Born Stephen Lawrence Suffet in 1947, Steve Suffet is best described as an old fashioned folksinger. His repertoire is a mixture of railroad songs, trucker songs, cowboy songs, union songs, old time ballads, blues, ragtime, Gospel, bluegrass, topical-political songs, and whatever else tickles his fancy. He takes songs from whatever sources he wishes and then he sings them his own way, maybe rewriting the lyrics on the spot, flatting a 7th, or changing a major key to a mountain modal.

Steve also writes his own songs, sometimes set to the tunes of traditional folk songs, but more often set to tunes he has composed in traditional styles. Some of Steve's songs have appeared in The Folk Process section of Sing Out! magazine over the years. Others can be found in The Digital Tradition on-line folk song database.

In the 1960s, Steve appeared at several of the legendary Broadside hoots in New York City and was a guest on Izzy Young's radio program on WBAI-FM. Back then Steve also played the Interlude coffee house in Kew Gardens, Queens, the Abmaphd in Uniondale, Long Island, and various pass-the-basket houses in Greenwich Village. Steve then left the organized folk scene for nearly 30 years, playing instead at political rallies and demonstrations, campgrounds, schools, day care centers, weddings, parks, pubs, and pick-up jam sessions.

Steve returned to the folk scene when invited to appear at a Sis Cunningham Tribute Concert in New York City in 1997. Since then he has played gigs all around the New York metro area, including the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, South Street Seaport, Sun Music Company, the Community Church of New York, CB's 313 Gallery, the Baggot Inn, the Yippie Museum Cafe, the Vox Pop, the Bowery Poetry Club, and the Peoples' Voice Cafe. In addition, Steve has been featured on the Songs of Freedom cable television program, has appeared in the Songs of the Spirit program at the Clearwater Hudson River Revival, has performed at the New England Folk Festival and at the NOMAD Folk Festival, and has led workshops for the People's Music Network, the New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club, the Philadelphia Folk Song Society, and the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. He has also appeared at the Jacob's Ladder Folk Festival in Israel. From 2003 until it dissolved in 2008 following the death of its musical director Eric Levine, Steve was a member of the folk group MacDougal Street Rent Party, although he also continued to perform individually. Steve still often appears with former band members, especially with Anne Price.


Photo credit: Jody Kolodzey