Reviews & Quotes

"When I first met Rick Fielding at The Woods camp in Ontario, I had to ask myself, 'How is it that we've never been told of this artist?' Caroline and I make a conscious effort to keep up with what's going on in the folk music world. We listen to a lot of recordings, attend a lot of programs, and travel around the country as much and as often as we can. Yet here was a man deeply devoted to traditional music, a fine singer, a superb instrumentalist, and a remarkable songmaker, of whom we had never heard. It turns out Rick had been playing a very different circuit for a number of years -- bars in northern Ontario, clubs in various other parts of the continent, etc., because he thought that was what one had to do in order to make a living with music. It was only a few years ago that he decided he could no longer stand the compromises he was being forced to make. He came home to teach, carve leather, and rededicate himself to folk music.

I watched Rick teach guitar (and other instruments) to adults of widely varying talents and skills and saw each of his students become more accomplished with every session. When it came time for them to sing for the others in a campers' program, it seemed that every one of them had asked Rick to accompany them, which he did with guitar, banjo, mandolin, and dulcimer, playing material that ranged from pop music of the '40's to stark traditional ballads. And he made all of them sound good. With constant grace and good humor, he gave more to his students than any instructor I'd ever seen, and I've been on the folk and home-made music scene for a long time.

Then we shared a workshop presentation of 'Songs of Protest'. Although neither we nor Rick consider ourselves 'protest singers' per se, we certainly know a number of songs that have served to help fight injustice and intolerance over the centuries. Rick sang his own song 'Voices of Struggle' in that workshop and ten minutes later, sharing a carcinogenic break on the back porch, I asked him to make this recording [Lifeline]. It took about three years to get him down to Folk-Legacy, and several additional months to get the recording completed, but here it is, at last, and well worth the waiting it required."
-- Sandy Paton, Sharon, Connecticut