User:Michael Schonbach

I was born in New York City in 1948, the son of Holocaust survivors. I grew up on classical and folk music, specifically The Weavers (the first concert I ever saw was their 1956 reunion), Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, and Susan Reed. I passed through the Kingston & Chad Mitchell Trio years through to Peter, Paul & Mary, then Bob Dylan the folk rockers, and contemporary singer-songwriters. In the 1970s I discovered British folk music, especially the traditional fiddle music of Scotland and Shetland, songwriters such as Ralph McTell, and folk-rock groups. I studied the violin for several years and played on albums with my wife, Judy Polan, who recorded two LPs and a CD on her own Ruby Slippers label between 1984 and 1992. Over the years my interest widened to include Irish, Celtic, Australian and European traditional and contemporary folk. More recently I have been listening to American old-time and country-folk.

In 1989 I started Still Records After All These Years, a home business specializing in rare folk music on vinyl (I have since added a few CDs to my offerings). I believe I am the only record dealer in American selling folk music exclusively -- Mark Moss of Sing-Out! called me the best of the second-hand folk dealers. My inventory at any one time consists of approximately 2000 folk records. Recently I bought for resale the complete "Folksongs of Britain" series on the American Caedmon label. My business is now in its 23rd year. The business website is www.stillrecords.com

I am hoping that I might be a resource for users of Folkopedia, both for information and for records which users may search for.