Acclaimed independent singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet, engineer and producer Fred Gillen Jr. has traveled around the world for the last 25 years, performing his songs of hope in his never-ending quest to "wage love." Carrying the musical mantles of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, his group, "GUTHRIE’S GHOST," is poised to do just that.
He has produced 11 full-length solo studio albums, six EPs, and numerous band collaborations. Janet Goodman of the Nashville Music News notes, "His sometimes biting, but not bitter, social commentary goes down easy with softer, agreeable, and memorable melodies." According to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, "Gillen writes simple, poetic, evocative songs. Although the subject matter of his songs is emotionally intense, Gillen's music conveys a sense of hope, elation, and honesty.”
Along with Gillen, Guthrie's Ghost is comprised of David Bernz and his son Jacob, Julie Corbalis, and Steve Kirkman. David Bernz has produced Grammy award-winning CDs for Pete Seeger. Of Jacob, world-renowned blues artist Guy Davis says, "You can tell that Jacob Bernz is meant to play this earthy full-out style of acoustic world music." Corbalis has opened for such well-established musical acts as Amy Correia, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, and Sarah Lee Guthrie, to name a few. Steve Kirkman has gone from rural North Carolina to New York by way of Nashville and Memphis, opening for the likes of Richard Thompson, Ritchie Havens, John Kay and Steppenwolf, Jefferson Starship, Procol Harum, and Roger McGuinn.