Folk Alley Sessions

Richard Shindell's songs paint pictures, tell stories, juxtapose ideas and images, inhabit characters, vividly evoking entire worlds along the way and expanding our sense of just what it is a song may be. Taking up the guitar at the age of eight, he made his first attempts at songwriting during college, where he studied Philosophy. After college and a nine month stint in a Zen Buddhist community in Upstate New York, he headed to Europe with his guitar, performing in the Paris Metro. Upon running out of money, and despite being an atheist, he was accepted by Union Theological Seminary (NY), beginning his studies in 1986. Three years in an M.Div. program did nothing to cure him of his atheism. However, it did inspire his first "keeper": "On a Sea of Fleur de Lis."More songs followed. He began frequenting a well-known songwriters circle on Houston Street in New York City. He started to think of himself as a songwriter, abandoning his theological studies. He released solo albums and, in 1998, Shindell joined forc