The Johnson Girls

Group Biography

(Bonnie Milner, Joy Bennett, Alison Kelley,  Deirdre Murtha)

Bio and booking information

Sea music may well have been the first “world music.”  Ships were often melting pots, with crew members from many countries who were heavily influenced by the music they heard while traveling around the world and from other crew members.  These sailors incorporated into their work songs and other shipboard music the different rhythms and styles from their own often diverse cultures as well as those they encountered during their voyages.  Each of The Johnson Girls was captivated by this music at different times in their lives, and came together in 1997 following the Mystic Seaport Sea Music festival to burst through the barrier of this previously male dominated genre.  The Johnson Girls is an energetic all-woman mostly a cappella group performing folk music with an emphasis on songs of the sea and shore.  Each member of the group brings a specialty and style to the ensemble.  The Johnson Girls’ extensive repertoire of both traditional and contemporary music includes songs with an Afro-Caribbean influence, of the inland waterways, of fishing, mining, Irish, Anglo-American, Italian and French Canadian ballads and work songs, and much more.  With a sound that has been called “exciting”, “haunting”, “uplifting”, and “full of harmony”, the Johnson Girls give “hair-raising” performances of powerhouse chanteys, tender ballads and just plain fun songs, bringing audiences to their feet wherever they go.

In addition to powerful main stage performances, The Johnson Girls have led participatory workshops and demonstrations during festivals and folk weeks/weekends on many topics including but by no means limited to:  women and the sea, contemporary sea songs, harmony, sea chanteys 101, work songs: old and new, fishing: then and now, Afro-Caribbean songs, ballads, song collecting, landsmen, sailors and ladies, and more. 

 

One newspaper account of The Johnson Girls at the Wadebridge Festival in Cornwall, UK said:  “The Johnson Girls, shanty singers from America, took the place by storm…”    “Those who thought a shanty singer had to be male, bearded and with a beer gut, had better think again.”

 

“Their repertoire ranges from driving chanteys to ballads and laments, all rendered with rich harmonies in their own inimitable style.  Whether leading a sing-along aboard the Peking at South Street Seaport in New York or firing up a festival stage, this group is a winner.” – Craig Edwards – Festival Director, Mystic Seaport Museum

 

At the “Ships to Save the Waters Concert”, Pete Seeger said, “You are first rate!  I didn’t know women could sing like that.” 

 

Following their performances at the Mystic Seaport Museum’s Sea Music Festival in Connecticut, Festival Director Craig Edwards wrote: “…The Johnson Girls turned in magnificent performances at the 22nd Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, including a powerhouse main stage slot on Saturday night that demonstrated that you’re not great female chantey singers, you’re great chantey singers, period.   … A world class act.”

 

The Johnson Girls have 2 CDs, “The Johnson Girls”, and the recently released “On the Rocks”.  Both have received rave reviews in the US and UK in Dirty Linen, Sing Out, Traditional Music Maker and Living Tradition magazines, The Cornwall Guardian, International Chantey Magazine, and the Folk Music Society of NY newsletter.

 

What to use for publicity?  Any of the above information or, here’s another bit that has been used in the past:

 

Widely acclaimed for their powerhouse performances of rousing work songs, haunting ballads and laments, and hair-raising harmonies, The Johnson Girls have performed at major festivals, clubs, coffeehouses, book-signings and more across the United States, in Canada, England, Wales, the Netherlands, and Portugal.  The audience becomes part of the show, singing along with many of the songs.  The Johnson Girls have performed for standing room only crowds at UK festivals and have appeared on Oscar Brand’s radio show. 

 


The Johnson Girls

Main stage performers at the following venues:

 

Upcoming:

Working Waterfront Festival, New Bedford, MA

Folklore Society of Greater Washington, DC

Friends of Fiddler’s Green Chapter of the Hudson Valley Folk Guild, Hyde Park, NY

 

Recent:

Brooklyn Museum first Saturday concerts, NY

RiverSing on the Blackstone, Pawtucket, RI

Hudson River Maritime Museum, Yonkers, NY

Richmondtown Restoration Tavern Concerts, NY

 

Past International Performances:

 

International Shanty Festival, Workum, the Netherlands

Lunenberg Folk Harbor Festival, NS, Canada

Kings Theatre, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Trailside Inn, Mount Stuart, Prince Edward Island

The Mersey, Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax, Nova Scotia

La Fęte des Chants de Marins, Quebec, Canada

Bodmin Folk Club, Cornwall, UK, multiple years

Wadebridge Folk Festival (aka the Cornwall Festival), UK

Warwick Folk Festival, Warwick, UK, multiple years

Sidmouth International Festival, Devon, UK, multiple years

Llantrisant Folk Club, Pontyclun, South Wales, UK 

Broadstairs Folk Week, UK

Festival of Ports, Lisbon, Portugal

 

Past US Performances :

 

Folk Festivals:

