Quick Q and A with Bill Staines
 by Kathy S-B  ·  2 April 2010

Bill Staines is somewhat of a folk legend. He has been traveling the country for decades, singing his tunes, spinning his tales, and entertaining countless numbers of people with his heartfelt music. For more information about Bill Staines, go to his website. Here’s a video of Bill singing his dearly loved song, “River.”

You’ve been touring for a few decades now which is very impressive. Do you have one most memorable moment in all those years?

I’ve had so many experiences on the road over the years that it’s hard to pick out one in particular,

You have drive many miles on tour. What’s your latest mileage estimate and how many cars have you gone through over the years?

I’ve driven just a little under 3 million miles traveling around the country.

What’s it like to be a children’s book author now? How did you hook up with Kadir Nelson who did the wonderful illustrations for “All God’s Critters?”

“A Place In The Choir” was written over 30 years ago. The song has grown up and is now making its own way in the world. Although I own the publishing for the song, it has really come to belong to everybody. Somebody at Simon and Schuster heard the song and they decided to release it as an illustrated children’s book with Kadir Nelson’s wonderful artwork. I’m very proud of the song but it is out there making its own way in the world, hopefully bringing something of value to people.

You play a right handed guitar upside down. Do you know many other guitarists who do the same thing or are you alone in that category?

I picked up the guitar when I was around 11 years old. I knew I was left handed so I flipped the guitar over and learned that way. It’s not something you see every day but many people play upside down. It’s always the same story, I’m left handed, picked up the guitar, and taught myself from chord diagrams.

Can you picture yourself doing anything else other than making music?

Music is all I know, I don’t know what would do if I couldn’t play music.