Bill Staines is an American songwriter and folk singer from New England, we… Read Full Bio ↴Bill Staines is an American songwriter and folk singer from New England, well known for composing children's songs as well as folk songs with a timeless quality. In the early 1960s he started his professional career in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area. Staines began touring nationwide a few years later. In 1975 he won the National Yodeling Championship at the Kerrville Folk Festival. He performs about 200 times a year and has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, and The Good Evening Show.

Notable Bill Staines songs include "Bridges," "Crossing the Water," "Sweet Wyoming Home", "The Roseville Fair", "A Place in the Choir", "Child of Mine," and "River."

His songs have been recorded by other artists including, Peter, Paul, & Mary, Makem and Clancy, Nanci Griffith, Mason Williams, The Highwaymen, Glenn Yarborough, Jerry Jeff Walker, Grandpa Jones, and Priscilla Herdman. Staines has recorded twenty-two of his own albums, fifteen of which are still in print as of 2005. His songs have been published in four songbooks, If I Were A Word, Then I'd Be A Song; River; Music To Me: The Songs of Bill Staines; and All God's Critters Got A Place In The Choir.

Staines is left-handed and plays a right-handed guitar upside-down so that the bass strings are at the bottom. He has developed his own fingerings and picking style over long years playing this way.

In 2004 his memoir, The Tour: A Life Between the Lines, was published.

The Philosopher's Song
Bill Staines Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Bill Staines:

A Cowboy's Hard Times Well, I once was a cowboy, and I used to…
A Place in the Choir All God's critters got a place in the choir Some sing…
A Rancher Turns 80/the Years In Oregon's arms there lived a rancher. A man of dreams…
All Things Bright and Beautiful All things bright and beautiful All creatures great and smal…
Bridges There are bridges, bridges in the sky, They are shining in…
Child of Mine Child of mine, you are the wildest wind And the dearest…
Coyote Coyote by Bill Staines Here in the dawn You got me listenin'…
Crossing the Water Chorus: We are crossing the waters out whole lives through, …
Distances and Miles It's too late for any music, I've sung me my last…

Down the Road Down the Road Bill Staines I do believe that there will be …
Fill My Thirst Oh, Lord fill my thirst, For a love that grows sweeter…
Flowers in the Snow Flowers in the Snow by Bill Staines Who will walk her tonigh…
Going to the West In this fair land, I cannot stay, Here labor is in…
Hobo's Lullaby Go to sleep you weary hobo, Let the towns drift slowly…
How Can I Keep from Singing My life goes on in endless song Above Earth's lamentations. …
I Must Be Going Home All the city lights, they burn outside our window With the…
In Order to Survive We all need a little light out in front of…
Liverpool Light I've sailed this island for most of my life All the…
Louisiana Storm This old muddy water's been rising, The levee's gone and br…
Moving It Down The Line When you're moving it down the line You either travel light…
Music To Me There was a time gone by When my heart brushed the…
My Grandfather's Clock My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf So it…
My Sweet Wyoming Home There's a silence on the prairie That a man can't help…
On the Road Again A small town boy with a big guitar, His daddy says "Son…
Only A Song If I were a bird, I'd fly round her window If…
Piney River Girl I heard the sound of a redbird sing and the…
Place in the Choir All God's critters got a place in the choir Some sing…
Prairie in the Sky I ride a big blue roan, I carry all I…
River I was born in the path of the winter wind I…
Roseville Fair Oh, the night was clear, And the stars were a-shinin'. The m…
Rye Whiskey Joe He hopped off a freight train eleven months back With a…
Show Me The Road Too many miles I have traveled all alone show me the…
So Sang the River I am the Missouri and I travel on down Across the…
Sweet Wyoming Home There's a silence on the prairie That a man can't help…
The Happy Wanderer I love to go a wandering along the mountain track and as…
The Logging Song It′s early in the morning When the birds sing in the…
The Roseville Fair Oh, the night was clear, And the stars were a-shinin'. The m…

Traveling Shoes Hand me down My travelin' shoes I've got a long way…

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