THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507260154
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER SMITHFIELD
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
``Y O-HO-HO AND A BOTTLE of rum . . .''
That's not all there is to sea chanteys.
``Sea chanteys reflect the culture of what made the area come into being,'' John Townley says. ``This is a maritime-oriented culture.''
With that thought in mind, he and his bagpipe-playing son, Neal, will entertain Friday as part of this season's Smithfield Summer Concert Series.
They will offer the work songs that became the popular songs of the 19th century when the sea was the avenue of commerce.
``The music was propagated by the sailors,'' says Townley, who also tells folk tales - ``tall tales that are guaranteed true.''
Fact mixes with fiction, and they become one.
Townley used to mix music and stories at the South Street Seaport, a museum complex in New York City.
``I did that for 10 years - moved to Virginia and kept doing it.'' That move enabled him to be near his mother and to care for her.
Townley, 49, lives in Whitestone, where he sings and surveys.
``I'm a free-lance archaeologist working the East Coast. When a road is built, I do impact surveys.''
Townley's wife, Christine, also finds her work hours fascinating.
She is director of the Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library in Lancaster, dealing primarily with George Washington genealogy. The museum is named for his mother.
Townley's mother and father gave their son an unusual upbringing. He was not home-schooled, but boat-schooled.
``I was born in Washington, D.C., but raised on a boat so I could learn to read properly. In school, they were teaching whole-word recognition. They held up a picture and told you to memorize the word. Totally bizarre. My parents saw that and bought a boat.
``I was a step away from the truant officer,'' Townley said.
His father, an Army veteran, had gone to Manhattan, Townley says, ``where he headed the WPA'' - the Works Progress Administration, a federal work program in the 1930s and '40s - ``and owned a bookshop.''
Townley has his own books - five, in five languages, on astrology. Two more are due next year.
Otherwise, he has spent his time in the music business.
His rock 'n' roll band, The Magicians, recorded for Columbia in the 1960s.
``I built the first 12-track recording studio in New York, the first 16-track recording studio in San Francisco. I've been into recording and publishing.
``I'm a free-lance lunatic. My record label, Maritime Music International, is a division of Adelphi Records. I expect six compact disc releases this fall.''
He has another sea iron in the fire: president of the Confederate Naval Historical Society.
``It's an educational and protection organization. We check Confederate vessels and offer help and legal protection. We make connections between preservation groups.''
The group recently worked with the FBI in the prosecution of some men charged with ``looting the wreck of the USS Cumberland and CSS Florida,'' Townley said.
But, back to music - and Townley's 25-year-old son.
``The Society for Creative Anachronisms proclaimed him champion bagpipe player,'' Townley says. ``Bagpipe major to the known world.''
He describes the society as a group of people ``who do medieval re-enactments. They have huge battles and bash each other over the head.''
He claims his son became a bagpipe player ``because it's one of the instruments I don't play.''
The instruments that Townley does play include the concertina, guitar, fiddle, penny whistle, bones, mandolin, banjo ``and assorted others, particularly homemade things, 19th century instruments fashioned by sailors while on ship.'' ILLUSTRATION: John Townley will sing sea chanteys Friday in Smithfield.
AT A GLANCE
What: A Smithfield Summer Series Concert featuring John Townley
and his son, Neal, concentrating on sea chanteys.
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: In front of the Smithfield Times, 228 Main St.
Cost: Free
by CNB