Episode 15: Charlie Maguire

Join legendary folk singer, songwriter, and longtime COMPAS teaching artist Charlie Maguire in conversation with host Frank Sentwali on this episode of Creativity on Tap. Together, they reflect on Charlie’s recent 27-stop tour across northeastern Minnesota, Going to Bartalina, a powerful musical journey honoring Great Lakes sailors and the stories that shape the region’s maritime past.

From singing aboard freighters to becoming the National Park Service’s only “singing ranger,” Charlie shares tales of resilience, connection, and creativity. Hear about his collaborations with Pete Seeger, his updated tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald, and the people and places that continue to shape his work.

This is more than a road story. It’s a celebration of community, memory, and the power of song to bridge generations.

Charlie Maguire music featured in the episode:

"Fine Old Lady"

"The Ballad of Tommy Woodgate"

"Harbour Lights"

Book Charlie for your library, school, or organization.

More about Charlie. 

About COMPAS
COMPAS (compas.org) is a nonprofit with 50 years of experience delivering creative experiences to millions of Minnesotans of all ages and abilities, particularly those from historically marginalized communities. COMPAS connects professional teaching artists with students, older adults, and other community members to inspire creativity and empower voices.

About Creativity on Tap
Creativity on Tap is produced by COMPAS. In each episode, Creativity on Tap brings together educators, entrepreneurs, elected officials, parents, and other community leaders to discuss creativity and answer the question: What is creativity, and how can it solve the unique challenges facing today's world?

Creativity On Tap is part of Creativity Saves the World, an initiative led by COMPAS to explore, celebrate, and emphasize the pivotal role creativity can and must play in shaping a world that prioritizes equity, justice, and inclusivity.

Theme music (played at the end of the episode), "Krank It," was produced by COMPAS Teaching Artist Bionik.

Transcript

Today's episode features compass, teaching artists, Charlie McGuire.

Charlie is a celebrated folk singer, songwriter, and a longtime COMPAS teaching artist. Whose work blends the storytelling tradition of Woody Guthrie with the closeup documentary approach of photojournalist, Robert Capa, mentored by Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Marjorie Guthrie, he has written. Charlie has written songs about migrant labor, elder care, and life aboard great lakes freighters and the U S coast guard vessels.

Charlie also recently completed a 27 stop tour of libraries across Northeastern Minnesota, performing his show, going to Bartalina, which features songs and stories from commercial sailing on the great lakes. He performed for more than 700 audience members across nearly 2000 miles. He's gathered powerful stories from communities along the way, and is going to tell us all about that incredible journey and more today.

Welcome Charlie McGuire. Thank you for joining creativity on tap. My man.

I'm happy to be here. Thank you. Yes.

And we are happy to have you. You have been a difficult person to catch up with. You don't let any grass grow under your feet.

Um, tell us about your origin story. Let's start at the very beginning. How did Charlie McGuire end up, uh, end up where he is today? Well, um, started playing probably when I was 14, where did get three was my first, uh, true love still is pretty much, um, uh, went professional in 1974.

And, uh, played all over North America. Um, also, uh, work for the U S state department in Europe and Bavaria and in the Mediterranean, as well as, um, the national park service, uh, is the first and only singing ranger back in the nineties. So I've had a kind of a checkered career, shall we say, of, uh, taking what I know and, and, uh, making it available to people who want to.

Explore various things that they've always wanted to know about. And I think songwriting is a great way to help people explore. Uh, not only does it kind of soothe the soul, um, but within your music, there's always these stories and, um, kind of histories and interesting characters.

So it allows people to ask questions. Do you, um, often get asked a lot of questions about your, your songs, um, when you finish a performance? Yeah. Um, yes and no.

I think, um, people appreciate the authenticity because, um, my grandfather was in the U S coast guard and the U S Navy, and I didn't know him and I thought going to see would be a way of somehow getting closer to his spirit. So, um, back in the eighties, um, when I got my Bush fellowship, I devoted part of it, uh, of that time, um, to see if I could get out on the great lakes. And thanks to a lot of people, um, who had a hand in it, I was able to do that.

And I wrote these songs and, you know, when people look out on the, on Lake Superior and see, uh, a big freighter, um, yes, they see the beauty of the, of the freighter, they see the beauty of the, of the lake, um, but there's always an, kind of a itch, if you might say, uh, to find out what it's really like out there and I was really out there. So, um, they appreciated the songs on an informational level, as well as an entertainment level, which is what folk music is essentially. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, you, you, along with being a singer songwriter, you've been a compass teaching artists for many, many, many years. And, uh, for people who might not be familiar with the term teaching artists, can you talk a little bit about what that means, um, and what that looks like out in the world? I know you are one of compass's longest tenured artists.

Um, definitely somebody that I have, um, aspired to, to, to be like in the teaching artists world, just your relationships and your ability to, to work with so many young people. So what, what does that look like to you? What does it mean to be a teaching artist? And then how does that manifest, um, as you move through community? I have a burning desire, Frank, to be, to teach what I know, because you can't learn what I know. In a, in the usual setting, you know, of say a university degree or something like that, um, people taught me and with the impli- with the implications that I teach others who are, who are interested, um, the world of folk music and folk and traditional music, songwriting, that whole art form.

Um, you, it's people teaching other people. And so compass was an easy fit. You know, when I came to it back in the early eighties, because, um, I wanted to show people what I, what I did.

