Overview
Peter Kasin sings chanteys as a solo performer and plays Irish, Scottish and Shetland tunes on fiddle. He was raised in Northern California, and has loved traditional music ever since he was a child. In 1991 Peter crewed for a Summer aboard a replica of the Bounty, sailing U.S. East Coast and Southern ports. In 1992 Peter was hired as an interpretive National Park Service ranger at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, where he worked for 28 year. Prior to employment, he volunteered at that park for two years. He became the park’s music coordinator, running a monthly evening chantey sing aboard floating historic vessels at Hyde Street Pier, booking performers for an annual sea music festival and an evening sea music concert series. After retiring in late 2020, Peter stayed on running the music programs as a volunteer. In May, 2026 he handed over the chantey sings to a current park ranger.
As a performer, Peter has sung at the Captain Cook Maritime Music Festival in Yorkshire, England, at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, Washington, and with San Francisco chantey singer Richard Adrianowicz at the Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, The San Francisco Sea Music Festival, and in venues in and around the SF Bay Area and in Santa Barbara, California. Peter and Richard have four recordings of sea music to their credit. Website: https://walkashore.com.
Peter specializes in researching and performing some of the rarer chanteys from African American and Anglo traditions, from the West Indies, and wherever chanteys were sung.
Peter divides his homes a little over half the year in Paris, France and the rest in Oakland, California.