Here is the feature book from the enhanced cd After The War.
Please be patient as the photos load.

1--index of this page:
  2--welcome to after the war
  musicians and singers (photos and contact info for each):
  3--rod macdonald, acoustic guitar, harmonica, lead vocals
  4--mark dann, bass, 12 string guitar, octave mandolin
  4--jp bowersock, acoustic and electric guitar, and bass (“stop The war”)
  5--gary burke, drums
  5--pete levin, organ and piano
  6--jay ungar, violin (“for the people” and “after the singing”)
  6--pete clark, violin (“i’ll walk in the highlands”)
  7--george goehring, piano (“half heaven half heartache” and “white buffalo”)
  7--bernie shanahan, vocals (“ballerina”)
  8--penny nichols, vocals (“stop the war,” “days of rain,” “after the singing,” “white buffalo,” “every living thing”)
  8--ruth ungar merenda, vocals (“stop the war,” “days of rain,” and “white buffalo,”)
  8--david roth, vocals (“every living thing”)
  9--tracy grammer, vocals (“american jerusalem”)
  9--ellen bukstel, vocals (“half heaven half heartache”)
2--Welcome to After The War.
        In May 2007 I went on tour in central Europe with bassist Mark Dann and guitarist JP Bowersock. We had some long drives to concerts, and during our conversations JP mentioned he had listened to all of my cds,
to study my songs for the tour.
        “Your songs are killer, dude,” said JP. “And you sing a lot of them even better now. Ever think of re-recording some of the ones you do regularly, along with some new ones?”
        Now as it happens, audience members often ask about the cds we have for sale.
        “Which one has the songs you played tonight?” they ask. The answer was, “all of them,” spread out over eight previous cds.
        JP had also produced several cds for various artists, so I asked: could he produce the very cd he suggested, some old songs, some new ones?
        This is that recording, going back to songs I have sung consistently through thirty years of concerts, plus others that were never recorded, and some current new songs.  
         On Memorial Day 2007, we met in Woodstock, NY at Mark Dann’s studio, and began recording the band heard on this cd: Gary Burke on drums, Pete Levin on keyboards, JP on guitar, Mark on bass, and myself on guitar and vocals. In successive months we added the stellar musicians and vocalists also heard on these tracks, and thanks to this wonderful inspiration, and the help and support of our families and friends, here it is.
        Why title this cd After The War? I’ve always loved this beautiful song by Fred Pohlman, it’s a song everyone should take to heart. Imagine a day, a time, a year, an era, when it truly is after the war, instead of during one or planning for another. What war? Does it matter? There’s always a war available if people want one. There are always people enriched by it to keep the pressure on. What’s needed is a new way: a time to heal, a time for peace, a time to stop wasting lives, resources, and spirit on violence and loss. 
        Welcome to After The War.

Rod MacDonald
Christmas 2008
Rod MacDonald began his singing career in a Newport, Rhode Island waterfront bar while in the US Navy’s officer training school. Honorably discharged as a conscientious objector in 1972, he became one of Greenwich Villlage’s leading club headliners during the 1970s and 80s, and is said by the All Music Guide to be "one of the most politically and socially aware lyricists of our time."  He has recorded eight previous full cds of original songs, and tours throughout N America, Europe and Australia.  In 1995 he moved to south Florida, where he lives with his wife and two daughters; currently he is an instructor in “Music Americana” for Florida Atlantic University’s Lifelong Learning Program and appears locally and on tour.
Contact Rod MacDonald at www.rodmacdonald.net or www.myspace.com/rodmacd
or at Box 3844, Boynton Beach, FL 33424
Mark Dann has recorded and played bass with hundreds of artists, both through his long-running recording studio and with the Fast Folk Musical Magazine in the 1980s. Born and raised in New York City, he is the principal bassist on all of Rod MacDonald’s recordings, and since 1986’s “White Buffalo,” the recording engineer and co-producer as well. He has toured with a long list of fine musicians, most often with blues guitarist Robert Ross, the Dharma Bums, and with Rod MacDonald (30 tours in Europe alone). 

Contact Mark Dann at www.markdannrecording.com
J.P Bowersock was the lead guitarist in Ryan Adams & the Cardinals for several years, producing some of the group’s recordings as well, and more recently served as an informal guitar teacher for the seminal NYC band The Strokes. A food and wine connoisseur of note, as well as a stunning guitarist, he lives in NYC with his wife and two sons.