No, you know, before I came upon some of my great teachers like Lee Hayes, Pete Seeger, Marjorie Guthrie, um, people like that, I had no idea how to go about this. I know I wanted to write. I know I wanted to play.

I know I wanted to tour, but I had no idea how to get there. And it's people who go, who go before you do, then they pass on what they know. Then you get out there and then you, then you pass on what you know.

So every week in a, in a school, for example, when I do it for compass, it's also a crash course in how to do it for real. Yeah. Yeah.

That's beautifully, beautifully put. Um, and you, you've had the, the great pleasure of being able to even work with, you know, the great Garrison Keillor. Um, I read that you were on Prairie Home Companion for nine years.

Yeah. Let's see my first show. I was on with Garrison in 1974 after getting back from, um, my national service and my final appearance was in 2012.

Wow. What was, if you can just briefly kind of summarize, what was that experience like, especially as that show grew to almost mythic proportions in some communities? Yeah. Well, you know, it did, it did grow.

And, um, when I was on, on a regular basis with, with a lot of my West banker friends, you know, um, uh, you know, it, it, it, it, it was a chance to play for more than 25 people, you know? And, um, not only did we have, you know, three, four, five, 600 people in the audience, we also had, you know, before Garrison went national, we had the entire state of Minnesota tuning in. So, I mean, it would, you know, think of it this way. If you've got a great song, you can reach people the very next day, you know, and, and, and, and to have that opportunity, um, when I hadn't had it up until then was really, really fun.

It was really fun. The per home companion was a family show. Well, no one had a babysitter, all the kids were there, you know, um, all of the, uh, you know, there was no green room.

It was just a couple of planks on a, on some two by fours behind the curtain. Um, you know, that's, that's the way it started. And of course, you know, thanks to Garrison and his great talent, it took off from there.

But, um, it was always nice to circle back, even though, you know, I wasn't a regular performer, uh, on a, on a regular basis, it was really nice to circle back and just see, just to kind of check in with the show, you know, uh, as, as, as the years went by, it was great fun. That is awesome. And you've been nicknamed as you kind of alluded to earlier.

Um, the, uh, nation's only, uh, or been called the nation's only official singing Ranger. Uh, what does that mean? Tell us, you mentioned that, but tell us a little bit more about the singing Ranger moniker. The, um, Mississippi national river and recreation area was recently formed, um, in 1988 by act of Congress.

It includes St. Anthony falls. And that's why they designated this particular recreational area right in the middle of Minneapolis, basically. And, um, what, uh, what was important was that this was a national recreational area that was different from a national park in that the national park service did not own the land.

They just partnered with other people who did. In a way of, uh, showing and teaching people what the Mississippi river was. And I had just completed a long project with the Minnesota department of natural resources about their park system.

The national park service saw that in action and they said, wow, you know, maybe we can use music to do the same thing. And, uh, I became the first and only national park Ranger with the uniform and the flat hat and all that. Um, to ever be hired, to write songs on behalf of the people of the United States.

Congratulations. That's phenomenal. Yeah, it was.

I took my daughter, um, they had an exhibit, uh, that, uh, on the Mississippi about the Mississippi river at the science museum, gosh, had a year ago now, and I took my daughter to see that exhibit and she was really fascinated. Um, did you get a chance to do any of your songs or any performance at the science museum during that exhibit or. Well, no, I didn't.

Um, but I actually designed the space you were in. Oh, wow. Yeah.

You do more than just singing song, right? What don't you do? You know, back, uh, back in those days, Frank, uh, if you, if you were a Ranger at a certain duty station, you hardly ever left it up to someone on the outside. You know, my supervisor came in one day, called us all together and he said, you know, we're going to move into the science museum. Uh, just sketch out what you think it should look like.

Wow. Yeah. And, and so I'm looking at your, your, your design work and didn't even know it.

Well, just know that my daughter had a blast in there. She, she was so curious about all of the things. Um, and so, yeah, I thank you for that.

It was, it was well done, well designed and the kids enjoyed it. And that's exactly why it's there. And I hope it can, it can continue to be there too.

Yeah. And it's very informative. Um, looking at the, looking at the, uh, St. Anthony falls and looking at the pictures of what it used to look like.

And then what it's like now, of course, um, and just the evolution of the human, um, influence on the planet, uh, was just phenomenal to see that over time. Um, uh, quick, uh, we're gonna, we're gonna move a little bit to your most recent tour, um, uh, for the people who didn't get a chance to catch the tour, um, or know much about it. How would you describe your, uh, recent Northeast, Minnesota tour going to Bartolino? Um, I know it was, um, I know it was exhausting for you, which is why it's taking us a while to, to get this podcast interview because you had to come home and return to life.

You were gone for quite a long time. I understand. And, um, so how would you describe the tour and, you know, what stories and sounds were you hoping to share through the songs and performances and kind of what was the response of the audience? I, um, it's the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald this year, um, 1975 to 2025.

It's also the 120th anniversary of the Matata storm, which was a really big storm at Lake Superior, um, which led to a shipwreck right down by canal park, where grandma's is and all the tourist, uh, area is there as well, uh, as leading to the construction of the split rock lighthouse, a couple of, a couple of years later, um, 1905 to 2025. So these, these to me were really, really important, important anniversaries that we can't forget. And, uh, so I went to, I came, I went with, um, went to, uh, Sam and also to Katie at, uh, at Compass.

