Ed Trickett

Also from Chicago, as of late, our good friend and musical mentor Ed Trickett returns to the Big Muddy this year. He first came in 1994, and most recently with Gordon Bok and Ann Muir. A favored figure in the U.S. folk

scene for 30 years, Ed has the reputation as a musician with whom other musicians love to play. Ed was one of the original members of the Golden Ring, a rather transient community of musicians who have gathered since the 1960s to share songs and tunes and record them. The sense of community, as well as a love and respect for traditional music highlights Ed’s repertoire and style. Even as a solo performer, Ed’s early choral training comes out as he uses his guitar and hammered dulcimer as distinct voices to achieve texture and counterpoint. Yet, he still puts the song in front of the singer, delivering it with emotion and honesty. He is a wonderful finder and sharer of songs, and many owe to him their first hearing of some of their favorites. A native of Washington D.C. and a professor of community psychology, Ed is known mostly in the Northeast, but academia has brought him to Chicago, where the Golden Ring first congregated.