Contact JP Bowersock at papayakings@yahoo.com
Pete Levin is a veteran of New York's jazz, pop, and electronic music scene since the 1970s, when he joined legendary arranger Gil Evans’ group on french horn, later changing to synthesizer, helping create the group’s electronic/acoustic hybrid that won 2 Grammies. He has since worked on film scores, jazz and pop records, and hundreds of TV and radio commercials, and recently completed his 8th solo CD, Deacon Blues, “a mainstream jazz organ/guitar trio project.” Pete lives in Woodstock, NY.
Contact Pete Levin at www.petelevin.com
Gary Burke has served as drummer for Bob Dylan, Graham Parker and many others, and is best known for his dozen albums with Joe Jackson, including 1983’s top ten album "Body and Soul." A veteran of many world tours and media profiles in Modern Drummer Magazine, Gary was also the drummer and percussionist for The Radio City Music Hall Orchestra during the 80's.
Contact Gary Burke (via Professor Louie & the Crowmatix): www.woodstockrecords.com
Jay Ungar is one of American folk music’s great traditional fiddlers, known for his knowledge of Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, and for original compositions such as Ashokan Farewell, featured in the Grammy-winning PBS series The Civil War. Together with Molly Mason, Jay has appeared on CBS Good Morning, All Things Considered, A Prairie Home Companion, and the BBC's Transatlantic Sessions, and host their own live-performance radio show, Dancing on the Air, on WAMC in Albany, NY. Jay lives in Saugerties, NY. Contact Jay Ungar at www.jayandmolly.com

Pete Clark is one of Scotland's top fiddlers of traditional and original music, whose 1996 debut “Fiddle Case” was named one of the BBC's albums of the year. His recent cd 'Now & Then' features Pete's compositions alongside those of Scottish fiddle composers Niel Gow, Willam Marshall and James Scott Skinner. In addition to his solo career, Pete is a member of the Benachally Ceilidh Band and the Niel Gow Ensemble, and an instructor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and Common Ground on the Hill in Westminster, MD. He lives in Perthshire, Scotland.
Contact Pete Clark at www.musicinscotland.com/PeteClark
George Goehring began playing in piano bars in Philadelphia and New York, and by the late 1950s was a contract songwriter in the Brill Building in NYC, home base for rock and roll songwriting in that era. Composer of the music for Half Heaven Half Heartache (recorded in 1962 by Gene Pitney), as well the 1959 #1 classic Lipstick On Your Collar, George currently performs “My Life In The Brill Building” in concert with Rod, Ellen Bukstel and Nicole Yarling. He lives in Delray Beach, FL.
Contact George Goehring at dandgtins@aol.com
Bernie Shanahan began his musical career in Greenwich Village nightclubs, including a stint as pianist and lead guitarist in the 1970s Rod MacDonald Band. His debut solo album, “Bernie Shanahan,” was released in 1989, and since then he has recorded with such artists as Cher, Michael Bolton and Alice Cooper. His 2007 release, “You,” is “classic Americana.” He lives in New York City.

Contact Bernie Shanahan at www.bernieshanahan.com
Penny Nichols began singing in California in the 1960s, played the Big Sur Folk Festival and recorded her first album, "Penny's Arcade", for Buddha Records. Since then she has recorded with Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefers, Art Garfunkle, Jennifer Warnes, Steve Gillette and Arlo Guthrie, and earned a doctorate in Education from Harvard University. She produces the annual conference SummerSongs: A Songwriters Summer Camp. She lives in Saugerties, NY.
Contact Penny Nichols at www.pennynichols.com
Ruth Ungar Merenda is lead singer and fiddler in The Mammals, and appears with her husband, Mike Merenda in Mike and Ruthy. A powerful vocalist, she also sings in the Jay Ungar/Molly Mason Family Band, with Lyn Hardy, and with Sometimes Why. Ruth also gave birth to William Puck Merenda on January 28th, 2008. She and Mike live in West Hurley, NY.

Contact Ruth Ungar Merenda at  www.mikeandruthy.com
David Roth was born and raised in Chicago, and began singing in Greenwich Village in the 1980s, winning the Kerrville New Folk Award in 1987. His songwriting has led to judging the Napa Valley, Tumbleweed, and South Florida Folk Festival songwriting contests, in addition to singing "Earth" at the 40th Anniversary of the UN and having his "Rising in Love" performed at the 100th Anniversary of Carnegie Hall in 1991. His songs appear in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and in the best-selling books Care Packages for the Workplace and Care Packages for the Home.
Contact David Roth at www.davidrothmusic.com

Tracy Grammer was born in Homestead, Florida and raised in southern California, where she began choral and classical violin studies at the age of 9. After earning an English literature degree from the U of California at Berkeley, she moved to Portland, Oregon and began singing in 1997 with the late songwriter Dave Carter. Her first solo release, “Flower of Avalon,” was the #1 most-played album on folk radio in 2005. Currently touring with songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jim Henry, she is one of the top “folk” touring acts in the US. She lives in Amherst, MA.
Contact Tracy Grammer at www.tracygrammer.com
Ellen Bukstel’s songs have won the 2008 Hollywood Music Awards - Best Political Song Of The Year, the 2008 Paul Stookey’s Music To Life Song Competition, the 2008 Breaking The Silence in Song - Domestic Violence Theme Song Competition, and the 2007 Wildflower Arts & Music Festival Singer/Songwriter Competition. Born and raised in south Florida, she sings in concert and in George Goehring’s “My Life In the Brill Building” performances, and is a successful graphic designer. She lives in Sunrise, FL.
Contact Ellen Bukstel at www.ellenbukstel.com
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