Dick & Carol Holdstock

Whether they are singing songs of the sea, traditional ballads, old time tavern songs, songs of the California gold rush, or contemporary songs of social significance, Carol and Dick Holdstock are bound to please any audience that has the good fortune to see and hear them! Dick and Carol have performed at festivals and folk music venues in England, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the east coast of the United States, Texas, and their home state of California. Their CD, “Shanties and Sea Songs from Way Out West,” with the backing of Nauticas, features an array of traditional songs from the west coast of North America and a smattering of contemporary songs in the tradition. They also have collaborated with the talented instrumentalist and singer Tom Murphey to produce an album called “San Francisco Sea Shanties and Sea Songs of California’s Gold Rush”, in honor of California’s Sesquicentennial of the Gold Rush. Dick recently authored “Again With One Voice – British Songs of Political Political Reform, 1768 to 1868″; published by Loomis House Press and available on the web and all book stores.  (See their website for more details!)

“Neither Allan or I gave up our engineering day jobs, so we often could not perform together away from home. Fortunately, my wife Carol is an excellent performer and we were able to find gigs together at wider spread locations over the years. We performed at the Connecticut Sea Music Festival in 2022, and are booked this year for the San Francisco Sea Music Festival. Last year I did a Work Shop in Seattle on “Sea Songs of the West Coast of the Americas.” — from an email from Dick Holdstock 26 February 2024.