More Than a Membership
Lost & Found Folk Community brings together people who love great songwriting and want to help keep that music alive.
We're not simply preserving songs from the past. We're helping remarkable music find new ears, new voices, and new life—connecting the artists who created it with listeners and musicians who can carry it forward.
The community grows out of the existing Lost & Found Folk project, taking its music, stories, and discoveries beyond videos and playlists to create something more: a gathering of people who believe this music matters and want to help it reach future generations.
Why This Music Matters
Some songs deserve more than to be remembered. They deserve to be heard, discovered, performed, and passed along.
The folk and singer-songwriter traditions have given us remarkable songs—songs that tell our stories, express our deepest feelings, and connect us through shared human experience. Yet many wonderful artists and their music remain unfamiliar to people who might love them.
Lost & Found Folk Community is about changing that.
For artists who are still with us, it's an opportunity to help people discover their music now, while they can still share their stories and connect with listeners.
For artists who have passed on, it's a way to keep their music in circulation, introduce it to new generations, and give other musicians the opportunity to discover and interpret their songs.
And for younger musicians, it offers a chance to encounter songwriters and music they might never otherwise find—and perhaps carry those songs forward through their own performances.
The music doesn't have to remain in the past. It can become part of someone else's future.
What the Community Makes Possible
Lost & Found Folk Community brings artists, musicians, and listeners together around a shared belief: great music deserves to be heard, celebrated, and carried forward.
For the artists
The community creates opportunities for artists to reconnect with listeners, reach new audiences, and share the music and stories that have shaped their lives.
That might mean a live online performance, a conversation about their songwriting, a story behind a favorite song, or an archival recording shared with the community. It might simply mean introducing their fans to a gathering of people who appreciate their music.
Just as importantly, artists can connect with one another and with musicians who may discover their work for the first time.
For the members
Members become part of an effort to give great music a future—not simply an audience for more content.
They'll have opportunities to discover artists and songs, enjoy special performances, take part in live events and conversations, and connect with others who share their passion for this music.
And they'll know that their support helps make the work possible.
For the music itself
This is where everything comes together.
A younger musician invited to join the community might discover an artist or song that resonates with them and decide to add it to their own repertoire, introducing the music to audiences who might never have encountered it otherwise.
Participating artists can help spread the word by sharing the community's invitation with their fans, potentially introducing the project to thousands of new listeners. And members play an important role, too, by sharing the songs and artists they love with friends and family.
In different ways, we all help great music reach new ears and find new life.
Together, we can do more than celebrate great music. We can help it keep moving forward.
How Artists Can Participate
Lost & Found Folk Community is being built with the help of artists who believe this music matters and want to help it reach new audiences.
We're inviting a small group of artists to become Founding Members in Honor—helping establish the community and sharing in its mission from the beginning.
A simple commitment
We ask founding artists to support the mission and, when the community opens to the public, share an invitation to join with their fans. We'll provide a description and invitation they can personalize and share in whatever way feels natural to them—whether by email, Facebook, or another social channel.
We understand that artists have different relationships with their audiences and different preferences for communicating with them.
Participation is flexible
Beyond sharing the invitation, there's no required schedule of performances, posts, or appearances. Artists can participate in whatever ways interest them and fit their lives.
That might include:
• Performing in an online concert.
• Joining a conversation or panel discussion.
• Sharing stories about their songs, careers, and experiences.
• Contributing archival performances or other material, with appropriate permission.
• Connecting with other artists and musicians in the community.
• Simply being part of the community and supporting its mission.
These are opportunities, not obligations. We want participation to feel rewarding, not like another demand on an artist's time.
Recognizing Their Commitment
Founding artists receive complimentary membership as Founding Members in Honor, in recognition of their commitment to the community and the music it celebrates.
Their involvement helps give the project a foundation of artists who believe in its purpose. In turn, the community offers opportunities to connect with listeners, reach new audiences, and help their music find new life.
The goal isn't to ask artists to take on more work. It's to create new possibilities for the music they have already given us.
The Story Behind Lost & Found Folk Community
For much of my life, I've found myself doing more than making music. I've been bringing people together around it—creating opportunities for artists to perform, connecting musicians with audiences, and building communities around music that deserves to be heard.
In the 1980s, I founded Wood & Strings in the Boston area. What began as a music studio where I brought together a handful of teachers offering lessons grew into a music center encompassing a school for folk and acoustic music, a concert and coffeehouse series, an instrument shop, and a community gathering place for people who shared a love of this music. Later, through Sedona Studio Live, I continued producing concerts and creating opportunities for artists to share their music.
Those experiences taught me something that has stayed with me: when people come together around a shared love of music, they can make things happen that none of them could accomplish alone.
Lost & Found Folk grew out of that same impulse. Through its videos, artist stories, and the Lost & Found Folk – Hidden Gems playlist, I've been introducing listeners to remarkable songs and songwriters—some familiar, others waiting to be discovered.
Now I want to take the next step.
Lost & Found Folk Community brings together the music, the artists, the listeners, and the musicians who can help carry these songs forward. It builds on the work already underway, extending it into a shared effort to celebrate great songwriting and introduce it to new generations.
I'm bringing to this project a lifetime of performing, composing, recording, producing concerts, promoting artists, and building musical communities. But the community itself isn't about one person. It's about what we can accomplish together.
We're not just preserving these songs. We're helping them find new ears, new voices, and new life.
Evidence of Interest
Lost & Found Folk is already creating connections among listeners, musicians, and the music they love.
The Lost & Found Folk – Hidden Gems Spotify playlist has grown to nearly 300 songs, with 56 saves from listeners.
Artist-focused posts on Facebook have also generated substantial discussion. As of October 19, 2026, a post introducing John Gorka had received 459 reactions and 216 comments across the Facebook groups where it was shared. A post featuring Richard Shindell had received 464 reactions and 288 comments.
But the numbers tell only part of the story. The comments reveal listeners reconnecting with familiar music, discovering artists, and sharing their own musical experiences.
One listener, Al, wrote:
“Rick - nicely done music videos and there were lots of green dots on your curated playlist so we share many of the same musical memories. Following both and will be following you here on Facebook as well.”
Max shared his experience of exploring the playlist:
“We will be checking these out. Right now we’re listening to your Spotify playlist. So many artists we love! …and a few songs we have performed over the years, too. What a good morning!”
And Bill, a longtime folk fan, wrote:
“Thanks for the friend request. I just subscribed to your YouTube channel. Folk fan ever since Jerry White was a DJ back in the sixties. Look forward to your episodes”
These responses are encouraging. They show people engaging with the music, following the project, and finding personal connections through songs and artists they love.
Lost & Found Folk Community is the next step: bringing those connections together in a shared effort to help great songs find new ears, new voices, and new life.