Rob Middleton

December 24, 2019 It is with great sadness that we must bid farewell to our friend and co-founder, Rob Middleton. He passed away quietly in his sleep this morning. He will be missed greatly. Rest in peace, Rob.

Rob Middleton was instrumental in bringing maritime music to the renaissance faire scene in America.  In 1985 he was made the assistant music director at King Richard’s Faire.  While faire musicians such as William Pint and Brian Leo had sea shanties in their repertoir, Middleton, who had long been a fan of Tom Lewis, Johnny Collins and others, used his new position to enhance the musical ambience of the festival.  Maritime music provided an alternative style of music from traditional renaissance music, Irish traditional tunes and contemporary folk music – the former which proved to be uninspiring for the blue-collar theme park guests, and the latter two being too easily regarded as anachronistic.  KRF was a trend-setting venue of its kind, and over time, more and more renaissance faires also began featuring groups that were offering maritime music such as sea shanties.