Art Frankel

Art was born and raised in Rochester, New York and currently lives in Seattle. He started playing guitar when he was 16 years old, figuring out some songs on a Doc Watson record. He attended the Woodstock festival in 1969 and was happy to see that there were other people who were having trouble fitting in to the status quo. Art has played in many bands over the past 45 years, including bluegrass, country, Americana, and covers of songs from the 1970's. He has been writing songs over these decades that generally tell stories of ordinary people whose points of view may possibly reflect some of Art's personality.

Art has recently retired from his career as a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, where he led the National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project for 11 years and helped to improve building codes to make buildings more resilient to earthquakes. 

Art's music could be classified as Americana, but he especially loves the country music of Merle Haggard, George Jones, Marty Stuart, and Gram Parsons. His all-time favorite guitar hero is Clarence White, who revolutionized bluegrass flat picking and telecaster electric guitar techniques. He admires the songwriting of John Prine, Steve Goodman, Gene Clark, Neil Young, and Bob Dylan. 

Art currently performs as a solo artist at dive bars, coffee houses, and other exclusive venues. He also backs up other artists on guitar and pedal steel.