Rod MacDonald

Rod MacDonald was born in Connecticut and began singing professionally in New York City, where he was a leading headliner in Greenwich Village clubs in the 1980s, recorded 21 songs now in the Smithsonian Folkways collection, and co-founded the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. His originals, such as “American Jerusalem” and “Every Living Thing” have been recorded by Shawn Colvin, Garnet Rogers, Four Bitchin’ Babes, Happy Traum, Joe Jencks and many others; “A Sailor’s Prayer” has been covered by Jonathan Edwards, Mosaic Whispers, Dave Van Ronk and many Rennaissance Faire bands. He’s made 14 solo cds for the Wind River, Shanachie, Gadfly and Blue Flute labels, with “Raven” from 2014’s “Later That Night” hitting #1 on national folk/roots charts, and his 2023 album “Rants And Romance” was #5 on Folk dj charts in summer 2023. Now living in south Florida, he’s been named one of “Ten Magnificent Musicians of Palm Beach County” by The Palm Beach Post and one of “Ten Greatest Folksingers in South Florida History” by New Times. Since 2006 he is also Music Americana instructor with Osher Lifelong Learning at Florida Atlantic University, and was named Distinguished Faculty Member in 2012. The All-Music Guide says “With his pure emotive tenor and stirring, catchy tunes, MacDonald is one of the most appealing singer-songwriters....Add thoughtful lyrics that touch on a variety of political and social issues, and you have a remarkable artist deserving a much wider public.”