In Memoriam: Scott Alarik, Bill Staines & Joe Virga

Scott Alarik, Bill Staines and Joe Virga — each of whom made important contributions to the folk music community in the U.S. — passed away in early December 2021 and will be greatly missed. Ethan Baird, executive director of Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA), pays tribute to them below.

This has simply been a wretched week for the folk music community in the northeast. ⁠
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Joe Virga has spent decades welcoming musicians into the fold, from his Cup of Joe Showcases at NERFA conferences, to his forever presence in the lobbies of Kerhonkson [NY] and Stamford [CT] – Joe was always ready, waiting and eager to hear everyone and share his songs. ⁠
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During the first years of working “in the scene,” whenever I went to a show, my father would say: “Tell Bill I say hi! We went to school together you know!” He would say it every time as if I had forgotten, and I would pass on his message to Bill Staines whether it was Club Passim or the Me & Thee coffeehouse. Bill would smile a little and ask if my father was keeping out of trouble. While I didn’t know Bill particularly well, his clear legacy in the scene, along with my father’s insistence on a pre-existing connection (and I suspect Bill’s playing along), was one of the many things that made me feel like there was a pre-built sense of community when I started out. I don’t think I ever got a chance to thank Bill for that and I wish I had.⁠
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Lastly, there simply was no better storyteller’s storyteller than Scott Alarik. His love of the literal history of the people behind the folk revival and the Northeast folk scene was unparalleled. He loudly praised our victories and he treasured and cared for our broken bits. ⁠
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I am not a religious man, but even so, I hope these three great storytellers find a campfire in the great beyond and allow themselves a moment to revel in lives well lived and stories well told. ⁠ – Ethan Baird

Editor’s Note:

I’m very saddened by the passings of Scott Alarik, Bill Staines and Joe Virga. Although I didn’t know Scott or Bill well, I’d spoken with both on numerous occasions. One of the most prolific and influential folk music writers in the country, Scott covered folk for the Boston Globe, wrote for many national magazines, and was a regular contributor to public radio. He was also a singer-songwriter, an author (Deep Community: Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground and the novel Revival), and wrote the scripts and provided the video narration for Folk Alliance International’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. Bill was a New Hampshire-based traveling troubadour and prolific songwriter, who wrote such gems as “A Place in the Choir,” “Bridges,” “Child of Mine,” “Crossing the Water,” “River,” and “Roseville Fair.” I have a number of Bill’s albums and enjoyed seeing him in concert nearly every January here on Long Island, where he played annually as part of the Our Times Coffeehouse series for 30 years. Joe, a Brooklyn, New York-bred and Florida-based singer-songwriter, was a big presence at NERFA and Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) conferences, where he hosted Cup of Joe showcases and afforded many artists — particularly first-timers — opportunities to be seen and heard. We may never see and hear these three live again but, thankfully, we have their recorded music, writings, and memories to remind us of them.

Here’s a link to a video for Joe Virga’s song “A Prayer for the Living”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZi1TzwcIuQ

Here’s one of Bill Staines performing his classic “River”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJiEsiO9ZRI

And in this video, Scott Alarik reads excerpts form Revival, his novel set in the folk world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E17wu9DPlm8

Scott Alarik’s and Joe Virga’s passings were unexpected, and I’m not sure of their causes of death, while Bill Staines shared the following message on his Facebook page on Nov. 30:

Hi folks,

This old horse is tired. It’s time to ride on.