in just about any kind of performance situation you can imagine – coffeehouses, festivals, churches, schools, nightclubs, camps, street fairs – you name it.

Recently, Paul has focused more on helping other folks get and stay involved in music. But folks who remember Paul’s songs occasionally ask him where his “artist” page is.  So we’re updating a site that Paul first put together when he was “gigging” regularly and HTML was in its infancy.

Paul is still available for concerts of all sizes. Paul can also do specialized concerts such as:

  • Songs about trains
  • Songs about the history of the American Heartland
  • Christmas concerts
  • Gospel concerts

For more information about Paul’s songs, check out our music page.For a far more detailed history of Paul’s musical endeavors, check out Paul’s Music Memoirs

Keep playing, keep singing, and keep sharing!

Paul D. Race
http://www.CreekDontRise.com
http://www.SchoolOfTheRock.com
http://www.ClassicTrainSongs.com
http://www.RiverboatMusic.com
http://PaulRaceMusic.com

2 Comments

  1. My wife just sent me an 2017 image from a Facebook post showing the evolution of the modern banjo family. I thought it was interesting, but noticed you had misidentified the modern Irish and Jazz tenor banjos. For the most part I think Irish players use the shorter 19 fret instrument and Jazzers use the slightly longer 21 fret models. I know this is a small point, which you might have corrected in the intervening years, but I wouldn’t want this small detail to mar this interesting and informative piece.

  2. George, thanks for getting in touch. When I wrote that article, I was basing it on what people who should know more than I do about tenor banjos were saying. Including several vendors who sell their 21 fret instruments as “Irish” banjos and their 19 fret instrument as “Jazz” banjos in the hope that it would be less confusing than trying to explain why there are two different instruments that can BOTH be used for either style of music, depending on how you string them.

    In the real world, there is almost no distinction – people buy whatever they want and string it however they want, so I see each banjo being used for both purposes all the time. Though I DO see a preference for 21-fret banjos among the live Celtic bands that come through Ohio for the Celtic festivals. A lot of those players double on 5-string, so that might be part of the reason.

    Not to mention that most entry-level tenor banjos have 20 frets, so they’re right in between. I should go back and change the article to say both banjos are used for both purposes.

    Thanks for the “nudge.”

    Paul

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