Sandy Paton, a traditional folksinger, folklorist and co-founder of Folk-Legacy, has died at the age of 80. Paton, who launched the independent label based in Sharon, Connecticut with his wife Caroline and the late Lee Haggerty in 1961, passed away on July 26. He had been suffering from emphysema in recent years, which necessitated his being connected to oxygen. His death comes just weeks after his grandson died tragically last month at 15, drowning in a Connecticut river after rescuing two of his friends.

Born in Florida, Sandy Paton spent his childhood moving around the country with his family before embarking on his own travels. After briefly studying art in Washington, D.C., he headed west to the state of Washington to learn about acting at the Seattle Repertory Playhouse. It was while living there during the late 1940s that his interest in folk music took root. Inspired by such folks as Burl Ives, Carl Sandburg, Richard Dyer-Bennett and Leadbelly, Paton traveled the country, playing guitar, during the 1950s.

While in Berkeley, California in 1957, he met his soon-to-be wife Caroline. After traveling cross-country singing songs, the couple sailed to the British Isles, where he performed in pubs and coffeehouses for a year. In addition to some solo recordings, Sandy and Caroline recorded albums as a duo. After meeting and befriending noted collectors Hamish Henderson and Jeannie Robertson, the two began collecting and learning traditional folk songs themselves. Upon returning stateside, Paton continued to perform and record as a solo artist for several years before settling briefly in the Midwest and taking a job in a department store’s record department so that he could be around to help Caroline raise their two young sons.

The couple moved to New England in the early 1960s, and, in 1961, at the urging of Lee Haggerty, whom they had met in Chicago, and with financial support from him and his sister, launched Folk-Legacy Records to release their own recordings of traditional folk music. The label’s first release was a collection of field recordings that Paton collected from “Frank Proffitt, of Reese, North Carolina.” (Although he didn’t write it, Profitt is credited as the source of “Tom Dooley.”) Among the more than 120 recordings released by Folk-Legacy over the years have been albums by such songwriters as Gordon Bok, Michael Cooney, The Johnson Girls, Cindy Kallet, Jean Redpath, Rosalie Sorrels and Bill Staines, among others. Of course, The Patons also released their own recordings on the label.

“In a world where meeting your ‘idols’ rarely works out very well, Sandy Paton was an inspiration,” asserts Mark Moss, editor of Sing Out! “His love, dedication and vision for traditional music was unwavering … but he was never strident, pushy or rude about his impressive knowledge. This was a guy who was all about loving the music and wanting to share his love for the songs and singers. And each Folk-Legacy release exuded that passion.”

As performing artists, and in keeping with the folk tradition, the Patons encouraged folks during their own concerts to sing-along on choruses and be active participants in the folk music experience, preferring, as they put it, “to sing with people, rather than at them.” In 1993, the Patons were named Connecticut’s State Troubadours.

“I think those of us who have the privilege to host folk radio programs owe an incredible debt to Sandy,” maintains Ron Olesko, host of the long-running “Traditions,” on WFDU-FM in Teaneck, New Jersey. Olesko, who will pay tribute to Paton during his show on Sunday, August 2, believes that “his contribution to the folk revival deserves more attention.” Calling Paton “a folk music icon and one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet,” Olesko asserts that “he was one of the integral forces in keeping folk music alive, keeping it away from the clutches of the commercial folk revival forces, and teaching each of us the beauty of a song that is sung among friends. His work cannot be underestimated, and his character and good nature should be an example for all of us.”

Editor’s Note: This article was originally prepared on July 27 but could not be posted until now due to technical issues involving our server.