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Peter Stampfel

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Peter Stampfel
Stampfel in 2000
Born (1938-10-29) October 29, 1938 (age 87)
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, United States
OccupationAssociate editor at DAW Books
Spouse(s)Betsy Wollheim (1970s-present, as of 2020); Antonia (a.k.a. Barbara Ann Goldblatt, 1960s–1970s, d. 2017)[1][2][3][4]
Musical career
GenreFolk
OccupationsSinger-songwriter, musician
Instrumentsfiddle, violin, harmonica, guitar, banjo
Years active1963–present
Labels

Peter Stampfel (born October 29, 1938) is an American fiddle player, old-time musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of The Holy Modal Rounders, which he formed with guitarist Steve Weber in 1963 in New York City. The Rounders' early recordings are cited as among the first examples of psychedelic folk and freak folk.[5] Music critic Robert Christgau declared that "next to Bob Dylan, Stampfel is the closest thing to a genius" to emerge from the New York folk revival of the 1960s.[6]

Biography

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Early life and musical formation

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Stampfel performs in 2012

Peter Stampfel was born on October 29, 1938, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee.[7] In the late 1950s, he relocated to New York City, settling in Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side, joining the emerging American folk music revival scene just as Bob Dylan and others were arriving.[8] In 1961, Stampfel was living on MacDougal Street and playing more traditional roots music at local coffeehouses. Dylan was a fan, listing Stampfel among his favorite singers in a 1961 interview.[9] He was deeply influenced by Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music.[10]

The Holy Modal Rounders

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In May 1963, Stampfel was introduced to guitarist Steve Weber by his then-girlfriend Antonia Duren (known mononymously as Antonia).[1] Stampfel described his founding idea as asking what would happen if Charlie Poole and Uncle Dave Macon were transported to 1963 and exposed to contemporary rock and roll.[11] The two began performing together, and in 1963 were signed to Prestige Records by producer Paul A. Rothchild. Their self-titled debut (1964) and follow-up The Holy Modal Rounders 2 (1965), produced by Sam Charters and Larry Schreiber, combined traditional folk and old-time material with rewritten, often drug-referencing lyrics.[12]

In late 1964, Stampfel and Weber joined The Fugs, the underground rock band formed by Beat poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, whose first public performance, at Sanders's Peace Eye bookstore on February 24, 1965, was attended by Andy Warhol, William Burroughs, and George Plimpton.[13] Stampfel contributed to the sessions that became The Fugs First Album (1966), before departing in July 1965, citing frustration with Weber's erratic behavior and unwillingness to rehearse new material.[14]

After leaving the Fugs, Stampfel formed the Moray Eels with Antonia and, soon after, playwright Sam Shepard on drums, a collaboration Stampfel initiated after meeting Shepard in September 1966.[15] The group reunited with Weber at the behest of ESP-Disk founder Bernard Stollman in 1967 to record Indian War Whoop, a psychedelic departure from their earlier old-time recordings.[16] The band, now officially reconstituted as the Holy Modal Rounders, moved briefly to California in 1968 to record The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders for Elektra Records.[14]

While in California, the band opened for Pink Floyd in San Francisco and Ike and Tina Turner in Los Angeles, and performed on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.[17] The highlight of their wider exposure came in 1969, when their song "If You Want to Be a Bird (Bird Song)" was included in Dennis Hopper's film Easy Rider, whose soundtrack reached number 6 on the Billboard chart.[18][11] In 1972, Weber and the rest of the band relocated to Portland, Oregon. Stampfel stayed in New York, effectively separating from the group, though he would collaborate with them sporadically in the following decades.[14]

Solo career and collaborations (1972–1995)

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In 1975, Stampfel formed the Unholy Modal Rounders, a separate band that joined Michael Hurley, Jeffrey Frederick, and the Clamtones to record the collaborative album Have Moicy! (1976). The Unholy Modal Rounders' final live performance, from July 7, 1977, was released by Don Giovanni Records in 2024 as Unholier Than Thou: 7/7/77.[19]

In 1977, Stampfel rejoined Weber and the Portland lineup to record Last Round (1978), and in 1981, the two released Going Nowhere Fast, their first duo album in over fifteen years.[14] Stampfel took a day job that same year at DAW Books, the science fiction publishing company run by his wife Betsy Wollheim, where he has served as an associate editor.[20]

