Ken Waldman

May 1, 2026. How did that happen? So much has been going on that it's been hard to keep up. 

After a busy 2025, already this year so much to list: gigs in Pennsylvania, New York, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, and Colorado--and that doesn't include the big winter ice storm that played havoc with Ken's Oxford MS residency (and shut down the university for two weeks), nor big, busy conferences in New York City, New Orleans, and Baltimore. It also doesn't include the transmission rebuild in Louisiana, a second transmission failure in Utah, and other car problems. 

But, hey, Ken has been at this awhile. Thanks to tow trucks, buses, rental cars, and his first ever Uber calls, he made it to April dates in California and Alaska, and with the van now fixed (fingers crossed it keeps running well), he's currently amid Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Texas dates, with two solid June weeks of North Carolina (and Virginia) commitments. Back in February he launched a crowdfunding campaign to make up for the income shortfall due to postponed gigs. It's a memoir about money, making art, and survival. He invites you to read the first chapter of the book and then to contribute to the project. The Kickstarter campaign reached its goal mid-March, but Ken is taking pledges through May (and pledging ensures you get the book before the official October publication date). 

What's next?

How to top the past months, which featured transcendent New York City time playing with Erica Weiss and Ilan Moss (with Larry Bellorin and Joe Troop sitting in on a few tunes one night), plus Mississippi Delta gigs with multi-instrumentalist Cody Ruth, a solo workshop and show at the fabulous Lowe Mill in Hunstville AL, Ken's 30th plane crash anniversary show at the equally fabulous Elsewhere Museum in Greensboro, a Los Angeles gig with Kelly Marie Martin and Maddie Witler, and an Alaska folk festival set with Jerry Hagins and guests (not just any guests, but festival guest artist, Willi Carlisle, with Beth Chrisman and Pete Bowers--so we ended with four fiddles and a guitar; you can even listen to that 15-minute festival spot here). And his two April days hosted by the Palmer Arts Council went excellently, thank you, all the way from my Thursday morning solo assembly for 350+ kindergartners to 2nd graders to my Friday evening concert joined by Anchorage multi-instrumentalist, George Sleichter.

Coming up, lots more driving with gigs from Washington to North Carolina, including a Saturday, June 13 afternoon set at the Fiddle & Fork Festival hosted by Blue Ridge Music Center and Smithsonian Folklife. Mid June, or shortly thereafter, Ken expects his new memoir to be in his hands. Ah, summer 2026!

By the way, this page shows the kind of work Ken continues to provide. (And if you want the really deep dive into Ken's days, click this.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

His twelve CDs of old-time Appalachian-style string-band music include two for children.

His twenty-four books consist of seventeen full-length poetry collections, a memoir about his life as a touring artist,
three volumes of acrostic poems for kids, a short story collection, and a hybrid book that's part creative writing manual,
part memoir, part full-length collection of poems (about writers and writing). And there's also a novel.

A former college professor with an MFA in Creative Writing, he's been a visiting writer at over 100 colleges and universities,
a visiting artist at over 260 schools in 35 states, and has led workshops from Alaska to Maine.

As a performer, he's played from the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage to the Woodford Folk Festival (Queensland, Australia),
occasionally as a soloist, more often as leader of one of his ever-changing troupes of nationally recognized musicians.

Here's more about the music, the writing, the children's programs, and how they're all coming together under the broader
umbrella of Nomadic Productions.

Highlights? His essay in the Sept./Oct. 2015 issue of Poets & Writers magazine, an essay from over a decade ago, continues                                                                   to feel current (acrostic poems from that piece are in some of the new 2025 collections).

2017-2021, Ridgeway Press of Michigan published an eight-volume series of Ken's books. It's a special project.

Below, a pair of  8 1/2-minute video samplers featuring eight acts from his 2016 and 2017 Manhattan to Moose Pass roots
music variety shows, an evening he produces annually in conjunction with January's APAP conference in NYC. In the middle,
Ken Waldman with Willi Carlisle as part of a Ken Waldman & The Wild Ones show at Chico Performances in spring 2019
where Ken was joined by four other musicians. That Willi Cariisle--he's been going places. Check him out!