And I said, why don't we put together something, uh, to commemorate those, those big anniversaries. And, you know, for a, for a tour to succeed like it did, it really needs a good theme and this theme seemed to strike a chord with people in Northern Minnesota in a way that maybe, maybe it wouldn't have down here because all the action happened up there. And, uh, this, this was something that people really wanted to hear about.

In addition to, as I mentioned, uh, the day-to-day life of what it's like to be a working sailor on the great lakes. Yeah. And I'd imagine you had, uh, people who, um, in some way, shape or form were, uh, directly connected to these, um, these incidents, the storm and, and the, um, the, um, you know, the capsizing of, of the ship that were either had family members that were there or, you know, remember it being big story and then in the community, um, you know, obviously probably in older community, I'm curious as to like, what was the response from those that maybe, um, were told stories by, you know, grandparents or great grandparents or what have you.

And then also, um, what was the response from the young people of today that maybe didn't know anything about that history and maybe got dragged to your show by their elders? The, um, the people that, um, came to the program, um, had direct connection to the Fitzgerald, especially when, um, the tour moved from interior Minnesota out to, um, the North shore. Yeah. I'm, I, I met people who went to school with the crew members on that, on the Fitzgerald, you know, high school, junior high elementary school who were now, of course, the older generation, but they knew the Fitzgerald when I was five and six years old, because it was the first song in the program that mentioned every single crew member on the Fitzgerald by name.

And it was really interesting to see the look on an audience person's face. When they recognized the name, I had a woman come up to me in silver Bay and she said, you know, she says, when you mentioned Nolan Church, who was on the Fitzgerald, she said, you know, I went to school with Bonnie Church, that was his daughter, you know, I knew these people. And so it was, they were really grateful, I think, to be able, it was sad. 

Yeah, I'll give you that. And it was emotional, and it was powerful. But it was also cathartic, too, for people to say, yes, it's good to remember these men who went through so much that night in November of 1975. 

As far as the high school kids go, I was in this town, I can't remember exactly where it was now, Frank, but before I took the stage, the kids had a Game of Thrones thing going on at the library, you know, I don't know, maybe 20 or 30 of them, and they play by computer, and they all sit around a table. I mean, I didn't say anything, but it kind of looked like a bridge game for elders, except, you know, on tech, you know. Right, right. 

And so they're sitting there, and of course, I said, you know, well, when you guys get done, you know, you should come back for the program. And they said, well, what's the program about? And I told them about the anniversaries, and I told them about, you know, what it's like to be out on the Great Lakes, you know, very, very briefly. I had kids come up to me, high school kids now, saying, you know, I got to go right now, because I have to ask my mother if I can come back.

Wow. Yeah, it's very different in the in the rural and northeastern cultures in northern Minnesota culture than down here in the city, right? I haven't had a high school kid asked me if they can go if they are telling me they have to go ask their parents before they go to something in years now, down here. Yeah, in years. 

Yeah. Right. You know, I thought that was really cute. 

You know, I got to go ask my mother if I can skip dinner and chores until you're done. And then I can go back and do them. Yeah, absolutely. 

Good kids. I think that's I think that really speaks to your impact on your charisma. And just the the passion and love that you invest in your storytelling, your songwriting, the stories that you are telling, to the point where they're so interesting across generations. 

For those of you who just tuned in, you are listening to Creativity on Tap, a program brought to you by Compass. I am host Frank Centrale, and I'm interviewing the one and only Charlie McGuire. We're just speaking on his tour of northern and northeastern Minnesota, titled Going to Bartolina, in which Charlie told stories and sang folk songs that chronicled his time on his his love for the Great Lakes and the sinking of the Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. 

And I'm sorry, what was the name of the storm again that that because I'm not familiar. So please educate me again on the name of the storm that led to the building of the Split Rock Lighthouse. Yeah, that was called the Metapa storm, Frank. 

And it was based on a ship called the Metapa, which, which broken half right off the pier of Canal Park in 1905. Whereas no one really knows what happened to the Fitzgerald. Yeah, there are lots and lots of really, really good theories, right? Over 10,000 people in saw the shipwreck Metapa that day in 1905 on November 28. 

So we had, on one hand in the program, songs and stories about what people saw, right? And then on the other side, we had, you know, part of the program where there's still quite a bit of mystery to actually what happened. Yeah, music lends itself to that. It's such a powerful medium. 

I didn't tell you my father. My father always had a very special connection to Lake Superior. He took us up there from the time I was a really young child. 

And he always marveled at the awesomeness of the lake and at the same time kept us aware of the dangers on the lake of the itself. I remember as a kid, you know, we play the whole, we'd be way up on the North Shore of Pasadena, where the water's really cold. And he'd say, you know, son, I give you $5 if you can keep your hand in the water for longer than 60 seconds type of stuff. 

And I don't think I ever made it 60 seconds when I was a little child because that water was cold. But I share that with you because he asked that we spread his ashes out on the North Shore, when he passed away, and we grew up a big fishing family, and we never got a chance to go fishing. He wouldn't, he wouldn't go out on the Lake Superior.

He was, he always said, I have too much respect for that lake to go out on it. But I did in honor of my father's memory managed to go on a couple charter trips out there. And it really is awesome. 

And something to be respected. And you're talking about power. The term Bartolini comes with a very powerful meaning a job you can't get out of. 

