David Mallett (born April 21, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his authorship of the "folk standard" composition "Garden Song".[1] He has recorded for independent record labels for most of his career.
Biography
A resident of Maine for most of his life, in the 1980s Mallett relocated to Nashville, and released two albums with the folk and blues label Vanguard. He has since moved back to Maine and established his own label, North Road Records.
Mallett wrote "Garden Song" when he was in his early twenties. He'd been listening to the radio when he went to help his father plant the garden at his homestead in Sebec, Maine. With "music in his head and work at his hands," the first verse came while planting:
Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
Mallett walked around the yard humming it. The next day, he wrote the second verse at a friend’s house. Being only the third or fourth song he'd written, Mallett regards "Garden Song" as a gift, one that altered the course of his life.[2] It was recorded by John Denver, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, and other acts. The song is likely why the University of Maine gave Mallett an honorary degree in 2014.[2]
Performance
Mallett frequently performs with violinist Susan Ramsey and bassist Michael Burd, with sound by Tom Gordon. He has recorded 17 albums, including The Fable True in 2007, based on Thoreau's last expedition in 1857.[3] and Alright Now a collection of songs including "Beautiful," dedicated to his daughter Molly.
He has performed in town halls and folk clubs across America and Europe in addition to major venues such as Barns of Wolf Trap, Newport Folk Festival, and Prairie Home Companion. The Bangor Daily News recognized him as one of the 58 most memorable Mainers of the 20th Century. The readers of Folkwax voted him "2003 Artist of the Year" and his album Artist in Me as "2003 Album of the Year".[4]
Legacy
His sons, Will and Luke, perform as The Mallett Brothers Band. The Mallett Brothers Band have a new album, "Live in Portland, Maine" available March 2019.[5]
Discography
David Mallett has released seventeen albums:
1978: David Mallett
Fire
We Were One
Inches and Miles
Circle of Friends
Arowsic
Garden Song
Dulcimer
It's Cold Tonite
I Knew This Place
I Wish I Were a Horse
Arthur
1979: Pennsylvania Sunrise
The Last Time I Saw Annie
Pennsylvania Sunrise
Moon Upon The Left
Haying Song
Midnite On The Water
Oranges And Roses
Phil Brown
Fast Gun Gettin' Slow
The Candle And The Cape
Ballad Of The Saint Anne's Reel
1981: Hard Light
Hard Time Love Song
Mr. Arthur's Place
Sweet Bird Of Youth
Highways
The Hard Light
On The Road From Boston
Time And Tide
All Dressed Up And Lonely
Country Disco
North To Alaska
After All These Years
You Say That The Battle Is Over
1983: Open Doors and Windows
Closer Now Than Ever
Open Doors And Windows
Snowbound
Thanks To Mother Mercy
This Little Town
I've Been Around
Photographs and Memories
The Longest Night
Milly, There's A Dance In Town
Northern Lights
1986: Vital Signs
1988: For a Lifetime
1993: This Town
1995: In the Falling Dark
Hungry for Love
Off the Ground
Closer to Truth
Like This
That Was the One
Way Out West
When the Sun Comes Up
Here We Go
Daddy's Oldsmobile
Come Out of the Blue
Hope For One and All
1997: Parallel Lives
I Hate to See this Town Go Down
Summer of my Dreams
Closer to Truth
I Picture You
You Say the Battle Is Over
Introduction to 'Phil Brown'
Phil Brown
Snowbound
Garden Song
After the Fall
Like This
Daddy's Oldsmobile
Fifty Years (Introduction To 'My Old Man')
My Old Man
Nothin' But a Long Goodbye
Parallel Lives
1999: Ambition
2003: Artist in Me
2006: Midnight on the Water
Angel Stand-in’ By
Here We Go
Greenin’ Up
Dulcimer
Walkin’
Somewhere in Time
Midnight on the Water
Artist in Me
I Knew this Place
Didn’t Nobody Teach You
Summer of My Dreams
Strange Life
Hometown Heroes
Parallel Lives
Fire
A Long Goodbye
Ballad of the St. Anne’s Reel
2007: The Fable True - Stories from Thoreau's the Maine Woods
