Carl Behrend

This is Dean Calin, writing about Carl Behrend.  When I started my own maritime music group in 2003, Bounding Main, I knew that there were a handful of other musicians in the genre around the Great Lakes.  Over time we were fortunate enough to meet and perform with all of them, except Carl Behrend.  My exposure to him was limited to trying to consign Bounding Main CDs to the gift shop at Stone Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.  I saw that they carried all of Behrend’s many CDs, so I tried pitching to the proprietor.  I could not even get her to consider taking on our CDs, but she lapsed dreamily and at length about the beauty and romance of each of Behrend’s albums.

Today, in reviewing some promotional material that I created for the appearance of “shanty singers” at tall ship festivals, I came across Behrend’s name and wondered if he was still around.  So I started looking.  The three website addresses that I could discover for him were all abandoned.

Chicago played host to one of the genre’s signature festivals, the Chicago Maritime Festival, held mostly at the Chicago History Museum from 2003 through 2016.  Performers from across the USA and Europe graced  the stages of the event, all except for Carl Behrend.  I don’t recall ever hearing much about him from our fellow musicians, nor do I ever recall seeing any promotional information about any of his shows.  But he was prolific with his recordings!  As of this writing Amazon was still selling digital versions of three of his albums, as shown below.  Additionally, Behrend appears to have authored two books, Adventure Bound (2003) and The Legend of the Christmas Ship:  Based on a True Story (2006), available both new and used.

Behrend’s day-job, Old Country, Inc. (“Old Country Painting and Decorating offers all kinds of painting and wallcovering. Including faux finishes, plaster and drywall finishing, carpentry & remodeling, log home refinishing.  — Carl “Barefoot” Behrend – folk singer, songwriter, author.”) still appears on the Munising online business directory.

There is an online account of Carl circumnavigating Lake Superior with his then 18-year old daughter Naomi.  This was published about 1999.

An excerpt of the Behrend navigation of Lake Superior was serialized in this publication.  There are a great number of online articles about this, as well as appearances at coffee houses, ice climbing adventures and more.

On one of Behrend’s many Facebook pages there is a post from someone who enjoyed an Ice Cave Adventure with him on March 5, 2022.  That is the most recent post anywhere that indicates proof of life, that I have found.

Of the four or more Facebook pages that I identified as his, neither had been updated in years.  From the hundreds of listings that I’ve added to the MMDI that usually meant that the artist had passed – so I started looking for obituaries.

While I found  the obit of his mother, Christine from 2014, I have not found anything for a  man from Munising, Michigan.  Is he still around?  It is still to be determined.  There seems to be no evidence that he is currently performing.  This listing will be updated as information is revealed.  [23 November 2024]