In 1996, Stampfel and Weber reunited for a performance at the Bottom Line in New York, which The New York Times described as "intimate, spontaneous and extraordinary."[21] This began a series of reunion performances and resulted in the album Too Much Fun! (1999). In 1998, Stampfel won a Grammy Award for his contribution to the liner notes of the CD reissue of the Anthology of American Folk Music.[22]

Stampfel has remained prolific in later life, releasing recordings on Don Giovanni Records and collaborating with a wide range of artists including They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, Jeffrey Lewis, Jeffrey Frederick, Bongwater, Michael Hurley, and Baby Gramps. He has performed with Bob Dylan, Roches, Richard Barone and Loudon Wainwright III.[23] Stampfel has been the leader of several musical projects, including the Bottlecaps, the Du-Tels, and the WORM All-Stars.[24]

Legacy and influence

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Music journalist Greil Marcus used the Holy Modal Rounders as the earliest example of old-time music being reinvented with modern aesthetics, commenting that they were "incapable of taking anything seriously, but nevertheless [got] to the bottom of folk songs other people sang as if they were obvious."[25] Writing for Spin in 1999, Eric Weisbard declared that "Stampfel has become to roots music what Jon Langford is to punk: the patron saint of lost causes and good times in spite of them."[26]

Personal life

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Stampfel was married to Antonia (Barbara Ann Goldblatt), a songwriter and collaborator who contributed lyrics to several Rounders-era recordings, in the 1960s and early 1970s; she died in 2017.[2] He married Betsy Wollheim in the 1970s, publisher at DAW Books.[27] They have two daughters and reside in New York City.[28]

Discography

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References

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  1. 1 2 Vila, Benito (February 27, 2019). "Peter Stampfel: The Last Holy Modal Rounder Tells All". Please Kill Me. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Antonia Duren". Discogs. 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  3. ↑ McFadden, John (2007). Bear Suit Follies: The Songs, Stories and Letters of Antonia. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0615137735.
  4. ↑ Sisario, Ben (March 6, 2020). "Steve Weber, 76, a Founder of an Influential Folk Band, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Welcome to the weird world of Peter Stampfel". The Irish Times. December 8, 2001. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  6. ↑ The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2006), May 10, 2023, retrieved September 8, 2023
  7. ↑ Layne, Joslyn. "Peter Stampfel". Allmusic. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  8. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. "The Holy Modal Rounders Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  9. ↑ Wald, Elijah. Dylan Goes Electric. p. 76.
  10. ↑ Stampfel, Peter (1999). Too Much Fun! (Liner Notes). The Holy Modal Rounders. Rounder Records.
  11. 1 2 Boros, Chris (February 24, 2009). "Holy Modal Rounders: Oddly Influential Folk". NPR. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  12. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. Unknown Legends of Rock'n'Roll (1998). pp. 224–229.
  13. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers. pp. 94–108.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Gross, Jason (September 1996). "Peter Stampfel Interview Part 2". Perfect Sound Forever.
  15. ↑ "Peter Stampfel". The Downtown Pop Underground. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
  16. ↑ Stampfel, Peter (October 2017). "Sam Shepard Tribute, Part 1–3". Perfect Sound Forever.
  17. ↑ Greenfield, Robert. True West. pp. 95–96.
  18. ↑ Leech, David. The Seasons They Change. pp. 68–71.
  19. ↑ "Unholy Modal Rounders 'Unholier Than Thou: 7/7/77'". Don Giovanni Records. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
  20. ↑ Douglas, Paul and Sam Lovelace (directors). The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2006). 48 minutes in.
  21. ↑ Strauss, Neil (July 15, 1996). "Irreverent Folkies in Back-Porch Jam". The New York Times.
  22. ↑ Pareles, Jon (February 26, 1998). "Dylans, Father and Son, Gather Grammys". The New York Times.
  23. ↑ Gross, Jason (September 1996). "Peter Stampfel interview". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  24. ↑ Palmer, Robert (May 16, 1986). "Stampfel's Bottle Caps: A Merry Mix of Music". The New York Times.
  25. ↑ Marcus, Greil (2007). "Death Letters". greilmarcus.net. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  26. ↑ Weisbard, Eric. Spin, 1999.
  27. ↑ Joffe, Justin (February 11, 2018). "At Home in SoHo With Psych-Folk Legend Peter Stampfel". InsideHook. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  28. ↑ Segal, Stephen H. (November 15, 2021). "Betsy Wollheim: Alpha Daughter". Locus Online. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  29. ↑ "The Fugs - Virgin Fugs Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic.
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