What did that idea represent for you? Especially as you revisit it through music and memory on this particular tour, just that whole term? And why did you come up with that term for the theme or title of the tour? Well, you know, my first ship was the was the merchant vessel Nordic trader. She was built in Yokohama. And we were carrying 14,000 metric tons of barley to Colombia. 

I went all the way through the Great Lakes on Nordic trader with an all Filipino captain and crew and got off in Montreal. And then they continued on to, you know, to Columbia with the with the load. But we were, we went through a lot together. 

I remember we were going through the Welland Canal. It was strangely enough, in my hometown above New York, Lake Erie is higher than Lake Ontario. And you need to get from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. 

So you can cross Lake Ontario, then go up to St. Lawrence Seaway. It's just the way it happens. Right. 

And the way you do it is you go through the Welland Canal, which is a series of eight locks. The captain like what we did when we got the ship into the first lock so much that he said, Okay, all you guys on watch, you're going to stay on watch. You know, we had 15 minutes to go, you know, my, my watch was from eight in the morning until noon, and then eight at night until midnight. 

And we just got the ship into the first lock without touching the sides. For, you know, we just 15 minutes left to go on the watch the captain comes up and he says, boy, you did such a great job. Why don't you just take her through? Well, whose law is on the ship? Captain's law. 

It is the captain's law. Yeah. And whatever the captain wants, he gets. 

Yeah. And so we had to stay up all night. I was on my feet from eight in the evening until noon the next day. 

And when you stand watch, it means standing watch. It doesn't mean sitting watch. It doesn't mean that. 

It means you stand your watch. And that means on your own two feet. And so we went through a lot. 

And of course, there was a lot of downtime as the deck crew was, you know, guiding, helping to tie up our vessel every time we went into a lock and stuff. And we would talk about what life was like, you know, in our respective countries and and stuff like that. And my my third mate and I, he said, you know, what we're doing is we're doing Barolina. 

And I said, what does that mean? And he says, well, it's a it's a it's a it's a slang term and tag along. You know, he says, you know, that's the official language of the Philippines. He says he says it means doing a job you can't get out of. 

And when you're on ship, that's exactly what it is. I mean, if you don't like it, what are you going to do? You're going to swim home? No, right. You're going to do what the captain says. 

So that's why I kind of picked that ahead up. I wanted to start educating people right from the title of the tour, you know, letting people know that we were doing serious stuff here. But it was going to be, you know, fun to listen to and all. 

But there was going to be a few things to learn as well. Right. And it inspires people to ask questions, because I know that would have been my first question, you know, is what is Barolina? And so right from the get go, you start that that transactional relationship of teaching and learning.

Teaching and learning. Yes. And, you know, you were talking, Frank, about being out on Lake Superior. 

I mean. We encountered just about every hazard that you can think of just doing the tour. I mean, I was only eight miles from the camphouse fire.

When I was in on the tour, talking to a librarian there, I said, are you going to be evacuating your town? If you are, I said, I won't do the program at your library. I'll do it at the evacuation site, you know. Right. 

So we were always going back and forth about that hazard. Yeah. And then there was gale force winds, 50, 55 miles an hour on Highway 61, you know, serving the communities on that where, you know, it's basically just a straight line up to Grand Marais. 

But yeah, man, oh, man. I mean, it was really pulling on the wheel. There were times when, you know, you'd fight the wheel.

Of the RV we were in, you know, and then the wind wouldn't start blowing and then you'd go the other way really fast. Yes. And so that was a hazard. 

And then some nights you'd be finishing up the tour a little bit late, you know, maybe towards sundown. And then you've got to get to your next town and you're looking out for deer. Yeah. 

I mean, there were so many deer up there on the move after sundown that my wife, who was with me the whole time, thank goodness, took care of the right hand side of the road. Yeah. And I took care of the left hand side of the road so that I wouldn't have to, you know, switch my eyesight between them.

So I could just, you know, and then whenever we saw a deer, we just called it out. And then I would blast on the horn to keep them in the bushes until we got by. And then fog, man.

Yeah. Fog on the hilltops. Go figure. 

I mean, you figure fog in the valley, you know, but fog on top of the hills. Yeah. That was new. 

And, you know, I've been touring all through northern Minnesota, you know, since since the 80s. And I've never seen such a diverse kind of weather as I did during the month of May. I was we were continuously on the road from the 1st of May until the 29th of May. 

You know, we didn't come home, didn't turn around. We were gone. You know, that was it. 

And we had to take whatever nature gave us every single day. That that's, that's an ambitious tour. We're talking about 27 library stops and really traveling through the northern part of the state in May, which might be the most weather volatile time to travel, you know, in the dead of winter, you pretty much know what you're going to get and you prepare. 

But in May, you know, I do Roseau, I go up to Roseau every year. I have now for over a decade now and do the residency up there. And, you know, it's you're 100% correct. 

It could be snow blowing sideways, you know, and 25 degrees. And, you know, the two days later, it's 80 degrees. And you're in shorts and t shirt. 

And and and yes, the driving at night, especially with the deer is phenomenal. Like you just you're constantly on scanners, trying not to hit a deer and then you mentioned being in an RV. And if anybody's never driven a big RV, that's a whole different type of driving in and of itself. 

