BEN TRAVERSE

FLORENCE, Wis. –Folk singer Ben Traverse will perform at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Florence County Library in Florence.

Traverse is a young person with a very wide hat who commands an array of instruments in his mission to bring the finest traditional folk music into the 21st century.

With deep roots in Michigan, Traverse finds himself in good company as a member of the Earthwork Music Collective, using traditional music as a vehicle for education, equity and environmental action.

Traverse has spent the better part of a decade cutting his teeth playing listening rooms, festivals and bars.

He’s found his passion steeping himself in the rich history of traditional folk music and using folk music as a vehicle for community, collaboration, education and environmental and social activism.

In 2021 he marked the beginning his chapter as a recording folk artist with the release of “Songs of the Lakes, Rivers,” and “Seas: Shanties, Forecastle Songs,” and other maritime ballads, a collaborative collection of sea shanties with Michael Dause (“Moss Manor,” “Treeskin”) under the name Shantyland, bridging the high seas and the Great Lakes.

In 2022 he released the solo full-length LP “Old Time American Music” and the EP “In the Moment,” both efforts aimed at capturing the feel of early Folkways recordings of a person in a room singing songs, intimate and raw.

Last year, Traverse continued down the path of collaborative music efforts, this time with fellow Manistee-raised musician Nick Veine, with a new album celebrating the music of Ireland titled “Me Grief and Tears to Smother: Traditional Songs and Ballads of the Irish Diaspora.”

The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Florence County Library and the Wisconsin Arts Board.

Light refreshments and snacks will be served.