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Patrick Sky
Patrick Sky
	Patrick Sky in 1966
Background information
Born	October 2, 1940; College Park, Georgia, U.S.
Died	May 26, 2021 (aged 80); Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.
Website	patricksky.com

Patrick Sky (born Patrick Linch; October 2, 1940 – May 26, 2021) was an American musician, folk singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was noted for his album Songs That Made America Famous (1973). He was of Irish and Native American ancestry, and played Irish traditional music and uilleann pipes in the later part of his career.

Early life

Sky was born in College Park, Georgia, on October 2, 1940.^[1] He was of Muscogee and Irish descent.^[1]^[2] He grew up near the Lafourche Swamps of Louisiana, where he learned guitar, banjo, and harmonica. He moved to New York City after military service in the early 1960s, and began playing traditional folk songs in clubs before starting to write his own material.^[1]^[2]

Career

A close contemporary of Dave Van Ronk, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs and others in the Greenwich Village folk boom, Sky released four well received albums from 1965 to 1969. He played with many of the leading performers of the period, particularly Buffy Sainte-Marie, Eric Andersen and the blues singer Mississippi John Hurt (whose Vanguard albums Sky produced). Sky's song "Many a Mile" became a folk club staple;^[1] with recordings by Sainte-Marie and others.^[2]^[3]

Being politically radical, Sky wrote, recorded, and released the satirical Songs That Made America Famous in 1973 (the album was recorded in 1971 but rejected by several record companies before it found a home).^[1] This album featured the earliest known recorded version of the song "Luang Prabang", written by Sky's friend Dave Van Ronk. Sky had honed his politically charged satire in earlier albums, but Songs That Made America Famous raised the stakes. The Adelphi Records website describes how the content was, indeed, shocking, yet how several critics encouraged the public to rush and buy these timely and brilliant "explicit lyrics" while it could.^[1]^[4] Sky gradually moved into the field of Irish traditional music, producing artists, and founding Green Linnet Records in 1973. He was recognised as an expert in building and playing the Irish uilleann pipes, often performing with his wife, Cathy.^[2]

Sky edited a reissued version of the important 19th century dance tune book Ryan's Mammoth Collection in 1995.^[5] This was followed up with a reissue of Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels six years later.^[6]

Sky released his final full-length studio album, Through a Window, in 1985.^[7]

Personal life

Sky married Cathy Larson Sky in 1981. They met three years earlier and moved to North Carolina six years after getting married. Together, they had one child, Liam.^[1]^[8]

Sky died on May 26, 2021, while in hospice care in Asheville, North Carolina. He was 80, and suffered from prostate cancer and bone cancer prior to his death. He had also been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2017.^[1]^[8]

Discography

For an in depth, illustrated discography, see https://www.wirz.de/music/skydsc.htm

Singer Songwriter Project (Elektra, 1965) (Sky is one of four artists, contributing three tracks, alongside David Cohen, Richard Fariña, and Bruce Murdoch)^[9]
Patrick Sky Vanguard 79179, (1965)^[9]
A Harvest of Gentle Clang Vanguard 79207, (1966)^[9]
Reality Is Bad Enough Verve Forecast FTS 3052, (1968)^[9]
Photographs Verve Forecast FTS-3079, (1969)^[9]
Songs That Made America Famous Adelphi Records Verve Forecast FTS-3079 (1973) (also Producer)^[9]
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Adelphi Records AD-R4101, (1975) (also Producer)^[9]
Through a Window, (...Topical And Folk Songs Of The Sixties) Shanachie 95003, (1985) (also Producer)^[9]

With Cathy Sky

Down to Us Ossian, (2009)^[2]

Legacy

The refrain of the title song of his third album, "Reality is bad enough, why should I tell the truth?" is included in Buckminster Fuller's 1970 book, I Seem to Be a Verb.

Joni Mitchell identified Sky as "Richard" from her song "The Last Time I Saw Richard" from her Blue album.^[10]^[11]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Browne, David (May 30, 2021). "Patrick Sky, Folk Singer and Bob Dylan Contemporary, Dead at 80". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Harris, Craig. "Patrick Sky – Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
^ "Cover versions of Many a Mile by Buffy Sainte-Marie | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com.
^ "Patrick Sky". Adelphi Records. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
^ Elias Howe and William Bradbury Ryan, Ryan's Mammoth Collection: 1050 Reels and Jigs, Hornpipes, Clogs, Walk-arounds, Essences, Strathspeys, Highland Flings and Contra Dances, with Figures, and How to Play Them. Bowing and Fingering Marked. Together with Forty Introductory Studies for the Violin, with Explanations of Bowing, etc. (Boston: Elias Howe, 1883), reformatted facsimile edition published by Mel Bay Publications, Pacific, MO: 1995, ed. Patrick Sky. According to Sky, the book was first published in 1882, a year in advance of the copyright date.
^ Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels (Boston: Elias Howe, c. 1867), reformatted edition published by Mel Bay Publications, Pacific, MO: 2001, ed. Patrick Sky.
^ "Patrick Sky, Folk Artist Who Recorded Controversial 'Songs That Made America Famous,' Dies at 80". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Carr, Debbie (May 31, 2021). "Patrick Sky, pioneering folk musician, dies aged 80". New Musical Express. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Patrick Sky – Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
^ Mercer, Michelle (2009). Will You Take Me As I Am. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781416559290.
^ Mercer, Michelle. "Will You Take Me As I am". Joni Mitchell. Retrieved June 26, 2021.

General bibliography

Okun, Milton (1968). Something to Sing About. New York: Macmillan.

External links

Patrick Sky and Cathy Sky's webpage – Official website of Patrick and Cathy Sky, including a biography and a link to a discography
Adelphi Records – In-context description of the album Songs That Made America Famous and contemporaneous reviews
Patrick Sky discography at Discogs