Lincoln Center Roots Festival

Philadelphia Folk Festival

New England Folk Festival (NEFFA – several years) MA

Champlain Valley Folk Festival

New Haven Folk Festival, CT

Turtle Hill Folk Festival, Rochester, NY

Eistedfodd Traditional Music Festival, NY

GottaGetGone Festival, Ballston Spa, NY

North American Music and Dance Festival (NOMAD – several years) CT

Tall Ships Celebration, Bay City, Michigan

The Great Hudson River Revival Festival (AKA The Clearwater Festival) in Croton-on-Hudson, NY

Sea Music Festival, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, CA

Mystic Seaport Museum’s Sea Music Festival, CT, (multiple appearances)

Chicago Maritime Festival, IL

Music of the Sea Festival at the Texas Maritime Museum, Rockport, TX

Sound Waters Festival (4 years) CT

Little Red Lighthouse Festival, NY

City Island Maritime Festival, NY

Ships to Save the Waters Festival, NY

Songs of Sail 2000 in Kennebunk, Maine

OPSail 2000, CT

Windjammer Festival 2001 & 2006, Camden, ME

 

Folk Clubs, Coffeehouses, Museums. Libraries & more:

South Street Seaport Museum NYC, multiple appearances

Rowayton Library Series, Rowayton, CT

Folklore Society of Greater Washington, DC

American Yacht Club Children’s Hospital Dinner

Music Mountain, CT (multiple appearances)

Essex Book Signing, Tall Ship Peking, NY

Folk Song Society of Greater Boston, MA

Old Songs Concert Series, Voorheesville, NY

Caffé Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY (multiple appearances)

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, CA

Friends of Fiddler’s Green Chapter of the Hudson Valley Folk Guild, Hyde Park, NY

Roaring Brook Nature Center, CT

Good Coffeehouse, NY, NY

22 Below, NY

People’s Voice Café, NY (4 years)

The Seamen’s Church Institute, NY

Folk Music Society of NY

Peter Valley Crafts Fair, NJ

Ellis Island Charity Dinner

Golden Link Concert Series, Rochester, NY

uNi Coffeehouse in Springfield, MA (multiple appearances)

Hoboken Historical Society, NJ

Richmond Town Restoration Tavern Concerts, Staten Island, NY (yearly in February/March – 7 years)

The Barracks, Trenton, NJ (multiple appearances)

Faulkner’s Light Benefit Concert, CT

The Branford Folk Club, CT (multiple appearances)

Minstrel Coffeehouse NJ, (multiple appearances)

Mystic Seaport Member’s Day Concert, Mystic, CT

Mystic Seaport Museum’s Spring Concert Series, CT

Norwalk Aquarium, CT (multiple appearances)

Long Island Traditional Music Association, NY

Dahesh Museum, NY, NY

South Salem Library, NY


Member Biographies

 

Joy Bennett

Joy Bennett has been singing most of her life.  She has toured parts of the United States, Great Britain and Italy with the New York University Chorale, performed in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Gondoliers”, has been heard in the New York Revels and has performed with numerous groups over the years.  Joy’s exposure to maritime music came in the early 1970s at South Street Seaport Museum where she worked as a volunteer.  It has been said that her voice is “three-dimensional, with a depth and clarity unmatched by others.”  Joy performs with the folk group Water Sign and can be heard on their album of the same name, as well as on Evy Mayer’s latest album “Humor Me.”  Joy serves on the Board of the Folk Music Society of New York, an organization dedicated to keeping traditional music alive.

 


 

Alison Kelley
 

Alison Kelley grew up singing traditional music as a chantey brat at South Street Seaport.  Since that time her repertoire has expanded to include troubadour, worksongs, gospel, blues, English music hall,  and Irish songs.  She serves on the Board of the New York Folk Music Society and leads a monthly open sing in Brooklyn.   When not sailing or haunting Mystic Seaport, Alison performs with  Ida Red (a triad of sultry songbirds), The New York Packet, and The NexTradition~a dynamic a capella duo.  Alison can be heard on The NexTradition's debut CD,  as a guest on the Water Sign album, and The Good Coffee House recording  "Traditions, New Spirits & Holy Ground". 

 

Bonnie Milner
 

Bonnie Milner has had a lifetime interest in folk music beginning with her grammar school days singing songs from Carl Sandburg’s American Song Bag.  Through her friendship with the late Stan Hugill, Sea Chanteys and maritime music became a particular interest of hers.  Bonnie’s husband, folksinger Dan Milner, has been a “guiding light,” and true partner in furthering her interest in traditional music.  You can occasionally hear Bonnie and Dan together in performance.

 

Deirdre Murtha
 

Deirdre Murtha is a children’s music educator with firm base of harmony singing.  Deirdre has performed choral, theatrical and madrigal pieces.  Her strong Irish music background brings a different style to the group. Deirdre sings with the old timey group the Fulton Street Amblers and the Irish group All Hands Around and can be heard on their new CD.

 

Information and Bookings

Information and Bookings: Joy C. Bennett 11139 76th Road Forest Hills, NY  11375 718 575-1906 joybennett@att.net johnsongirls@att.net www.thejohnsongirls.com