So you definitely went through it and saw all of it. And you kind of just laid out what a typical day was weather wise for you and your wife, Linda, and and how lucky were you to have, you know, a co pilot that you appreciate? What was a typical day like, you know, just weather aside? What was a typical day on the on the road like? Well, we always like to be in the town that the performance was in that day. And so I spent the entire month of April with Linda's help and also with Katie's help a compass and also with the Arrowhead libraries help planning out the entire tour, Frank. 

Everything had to be taken into consideration. How many miles between towns? What time does the show start? You want to build in time on the front end and also the back end for that so that you're never late. Yeah. 

And you also want to know where you're going to lay your head down at night, every night. And all that took a long time because some of the campgrounds weren't even open yet. So I would go to the librarian of a particular town and I'd say, Hey, do you have an outside outlet? And she'd say or he'd say, Yeah, we do. 

And I said, Well, how about if I just plug in right there? I'll get up in the morning, have my coffee and walk in and do the show. And, and, you know, they really thought that that was a really cool way to go. And I did too. 

Because it would save us time. So nights were cold, you know, had the furnace on just about every day. And would get up, you know, say for a 10 o'clock show, get up about six to, you know, move around, start packing up, starting to vocalize, have a little breakfast. 

If the show was, you know, at 2pm, well, then you could sleep in a little bit, you know, maybe get up at eight, do the same thing, had all the meals on board, of course, had everything we needed there. And, and then sometimes it would be, you know, maybe a half an hour to the stage, maybe nine minutes, or sometimes we'd be right in the parking lot already. And it was important to stick to the plan. 

Yeah, not to deviate very much from the plan, because the plan was a good plan. And when you're on tour, I learned this from a guy who did sound for the Steve Miller band. Steve Miller, as you know, canceled his tour this year because of environmental concerns with the weather. 

One of the first bands to ever do that, first big rock and roll bands ever to do that. And I had a friend who did sound for Steve Miller for about six years. And, and he said, every morning, he said, we'd get up, and we'd get a newsletter. 

And the newsletter would say where we're going, where we're sleeping, what, what kind of a town it is, what's what kind of a stadium or whatever it is, you know, so we knew what we were getting into. Well, I didn't have someone doing a newsletter for me. I had to do my own newsletter. 

Yeah, basically. And that was and that was my schedule. So I knew what time I got to get up, what time I have to be there, what time we're done, how long it's going to take to tear down, how long to the next job, where we're going to eat, if we're running out of food, where we're going to shop. 

You know, it was all very, very regimented. And, you know, touring seems like fun. And it is fun if it's planned well. 

But you don't want to get into a situation where you're starting to miss gigs, and then you're falling behind. Yeah, and that's a and that's a live and learn situation. I remember the first tour that we went on. 

serendipitously, we had, we booked 13 shows, and we were gone for about a month. And so there was, you know, plenty of time in between, which turns out to be a good thing, because we had never gone on tour before we didn't know what we were getting into. And we were going all the way out to the pack Northwest. 

And then we went back out there a year later on a second tour. And that was much like you just laid out it was much more regimented. I didn't have I wish I had a Charlie Maguire to say this is how you do it. 

Right. But yeah, but but it definitely by accidentally just being happy to be on tour and not booking a lot of shows the first time it allowed us to set up kind of a system for the second time we went out there and you mentioned something really important just when you're running out of food being able to know, you know, when and where you can shop because of course, in that part of the state, things don't you know, there's not a 24 hour cub in the northern part of the state. And so just being able to make sure that you have you know, your toiletries enough food and all your bathroom stuff. 

Even that probably had to be really well laid out because sometimes you got to get to the store before 8pm or you're not going to get there. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, what I did, Frank was I just joined anytime fitness for a month. 

And there was my shower right there, you know, and there are anytime fitness is all across the Iron Range and across northern Minnesota. So so whenever, you know, we needed to clean up a little bit, you know, maybe I didn't shower every day. Maybe I can tell that to the audiences now.

But, you know, just drop in there. And, you know, that's that that was one less thing that I had to worry about. Yeah. 

And and planning is so important, man, because people make great sacrifices to be there. You know, you you you talked about, you know, reaching 700 people. Now, some people listen to this podcast, they're gonna say, well, heck, man, 700 people isn't much. 

But I'll tell you. 700 people is a lot when some of the towns you're visiting are less than 600 total. Yeah, you know, I, I was in Cook, Minnesota, we had 65 people, we had, you know, an eighth of the population, right? Sitting in front of the sitting if now, you know, transpose that to say, St. Paul, Minneapolis, right? How many people that is, right? If it were down here, you know, other places like Buell, Minnesota, you know, population under 400, you know, had 25. 

Yeah. You know, I mean, the total that the Arrowhead library wanted for me was, you know, when the 600s. And with the promo that we were able to pull together, from so many great people, we were able to exceed that and more. 

And that's, that's the other thing that makes it so important, you have to let people know, you're coming. Yeah. And you know, some people don't go to the library every day. 

Some people don't look at the poster. Yeah, you know, but they hear it on the radio. They read it in their local newspaper. 

The newspapers that are left, you know, in rural Minnesota. And so just because you're on the road doesn't mean you're done. Yeah, no. 

Now you've got two jobs to do, you've got to continue to promote where you're going. Plus, you got to do the show. And that and that made all the difference. 

So oftentimes, I would do a show, get back in the RV, and then take an interview or two. Yeah. Sometimes before taking the stage for the show, there'd be someone there who wanted an interview. 

