Just days before the pandemic shutdown in March of 2020, Tom Chapin visited my show in Teaneck, New Jersey studios of WFDU-FM.   Tom was there in advance of his annual birthday concert, which was going to be held in Beacon, New York at the Towne Crier the following weekend.

A few days after Tom’s visit, the shutdown began.  Tom’s show was postponed, we began broadcasting remotely on WFDU-FM (which was a piece of cake for me since I had been running Folk Music Notebook remotely for 10 months at the time).

Flash forward to 2022.  Although the pandemic is still with us, we are back in the studios at WFDU – fully vaccinated and boostered.  I have been holding off on having in-studio guests, so when the time came for me to finally bring folks back for a live interview, there was only one logical choice – Tom Chapin.

During the pandemic, Tom kept busy. With his daughters nearby and also locked down, they began a daily series of live Internet broadcasts from their home.  There family shows were a perfect pick-me-up for that time of isolation – they brought a feeling of community, of family and inspiration – plus some great music!  To quote one of his songs, Tom was there to “pass the music on”.

Tom has also been working on his next album, which will be released this summer.  The album will be called “Hold Your Ground” and when Tom visited the show he gave us a sneak peak.  There are some great collaborations on this album, including some songs co-written by Si Kahn.

Oh yes, Tom is finally getting his birthday party at the Towne Crier, a bit late but a welcome celebration.

From our archive, here is Tom’s recent visit with some samples from the new album: