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The "Have You Met?" series introduces you to some of the people who make Faire a joy!

Have you met Craig of Farrington?

“I always thought the minstrel would be that guy who would appear out of the blue as they were walking along, blow them away with what he did for them, and then disappear back in to the street. That was always what I really wanted to do with it.” That’s exactly the way I first encountered him in August 2001 at the Ohio Renaissance Festival (ORF). He’s come and gone like that many times in the years since and each time he leaves me with a smile. Let me introduce you to Craig of Farrington.

Familiar to faire goers throughout the east as the wandering minstrel with the lute that stops ladies and couples to sing love songs, Craig Merlin Broers is an accomplished musician who also plays stand up bass and keyboards. A Master of Arts graduate of the University of Iowa, he studied voice, choral directing, and education, completing his degree in 1980. He taught for a while, but loves performing. One of his original goals as a minstrel was to have a song for everyone and his repertoire of over 600 songs makes that possible, though he admits to having trouble coming up with something for boys ages 8-11. He’s developed quite a following in the last 23 years, known both for his love songs and for his funny bawdy tunes.

His first season at Minnesota Renaissance Festival (MnRF) in 1984 consisted of standing in an area near Treetop Stage and putting his hat at his feet. People would walk by and he would stop them to sing love songs for them, sometimes using “Greensleeves” as a base for improvisational challenge. “I pretty much make up all the words as we go. It’s my favorite thing to do because I can use the song as a general frame work and then I look at the woman and I see where he’s looking and I see what he loves and I compliment the girl on the things that the guy that loves her loves.”

Craig often takes a familiar melody and writes new words or improvises as he goes along. His song, “No Snow No More,” is a good case in point, chronicling his seasonal faire circuit beginning in Florida, and moving through Tennessee, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Louisiana. He’s had to modify the lyrics from time to time as he changes shows, adding or changing verses as necessary, but the chorus stays the same:

There’s No Snow Never (clap clap clap clap)
No Snow never no more! (clap clap)
Love that warm Renfaire weather! (clap)
Snow never, no more!

The song is an audience favorite during stage shows that typically feature his funny and bawdy songs. The lyrics never go over the line, even with the naughty songs; he doesn’t say any bad words. All it takes is just a look, a raised eyebrow, and he can make them blush because perfectly nice words can sound dirty. He tells me some of his fans don’t even know that he does love songs, but they’re at every stage show he does. He gets great satisfaction from making them laugh.

His favorite thing, though, remains the love songs. Craig told me, “I find it amazing that there were so many women who have never had their hand kissed, let alone had a love song sung to them. … The minstrel offers a song for the beautiful women around and they are all beautiful. … My biggest joy is when I am standing or walking and I see some woman walking along, kind of huddled over a little bit, looking at the ground, shoulders round, not smiling. If I can throw a line at her, all of a sudden those eyes brighten up, and a smile comes on to her face and she stands up a little taller. I sing her a love song and she feels that rush, that life. And sometimes they’ll take off their hat and throw their hair back and start to live again. I just love that.”

Shade is the critical factor for a good faire environment from Craig’s point of view, a necessity to set the mood for the romantic bubble that he creates as he sings the love songs. Bristol Renaissance Festival and Louisiana Renaissance Festival are his favorites, providing the best ambiance for ladies and couples to experience his art. Tennessee Renaissance Festival (TnRF) is another favorite, but there it’s because of the music lovers. He has a harder time to creating the bubble at TnRF because of the crowds, too many people passing by.

Enthusiasm filled Craig’s voice as we talked about new things he’s been doing this year. He’s released a 20 year retrospective in two volumes, “Very Best of Craig of Farrington, Sweet and Spicy” to cover both angles of his music. He’s also been playing some with Jerry Barry and J Bradley Collier’s new band, The New Minstrel Revue, performing original and traditional music at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin, the Ohio Renaissance Festival, and the Louisiana Renaissance Festival.

In the next few months, you can experience Craig in Florida as a solo minstrel at the Kiwanis/Lee County Faire in Ft Myers and with The New Minstrel Revue at the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire in Gainesville. If you’re unable to get to a faire, he has six products available on CD at either his website or CDBaby.com (MP3 download formats also available at CDBaby).

We ended the interview with Craig telling me he was a very lucky man, “one of the lucky few who stubbornly continue to make a living just doing music.” Personally, I consider myself one of the lucky ones too, having been the recipient of his gift on numerous occasions and looking forward to many more in the years to come.

Websites of Craig of Farrington:

Craig of Farrington
Craig of Farrington at CDBaby.com
Craig of Farrington at MySpace

January 9th, 2008 Posted by | Have You Met? | 8 comments

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8 Comments »

  1. Comment by Craig of Farrington | January 9, 2008

    Hi Escarlata! Nicely related, milady. In honor of this 2008 political season, “I am Craig of Farrington and I approve of this message.”


  2. Comment by Chris W. | January 30, 2008

    Great piece. Thank you.


  3. Comment by Escarlata | January 30, 2008

    Thank you, Craig, for allowing me the pleasure of doing the interview *grinning* and for the serenade this weekend. “My Turn in the Middle” is a special favorite of mine.

    I’m glad you enjoyed the article, Chris. Thanks for letting me know.


  4. Comment by Former Blacksmith | August 26, 2008

    Craig is great. Lots of hugs. Ohio Renaissance Festival, not so much anymore.


  5. Comment by Admin | August 27, 2008

    The above post has been moderated to remove links to the website “Former Blacksmith” owns. He has a right to his opinion but links to websites with offensive and/or slanderous domain names won’t appear at FaireNews.


  6. Pingback by 2008 Renaissance Festival Awards open for voting | FaireNews.com - Sharing the Joy of Faire!! | September 6, 2008

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