One day I did a TV interview and a radio interview before I even got on the stage in Duluth. And these people are excited, and you've got to give them the time. And it's it's really great to be able to get the word out. 

Yeah. And you cast a wide net, right? It sounds like you really casted a wide net knowing that not only are you dealing with communities that are spread out, but communities that get their information, and a number of different sources. And you want to try to make sure the information is there in all of the ways that they receive it. 

It sounds like you did a phenomenal, phenomenal job. Um, what was something maybe you talked about it being very regimented, the tour, what was something that maybe went off script? And then as we talk about, you know, the title of the podcast, creativity on tap, and of course, everything you do exudes creativity. So is there something that went off script in a in a meaningful or memorable way? And then how did you creatively adapt to whatever that thing may have been? How about on the first day? Tell me about do it? Yeah, tell me about it. 

Yeah, had the RV, this RV is 14 years old, it's got 55,000 miles on it. I took it into the dealer. And I had him go over that thing with a fine tooth comb from stem to stern. 

Brand new batteries, brand new oil change, brand new tires. I mean, you name it, are the hoses? Okay, everything. Okay. 

Because you couldn't break down because you didn't have any time in between. Right. So we loaded up the RV, we were going down the road, we stopped for gas, and the door on this RV is in the back, which is really cool, by the way, because most, most RVs have doors on the side, and you waste all that wall space. 

Yeah. But anyway, the door was in the back, it didn't open. Frank, the door did not open. 

That means that the only way you could get into it was to get into the driver's side or the passenger side, and then crawl in that way. Well, my sound equipment doesn't fit underneath, it had to fit, you know, in inside the living area of the RV in a closet. And I could just see myself passing this stuff over the tops of the seats and out the passenger side. 

Holy mackerel, I couldn't get that door open for anything, just couldn't do it. Got to Grand Rapids, Minnesota. And we didn't find out about it until like four o'clock in the afternoon. 

See, the show was at six. Yeah. And what are we gonna do? So we called an RV dealer. 

The guy said, Oh, well, the guy does, you know, lock stuff is, he's, he's over in the Iron Range now. He's not coming back for a couple of days. Great. 

Then my wife got the idea, God bless her, that why don't we just call a regular locksmith? And I said, Well, I know, but they're used to working on, you know, houses and buildings and stuff. Right. What are they gonna know about this? And she says, Don't worry, she says, a lock is a lock. 

So by golly, she found a locksmith, you know, at like five minutes of five. Mm hmm. And we had passed the stuff out of, you know, just taking everything I needed, the guitars, the sound system, everything, passing it over the seats and onto the street, because we couldn't get it out the back. 

So I went in set up for the show, did the show, she jumped in the RV, ran over and talked to the locksmith. He had to make tools, Frank, he had to file tools, like, you know, like filing down the tip of a screwdriver in order to get into that little lock, but he fixed it. Wow. 

Yeah. Teamwork makes the dream work. Oh, man.

He says, he says, darn it. He says, I wanted to go to the show. Here I am working on your vehicle.

Well, you might you might have had to give him just a personal song just to just to thank you. We gave him a couple of posters for his kids signed them for the kids and then said, you know, our next show is only like, you know, 10 miles, 15 miles away, whatever it was. I said, bring them over there. 

So. So that's that's how that worked out. After that, things were pretty well. 

It's like the gods said, well, you know, you did your planning, but we got one more thing you got to deal with. Yes. Well, at least it was a door and not engine failure, though, because oh, yeah, it always could have been worse, right? It always could have been worse. 

And, you know, the audience, the audience, the audience is always the patrons we think of. And I had a woman in her past 80. Who wanted to come to the show. 

And she lived outside of Chisholm, Minnesota, probably a good 10 miles. And she was going to take Metro Mobility. Metro Mobility did not come.

Yeah. So she grabbed her purse. She put on her sweater and she stood by the side of the road and she hitchhiked. 

Wow. Frank, she hitchhiked to the program. Wow. 

She got there. She got there about oh, I was probably. You know, the program is an hour, I was probably into the program, you know, a good 15 to 20 minutes when I saw this lady come in and then somehow somebody told me that she had hitchhiked to get there. 

And so we made that show a little longer. Yeah. Yeah. 

Make sure you make sure that it was a little extra special. Thank you for her. That's a beautiful thing. 

And I bet the rest of the audience didn't mind. Not one bit. They didn't mind it. 

And, you know, the other part of the audience that was so fascinating were the sailors who came out, people who had sailed professionally. And they would come up to me and I would ask them, you know, I mean, they are the ultimate judge. And I said, what do you think of the songs? Do you think they work? And he says, oh, yeah, yeah, they work. 

They work fine. And sometimes they had additional stories. I met one sailor who went to the rescue of the Fitzgerald. 

Oh, wow. And he said, you know, that that was a real rough night. He said, but we made Whitefish Bay. 

The Coast Guard said, would you mind going out to look for the Fitzgerald? I mean, you made it to safety now, but we need your help. Yeah. And the captain said, God, he said, I don't know if I don't know if I have the courage to do it, you know, but they did do it. 

And this sailor who was actually a cook on board said it was the roughest night on Lake Superior that he had ever been on. And the other sailors were thinking that they were going to go down, too. Yeah. 

And so, you know, it was lots of stories like that, that you would get later. Sometimes I just told people to just interrupt me. Yeah. 

