Music and Musicians

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Roland Fiori (NHHS)

Roland was a popular local musician who knew everyone in the local non-painter artistic community. He served as director of music for St. Martin’s Church in New Hope and mentions the names of many famous person who lived in or came to the New Hope area. Recording and details.

Peddler’s Pack (STHS)

In 1958 James (Jim) Gold started an all-male a cappella group called the Peddler’s Pack. The Pack was an outgrowth of a local World War II quartet known as the Robert Shaw Chorale after tenor ‘Pop’ Shaw, a founder of the Solebury School. Many of the members also sang in the choir of Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury and the group was briefly known as ‘The Voices of Gold,’ named after their founder, leader, Sunday-night rehearsal host, and pitch pipe, Jim Gold, who lived in Lumberville. The permanent name Peddler’s Pack came after their first paying gig at The Pub in Peddlers Village.
The Pack competed annually in an event called the Spring Sing, a U.S. competition of male a cappella groups from around the country.  In the late 1970s, at Jim’s invitation, the all-male group added a female tenor voice, Ann Schenkle, a revolutionary act at the time. Their recordings and most of their sheet music are in the Library of Congress. Recordings and details.

Lynn Sims’s Bucks County Ballads (HC)

Lynn was born and raised in Bucks County, living in Yardley and Morrisville. She had a deep-seated love of the county and after moving to Fayetteville, NY, composed folk ballads about her former home. She recorded these ballads in an album called These Gentle Valleys. Recording and details.