Peter Stampfel

Peter Stampfel (born October 29, 1938) is an American fiddle player, old-time musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of The Holy Modal Rounders.

Peter Stampfel
Stampfel in 2000
Born	(1938-10-29) October 29, 1938 (age 86) Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, United States
Occupation	Associate editor at DAW Books
Spouse(s)	Betsy Wollheim (1970s-present, as of 2020); Antonia (a.k.a. Barbara Ann Goldblatt, 1960s–1970s, d. 2017)[1][2][3][4]
Musical career
Genres	Folk
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)	fiddle, violin, harmonica, guitar, banjo
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Don Giovanni Rounder Homestead

Biography

Peter Stampfel was born on October 29, 1938, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee.^[5] In the late 1950s, he relocated to New York City, settling in Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side, joining the emerging American folk music revival scene just as Bob Dylan and others were arriving. In 1961, Stampfel was living on MacDougal Street and playing more traditional roots music at local coffeehouses. Two years later he founded The Holy Modal Rounders with Steve Weber, then expanded the lineup to include drummer and playwright Sam Shepard during the second half of the 1960s.^[6]

The Holy Modal Rounders’ early recordings are often cited as among the first examples of psychedelic folk, and they reached a greater audience after “The Bird Song,” was included on the Easy Rider soundtrack.^[7] Stampfel was also briefly a member of The Fugs and has been the leader of several musical projects, including the Bottlecaps, the Du-Tels, and the WORM All-Stars. He has performed with Bob Dylan, They Might Be Giants, the Roches, Richard Barone, Jeffrey Frederick, Yo La Tengo, Bongwater, Jeffrey Lewis, Michael Hurley, Baby Gramps and Loudon Wainwright III.^[8]

Legacy

Music Critic Robert Christgau has asserted that “next to Bob Dylan, Stampfel is the closest thing to a genius" to come out of the New York folk revival scene of the 1960s.^[9]

Stampfel performs in 2012

Discography

Solo May 1994 Hello CD of the Month (1994) You Must Remember This... (1995) Dook of the Beatniks (2010) Better Than Expected (2014) Holiday For Strings (2016) The Cambrian Explosion (2017) The Ordovician Era (2019) Peter Stampfel's 20th Century in 100 Songs (2021) Song Shards: Soul Jingles, Stoic Jingles, Vintage Jingles, Prayers and Rounds (2025) The Fugs Virgin Fugs (1966) [10] Holy Modal Rounders The Holy Modal Rounders (1964) The Holy Modal Rounders 2 (1965) Indian War Whoop (1967) The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders (1968) Good Taste Is Timeless (1971) Alleged in Their Own Time (1975) Last Round (1978) Going Nowhere Fast (1981) Too Much Fun! (1999)

with the Bottlecaps Peter Stampfel & the Bottlecaps (1986) People's Republic of Rock 'n' Roll (1989) The Jig Is Up (2004) with Zoë Stampfel Ass in the Air (2010) with Baby Gramps Outertainment (2010) with Jeffrey Lewis Come On Board (2011) Hey Hey, it's... The Jeffrey Lewis & Peter Stampfel Band (2013) Have Moicy 2: The Hoodoo Bash (2015) Both Ways (2021) with Luke Faust Wendigo Dwain Story (2011) with the Unholy Modal Rounders and others Have Moicy! (1976) with the WORM All-Stars A Sure Sign of Something (2011)