I said, if you got a story, interrupt me. You know, we got a little time. Go ahead. 

But sometimes the stories they wanted to tell, though, they just wanted to tell just you. Yeah. And I'm glad I had the tour planned out so I wouldn't have to say after the end of the show, hey, I got to go.

Thanks. Yeah. You know, beautiful time for the people. 

I could sit down with them, actually sit down with them, you know, and, you know, Frank, they had coffee, they had donuts, they had candy, they had cookies at a lot of these. I mean, there's one library up there where you could buy a dozen eggs, you know, five bucks a dozen, brand new eggs, you know, from the librarian who had a chicken coop. I mean, it was full service, you know, and it was wonderful to be in that kind of community.

And it was wonderful that I passed the test for being approachable, you know, for that. Well, you know, you bring up something that segues into what I was going to ask you next. You know, you brought this program to small towns across the Arrowhead region and their culturally really rich programming. 

And we've talked about the impact and the connection that you made with the people. Why was it important for you to bring Bartholina to libraries specifically? What, you know, of the different types of venues, what made libraries kind of the primary place that you wanted to do these programs in? Well, you know, libraries are in the history business. They're in the information business.

And it gives people, too, a chance to get close, up close to a performer, whereas they may not have that chance at night somewhere in a venue. It also gives people a chance to see an artist during the daytime. You know, some people don't go out at night, you know, because of some of the things that I just, you know, that we talked about. 

People feel a little more comfortable, you know, showing up at a 10 o'clock show, you know, on their way to do other things during their day. Maybe they're on their way to the golf course, and maybe they're on their way to the grocery store. And they just stop by their local library.

They're greeted by the librarians who know them by their first names, you know, and take a seat. Some people want to show you stuff. They want to tell you stuff. 

And they know that they'll have the time to do it and the place to do it. If it's at a library. Yeah. 

One guy brought in a good portion of his Great Lakes collection. He had posters, you know, he had pictures, he had clothing, he had equipment. And he just wanted to share it with me and with everybody else. 

So I said, Hey, let's get an eight foot table in here. And you can spread it all out. After the show, you can talk about a little bit. 

Yeah, you got to he got a big kick out of that, you know, in the library is the perfect place for that. It's a good place for that, you know, and, and so, plus the fact that it's intimate. And for me, anyway, as a as a performing artist, it's, it's quiet and attentive. 

And, you know, I've worked so hard on this tour, to be in a to be in a venue where maybe people are only paying half attention, you know, and the other time the other half of the time, maybe they're ordering a hamburger or, you know, a libation of some kind. That isn't as gratifying to me as having an audience where you have their full attention. Yeah. 

And, you know, I'm not, I put I'm prepared, I'm not going to give them anything they don't want to hear. I'm not going to take them places where they don't want to go. And but by the same token, you know, they they need to listen to what I have to say, because, you know, it's their culture and community I'm telling them about. 

So a library makes all the difference in the world. And thank goodness for the legacy amendment. Yeah, thank goodness for that amendment that makes it possible to bring artists from other parts of the state to their community right there at no charge. 

Yeah, people walk in, they stay as long as they want. They usually stay the whole time. Yeah. 

Thank goodness for the legacy amendment. I mean, that makes all the difference. It's something that can never be taken away in our current situation, political situation as we know it, it will be there. 

And it's going to be there to bring artists into the community. Thank goodness that for the for the for the legacy amendments, I know it's helped you. It's many of our compass teaching artists. 

Yes. And I was very, very grateful. And listen, this is why I work so hard, because I didn't want that money to go to waste.

Yeah, yeah, that's the way of saying it. Yes. Nobody can say, what do we preserve this money for these artists for? Because we're out in the world doing the work, not just bringing joy and smiles to people's faces, but knowledge and information, fellowship, sharing, all of it. 

And I agree that the intimacy of a library program, you can't really beat it. You know, you're doing folk music, I do spoken word poetry, these are very conversational and intimate art forms. I don't want to take up too much more of your time. 

I know that you are a busy man. And, and we do have a time limit here that we have you for. So I want to ask you a couple questions that are just more stuff I'm curious about. 

One is, did you have a favorite song of all the pieces that you did on the tour? And then also, was there one that your audiences universally, no matter where you were, seemed to gravitate toward the most? Like, what was your favorite? And then, I know you performed in front of a lot of different types of audiences, but what was the one that kind of stuck out as like, that one hits a home run every time with the audience? Well, Frank, I wrote a lot of these songs in the 80s and 90s. And when I when I brought them out for the Bartolino tour, they sounded lame. Uh-huh. 

You know, because I'm a better songwriter now. Yeah. Yeah. 

And I had a choice. I could either sing them as they were and kind of swallow my pride, you know, knowing it wasn't the best they could get. Yeah. 

Or I could do something about it. So I chose to do something about it. So I revamped a lot of the songs that I wrote, lyric-wise and music-wise. 

And so all of these songs were hits. They were hits. They were contemporary hits. 

Yeah. But only because I was, you know, I was particular in offering my audience the very best. Yes. 

Now, having said that, the song that had probably the most impact was a song I didn't write. It was the only song in the show that I didn't write. And it was, of course, a song I had to sing if I was going to go out there with this tour. 

And that was called The Wreck of the M. and Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. OK. But with Gordon's song, with Mr. Lightfoot's song, I've shared the stage with him, but I never met him in Winnipeg and Vancouver folk festivals.

