Dave Sear

{{Infobox musical artist | background = person | honorific_prefix = | name = Dave Sear | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | alias = | birth_date =  | birth_place = New York City | origin = | death_date =  | death_place = | genre = Folk music | occupation = | instrument = Banjo | discography = | years_active =  | label = | current_member_of = | past_member_of = American Folk Trio | spouse =  | partner =  | website =  | module = | module2 = | module3 = }}

'''Dave Sear''' is an American folk singer and banjo player. He performed and recorded with musicians that included Mary Travers, Jean Ritchie, and Oscar Brand. He was also part of the American Folk Trio with Sonja Savig and Lee Kahn. Sear also had a career as a radio host and producer for the national syndicated radio program ''Folk Music Almanac'' which aired on WNYC in New York City for over 40 years from 1959 to 1996. ==Early life and education==

Sear learned to play banjo when he was eight years old. He attended high school in New York City where he emphasized playing folk music.<ref name="WDN">{{cite web |title=Sominico, Sear Dancer, Folk Singer at WSC |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/414336492/?match=1&terms=%22Dave%20Sear%22%20folk |website=The Winona Daily News |date=24 June 1961}}</ref> He attended Black Mountain College where he studied music with composer Lou Harrison. He went on to attend Manhattan School of Music and had formal music training at the Music Work Shop in New York.<ref name="WDN"/> Sear was inspired by social activist and banjo player Pete Seeger, who performed at his school when he was younger.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last1=Kandell |first1=Leslie |title=Playing the Banjo With Higher Aims |work=The New York Times |date=30 April 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/30/nyregion/playing-the-banjo-with-higher-aims.html }}</ref> He was also influenced by the Almanac Singers, Golden Gate Singers, and Lead Belly.<ref name="WDN"/> ==Career==

He performed on the Folksong Festival radio show<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=John S |title=40 YEARS OF SONG BY BRAND |work=The New York Times |date=19 April 1985 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/19/arts/40-years-of-song-by-brand.html }}</ref> and later played banjo and sang on the 1948 Oscar Brand album ''Absolute Nonsense,'' and on the Oscar Brand ''Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads'' series, including ''Bawdy Sea Shanties and Bawdy Songs Go to College''.<ref name = "album1">{{cite magazine |title=Reviews of New Pop Albums |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_AoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Dave+Sear+Oscar+Brand&pg=PA20 |magazine=Billboard |date=30 June 1958}}</ref> He also recorded the 1959 live album ''A Folk Concert in Town Hall, New York'' along with Jean Ritchie and Oscar Brand.<ref name="album2">{{cite web |title=Catalog Releases |url=https://folkways.si.edu/catalog |website=Smithsonian Folk Ways Recordings}}</ref> In the 1950s, Sear began hosting and producing the WNYC-FM show ''Folk Music Almanac'', a nationally syndicated radio program which he ran for more than 35 years.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nayyar |first1=Seema |title=Dave Sear Strums Songs in the Key of Life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/711633542/?match=1&terms=%22Dave%20Sear%22%20folk |website=Newsday Nassau |date=13 July 1990}}</ref><ref name="NYT"/> He also hosted the shows ''Adventures in Folk Music'' and ''Folk and Baroque''.<ref name="UNC"/>

In the early 1960s, Sear formed his own group, the American Folk Trio, along with Sonja Savig and Lee Kahn.<ref name="folk">{{cite web |last1=Ommerman |first1=Betty |title=Folk Songs Are His Language |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/711650146/?match=1&terms=%22Dave%20Sear%22%20folk |website=Newsday Nassau |date=29 July 1990}}</ref> The three met at the Yale Folk Festival as solo artists and played as a group on television as well as toured throughout the United States.<ref>{{cite web |title=South Mountain Slates First Concerts Wednesday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1069591042/?match=1&terms=%22Dave%20Sear%22%20folk |website=The Morning Union |date=16 July 1962}}</ref> Sear went solo again beginning in 1965.<ref name="folk"/>

Sear is credited with teaching Paul Newman how to play banjo for the 1967 film ''Cool Hand Luke''.<ref name="NYT"/> He also performed with Mary Travers prior to her joining Peter, Paul and Mary.<ref name="NYT"/> Sear was also a faculty member of Hofstra University where he taught courses on American folk music.<ref>{{cite web |title=Across the Country |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/166082764/?match=1&terms=%22Dave%20Sear%22%20folk |website=The Journal News |date=2 November 2002}}</ref> Audio recordings of Sear from his radio shows from 1959 to 1996 are part of the ''Dave Sear Collection'' at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<ref name="UNC">{{cite web |title=Collection Title: Dave Sear Collection, 1959-1996 |url=https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/20471/ |website=University of North Carolina}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sear, Dave}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American folk musicians