Ken Waldman has toured throughout North America as Alaska's Fiddling Poet since 1995. He is the author of six poetry collections and has released seven CDs. This, his first book of prose, is part memoir, part travel notes, and part artist how-to. A Blue Highways for 2009. "Ken's story is all our stories, collected and distilled by a roving poet/musician possessed of a clear eye and a big heart. Waldman is clearly in the tradition of Walt Whitman, Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey." --Jim Clark, author of Handiwork, Dancing on Canaan's Ruins, and Notions: A Jim Clark Miscellany and Jordan Professor of Southern Literature and Writer in Residence, Barton College, Wilson NC. "A great read. For those who've wondered what it's like to live a life on the road in pursuit of one's passion, here's your book. Those who already know what it's like can point and say, 'It's like this.' From the harrowing plane crash in Alaska all the way to the appearance at Kennedy Center stage, we feel like we're there." --Jeff Talmadge, CoraZong Records recording artist, internationally touring singer/songwriter.
Ken Waldman has drawn on his 23 years in Alaska to produce poems, stories and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his own.
A former college professor, Waldman has had published six full-length poetry collections, a memoir, and has released seven CDs that combine old-time Appalachian-style string-band music with original poetry. Since 1994 he's worked full-time as Alaska's Fiddling Poet, performing at some of the nation's leading universities, festivals, arts centers, and clubs. Over 400 of his poems and stories have appeared in such journals as Beloit Poetry Journal, Chariton Review, Quarterly West, and Yankee.
Though he still performs solo on occasion, Waldman teams with other musicians for a bigger sound when he headlines such venues as Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley, Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, The Ark in Ann Arbor, The Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., or else for concert series shows.
He is also a popular visiting artist in classrooms. Employing both his fiddle and a repertoire of proven writing exercises, he has led workshops in over 160 schools in 30 states nationwide, and has been a guest writer at over 80 colleges and universities, including SUNY Brockport, Suffolk University, University of Tennessee, University of Alabama Birmingham, Knox College, University of Nebraska Omaha, Idaho State University, and San Diego State University.
