Paddy Mills at the New Dominion Stage — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

New England Folk Singer Wins Contest

For some artists, the more raw the record­ing, the more exposed their short­com­ings. But to Mills’ [sic] credit, his con­ge­nial deliv­ery makes for one smooth listen.

Fresh from win­ning the Rose Garden Coffee House Performing Songwriter Competition in Mansfield, Maine and plac­ing 2^nd in the New England Songwriting Contest, singer-song­writer Paddy Mills took 1^st place in the 2013 Woody Guthrie Songwriting Contest. He played a show­case on the out­door stage at the Pastures of Plenty on 12 July, kick­ing off that evening’s per­for­mances. His win­ning entry is enti­tled Bayview Massacre and tells the story of the infa­mous killing of strik­ing labor­ers in Milwaukee in 1886.

In addi­tion to his own mate­r­ial, Mills’s reper­toire includes Irish, North American, Nicaraguan, mar­itime, and labor move­ment folk songs. Mills also draws deeply from the well of those tra­di­tions in his writ­ing. A multi-instru­men­tal­ist, Mills plays acoustic gui­tar, Weissenborn lap slide gui­tar, and stomp box percussion. 

Gallery: Paddy Mills at Pastures of Plenty