Steve Suffet is best described as an old fashioned folksinger. His repertoire is a mixture of railroad songs, trucker songs, cowboy songs, union songs, old time ballads, blues, ragtime, Gospel, bluegrass, topical-political songs, and whatever else tickles his fancy. He takes songs from whatever sources he wishes and then he sings them his own way, maybe rewriting the lyrics on the spot, flatting a 7th, or changing a major key to a mountain modal.

Steve also writes his own songs, sometimes set to the tunes of traditional folksongs, but more often set to original tunes composed in traditional style. Some of Steve's songs have appeared in the Folk Process section of Sing Out! magazine over the years. Others can be found in the Digital Tradition on-line folk song database and in the archives of the Centre for Political Song in the UK.

In the 1960s, Steve appeared at several of the legendary Broadside hoots in New York City, was a guest on Izzy Young's radio program on WBAI-FM. and regularly performed at various pass-the-basket coffee houses in Greenwich Village. Steve then left the organized folk scene for nearly 30 years.

Steve returned to the folk scene when invited to appear at a Sis Cunningham Tribute Concert in 1997. Since then he has played gigs throughout the northeastern USA, as well as in Israel and the UK. In addition, Steve has been featured on the Songs of Freedom cable television program, has appeared in the Songs of the Spirit workshop at the Clearwater Hudson River Revival, has performed at the New England Folk Festival in Massachusetts and the NOMAD festival in Connecticut, and has led workshops for the People's Music Network and for the New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club. From 2003 until it dissolved in 2008 after the death of its musical director Eric Levine, Steve often performed as part of a group called MacDougal Street Rent Party, although he also continued to perform on his own during that time. He still often performs together with Anne Price, a fellow MacDougal Street Rent Party veteran.

Steve's three CDs are available from CD Baby: http://cdbaby.com/all/suffet

Please feel free to contact Steve Suffet by e-mail at ssuffet@nyc.rr.com or by phone in the USA at 718-786-1533.

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