sang there. played that.
Caryl P. Weiss performs five hundred years of music from both sides of the Atlantic, including
traditional American and British ballads, sea shanties and drinking songs; old-timey, country, and
bluegrass music; folk songs of the '60's, contemporary songs, and her own compositions. She has
played about 38 instruments, including the guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, dulcimer, autoharp, oboe,
bagpipes, tin whistle, piano, concertina, and bul-bul tarang.
Caryl P's interest in the guitar and folk music began in 1963 (when her sister gave her a few guitar
lessons). Originally from Philadelphia, she established herself as one of that city's most active
musicians while still in her teens. She gave her first professional performance at the age of 15, began
composing at 17, and won a songwriting contest sponsored by RCA Records when she was 19. That
same year, she was elected to the board of directors of the Philadelphia Folksong Society (which runs
the famed Philadelphia Folk Festival). Since then, she has performed both solo and in such diverse
ensembles as the sea shanty groups Outward Bound and the Liverpool Judies, Folk Goddesses (with
Mary Catherine Reynolds), the Juggernaut String Band, the Kerrville All-Stars, and the Buzzard Band
(Waldemar's jazz band), and has backed up many other performers, including Bill Staines, Priscilla
Herdman, Eugene O'Donnell, David Amram, Robert Earl Keen, Jr., Carolyn Hester...even Ken Kesey!
She has performed "from Alaska to Austria, from Canada to the Caribbean": Besides performing in 24
states, she's played in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Holland, England,
Wales, Canada, and Mexico. She's been heard on numerous broadcasts on radio and TV, including
"The Dr. Demento Show" and NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Car Talk". The Liverpool
Judies sang with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music in that great city.
Branching out into the publishing field, she's edited and published three music books (one of original
material and two traditional songbooks). A sea shanty volume waits in the wings, and she began a
screenplay based on "The Handsome Cabin Boy". Her discography includes eight releases on her own
label, and appearances on more than twenty others.
Aside from performing and publishing, she has had her own booking agency--booking Stan Rogers'
first three American tours, plus tours and concerts by Kate Wolf, Barde, Sara Grey, Carolyn Hester,
and others. She's a Life Member of the Philadelphia Folksong Society, she produced Philadelphia's
Sea/Song Festival, and has coordinated many benefit concerts. She was a charter member of Guitar
Players of America, Hey Rube!, and Fat Folksingers of America.
Caryl P. moved to the Texas Hill Country in 1984, working as administrative assistant of the Kerrville
Music Festivals. She moved to Austin in 1990, promptly winning the prestigious Austin Songwriters
Competition, was named "Best Folk Act" in the 1995/96 Austin Music Awards, and was biographed in
Who's Who in Entertainment. Additionally, she has presented a sea shanty program under the
auspices of the Texas Commission on the Arts, and was commissioned an Admiral in the Texas Navy
by Governor Ann Richards!
College in Philadelphia, Caryl P. was
president of the Twilight Players, and was
inducted into the Alpha Psi Omega
national dramatic honor fraternity. While
studying communications at Temple
University, she was on the sailing team,
and served in VISTA. She earned her
Emergency Medical Technician certificate
from Austin Community College, and has
been studying homeopathic medicine since
the late 1980's. She is a member of British
Actors' Equity, the National Polar Bears
Club, and Daughters of the British Empire;
she's a Major in the Civil Air Patrol
(United States Air Force Auxiliary), where
she flies in an air search and rescue
squadron, and also serves in the U.S.
Coast Guard Auxiliary. She had a disabling
motorcycle accident in 1981, and served
on the Austin Mayor's Committee for
People with Disabilities, where she wrote
the award-winning Disabled Parking
Enforcement Volunteer program for the
City of Austin.
sailing instructor, police and fire dispatcher, pizza chef, pharmacy technician, and traffic reporter
(both on the ground and in the helicopter). Her hobbies include photography, sailing, flying
airplanes (with and without engines), SCUBA diving, old English sports cars (particularly MGs), and
appearing as an extra in movies (Walt Disney's "The Big Green", plus "Where the Heart Is",
"Movie Star", and "Miss Congeniality"), and on TV ("Walker, Texas Ranger").
She currently lives on the Chesapeake Bay with her cat, where she pursues her love of sailing,
music, and photography. She sings regularly aboard the 74-foot schooner Woodwind, the boat used
as Christopher Walken's private yacht in the movie "Wedding Crashers". You can hear the song
that she wrote about Woodwind and the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, at
www.schooner-woodwind.com. She presents her "Sea Shanties 101" program at maritime
museums around the bay, and attends as many sea shanty sings as her schedule allows.
Caryl P. Weiss' musical tastes are as varied as her experiences: She is just as comfortable in the
traditional fields as she is as a songwriter; just as competent singing a capella as playing an
instrumental. As she reminds us, "The more you love music, the more music you love"...