Marek Bennett and Woody Pringle are musicians & educators with a remarkable array of creative interests and talents. Performing together as “The Hardtacks”, they lead participatory concerts featuring the music & voices of the Civil War era in a unique combination of period music, visual materials, & primary source texts.
The Hardtacks formed in 2012 to perform folk music of the Civil War era for the NH Humanities Council’s “Humanities To Go” programs. Since then, they’ve played at libraries, historical societies, schools, encampments, and other events around New England. From an initial focus on Appalachian banjo & fiddle music (both songs and tunes), the Hardtacks’ repertoire has expanded to include parlor songs, rally cries, spirituals, hymns, bawdy camp parodies, and more. Their wide-ranging programs take inspiration from the participatory culture of the Lyceum movement and several other folk traditions, engaging audiences in immersive explorations of history as a sung, spoken, and lived experience.
Woody Pringle, Beth Eldridge and Tii McLane, also known as The Bradford Bog People, played live on New Hampshire Public Radio’s Folk Show in April
Woody Pringle is both a musician and educator teaching at many NH colleges and organizations. His credentials include B.A. in Social Science (Johnson State College) and MBA (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). His band Bradford Bog People often airs on NH Public Radio’s Folk Show and on many radio stations throughout the country.
Marek Bennett tells it like it was. Photo by Dwight Sipler
New Hampshire native Marek Bennett is an award-winning cartoonist and musician who teaches and performs comics and music at schools and libraries throughout New England and the world beyond. He holds B.A.s in Music and Mathematics (Brown University) and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction (Keene State College), and is a rostered teaching artist with the NH State Council on the Arts, Children’s Literacy Foundation, and the Arts Alliance of Northern NH.