Doug Mishkin is a singer-songwriter best known for “Woody’s Children,” his song celebrating the legacy of Woody Guthrie.   Doug says he was “born the night my mother took me to my first Pete Seeger concert” and then “came of age at the campfire where I first heard the songs of Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs and the rest of that crew.  Those songs spoke to me—and they still do.”

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Doug’s music flows from that tradition--from his earliest songs about civil and human rights (“Make Those Waters Part” and “Anatoly”) to later songs celebrating freedom (“Prague Swing”) and decrying food insecurity (“Sing For Your Supper”), and finally to recent songs like “If They’d Been Black,” “Tip of the Spear,” “Reading Names (George Floyd)” and “Save Your Prayers.”

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Doug’s musical interests range wide.  He pleads guilty to being under the influence of the great lyricist Yip Harburg (“The Wizard of Oz,” “Finian’s Rainbow,” “Brother Can You Spare A Dime” and many others).  You’ll hear that influence in songs like “Bumpers,” “Our Cardiac Condition,” and “Smitten.”  Doug’s explanation? “I don’t hear the boundaries.  A good song that tells a good story or makes a good point—call it folk music (I do), call it whatever you’d like.”

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Doug’s songs are also personal—whether about love remembered (“Suite: Sweet Sycamore Street”), friends lost (“Pour Me Another Year”), the joy of grandparenthood discovered (“Who Knew” and “The Delicious Part”) or of being home at last (“Egremont”).  

Doug has recorded two albums, “Woody’s Children” (1986) and “Climbing That Ladder” (2008).  On the latter, Doug recorded Peter Yarrow’s “Sweet Survivor” accompanied by Peter, with whom Doug has performed.  Yarrow wrote: “[T]his version of ‘Sweet Survivor’ …is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard.  I’m most proud to have recorded it with him.”  

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Doug’s music has brought him accolades from some of our most distinguished folksinger-songwriters:

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Tom Paxton: “Doug Mishkin gets what folk music is all about and he passes it along with energy and humor. He is a splendid and engaging performer. You will love him.”  

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Tom Chapin: “Don’t miss Doug Mishkin. He is a great singer, performer, song-leader, story-teller, musician and a longtime friend with whom I have shared many a stage.”

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Christine Lavin:  “Doug Mishkin is one of the top singer songwriters working today. It has been an honor to share the stage with him at Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall more than once. All of his songs have the unmistakable ring of truth that all songwriters strive for, but Doug achieves every time. And he was born with a beautiful singing voice, which makes his performances all the more stirring and pleasurable.”

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Peter Yarrow:  "Outside of Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, I have seldom sung with someone who is so heartfelt, empathetic, and who carries on the tradition of folk music with such sensitivity and taste.  Besides that, he has a beautiful voice. Doug is a rarity. He successfully pursues a career as an attorney, a teacher of law and stalwart advocate for justice in this arena and, in my opinion, it is this conjunction of activist lawyer and folk singer that makes him so compelling a performer. He walks the walk as few others do and therein lies his enormous appeal to our hearts as well as our ears.”

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Noel Paul Stookey:  “…though I owe a great deal (a livelihood as well as an ethic) to woody, pete, josh and the members of the ‘family,’ I don’t think I ever quite felt the legacy as much as I did singing [Doug’s] song [Woody’s Children] on stage.”  

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Neal Shulman (of Aztec Two-Step): Doug is a talented and engaging performer who brings wit, substance and heartfelt conviction to his music.

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In addition, Doug has deep musical roots in the Jewish community.  Those roots began with his tenure as songleader (1971-75) at his beloved Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York, the summer home of the NFTY Summer Leadership Institute.  That led in the years since then to dozens of concerts, rallies, protests and services across the country for a wide variety of causes.  Rabbi David Saperstein, former long-time director of the Religious Action Center of the Union for Reform Judaism, says that “Doug is the Reform movement’s premier singer for social justice. From the 1987 Soviet Jewry rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C., to his numerous appearances at biennials and Consultations on Conscience, to his singing at the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Doug’s songs and voice have been an important part of the American Jewish soundtrack for social justice.”

Doug is currently recording a third album, tentatively titled “Tip of the Spear.”

Music

 

Singer-songwriter of albums Climbing That Ladder (2006), Woody’s Children (1986) and Tip of the Spear (forthcoming).

 

Composer and singer of “Woody’s Children” (www.woodyschildren.com), featured on “Pete Seeger Tribute Concert: Woody’s Children 50th Anniversary” being broadcast on PBS nationwide (https://www.thirteen.org/programs/pbs-presents/pete-seeger-tribute-concert-etu6il/ )

 

Producer of and performer in “A Night to Celebrate Woody Guthrie and Woody’s Children” at 92nd Street Y, November 18, 2012 (sold out), with Tom Chapin, Christine Lavin, Buskin & Batteau, Aztec Two-Step and others.