But the thing with Mr. Lightfoot's song is he wrote it quick and not all of the facts that are available to us now were in the song. So what I did was I updated the song lyrically and I did something he didn't do. And that is I included the names of all 29 crew members. 

OK. And that really moved people. People knew the song. 

See, they knew his version. And then to hear it fresh again with the facts and the names of those unfortunate sailors really brought the program home. I was so happy that I did that. 

Swallowed my pride and said, hey, I'm going to sing a song I didn't write. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I did it for the program. 

I did it for the librarians. I did it for the patrons. They deserve that upgrade. 

And that's what they got. It brought me a lot of satisfaction, too. Yeah. 

I can imagine it probably brought some tears to some faces in the audience, too. Yeah. Powerful, powerful moments. 

After wrapping up this leg of the tour and you kind of reflect on the whole experience, what is your takeaway personally, artistically, spiritually? And then what's next for going to Bartolino or your work in general? Well, I think we've I've done library tours in the past and I've done them, you know, under themes. Although, like I say, you know, maybe with some of the tours you've done, Frank, some aren't some, you know, reach as many people and some you do. And I'd like to continue to do this work because and maybe with a different theme next time, depending on where the you know, where the need is, you know, maybe Southern Minnesota with some kind of agricultural thing. 

Yeah. I was born and raised on a farm. I can I can sing and, you know, tell stories all day about that. 

So maybe maybe that's the next one. But you can't be really getting up in the morning and playing for an audience day in and day out. Boy, do you get good? Yeah. 

Yeah. And it's really cool. You know, it's kind of like working out at a gym, you know. 

Oh, sure. You can work out once a week. But man, when you work out every day, you are you are down to a routine and you are buff. 

Yes. It's really cool that way. Yeah. 

So I hope another opportunity rolls by for both of us. Well, I hope Compass can again be a part of help making that opportunity for you. Again, I know you've been a major influence on me, just your longevity. 

You show up to the artists meetings, you know, almost annually. I feel like I always see you there and you have so much knowledge of not just your craft, but how to translate that throughout education to audiences of all ages. And so it's it's really you you are a wonderful person to have around and to learn from and to have as an influence, even if you don't realize you're being an influence.

So we appreciate you and all of the things that you do and the joy that you bring to people. One thing I learned from you is no matter what, you are always joyful about pulling out the guitar and getting in front of audiences of all ages and sharing your gift and just your passion with the people. So I really appreciate you, Charlie. 

We appreciate you joining us here on Creativity on Tap for the listening audience. The tour is called Going to Bartolena. Are you going to actually, I meant to ask you real quick before I let you go. 

Are you going to be doing the songs or any versions of them around the Twin Cities? Are there any events in the Twin Cities that you're going to share with the with the Southern Minnesota audience what you took up north? Yeah, I did add on another library friend just after I got back. It was like on the 17th of June. So for all the people that, you know, that saw me on TPT Almanac down here or people that heard me on Minnesota Public Radio or The Current, you know, they were able to make that show. 

So we're actually talking about something that's in the past now. But there's nothing wrong with reminiscing. And I, you know, I just want to say that, yes, you can have a good program. 

Yes, you can have, you know, a good performer, but you can't do it without the people that make it possible. And I'm talking about Compass. I'm talking about Katie, who sets the tours up. 

I'm talking about every single person there, you included, who makes it all work when people are out on the road. You know, I know you've got my back. You know, we've got turn signal, we've got, you know, liability insurance. 

And, you know, I hate to talk about the, you know, the, you know, the bits and pieces, but that's all a comfort, you know, and hopefully we never use them. But having that support and love, especially, is, you know, is what keeps an artist going. And if an artist takes all the credit, they're not telling it the whole story. 

Correct. The whole story is all the people you don't see on the stage when that artist walks on. Yeah. 

Thank you. Man, it's our pleasure. Also, I'm going to publicly say thank you to Linda because it sounds like she definitely had your back and was a great partner, co-pilot. 

And how awesome is that to be able to go on tour and have your life partner right there with you, problem solving together, sharing the stories and the joys of the moments together. All of it just exudes love. And that's what it's all about for an artist, in my opinion, is spreading that love. 

So thank you also to your lovely wife for keeping you on your square, man. Thank you, Frank. Appreciate it. 

Yes. You have been listening to Creativity on Tap. I'm host Frank Cintuale. 

Our guest today was Charlie Maguire. Charlie, real quick, where can people find you if they want to learn more about you and your work? You can go to www.charliemaguire.com. Right now, I'm recording all of the songs that I sang on the Bartolini tour. You know, the ones that I re-did. 

Yes. And that album should be out, you know, probably within six to nine months. So people who missed the tour can maybe catch it that way. 

All right. Well, we'll be on the lookout for it. And I'm sure us at Compass will help make sure the word gets out there. 

Thank you so much for joining us, Charlie. Charlie Maguire, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening to Creativity on Tap. Peace.

What a wonderful conversation. That's a thumbs up, Charlie. When Sam gives you the whoo, that means we did a good job.

I'll take that. And feel free to edit, Sam. You know what you want to do there.

Sure. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. 

I'll keep you posted, let you know when it goes live and when we promote it. So you can do the same. And I think we got a good one.

Are you going to make it to the meeting this year, Charlie? Oh, absolutely. Awesome. I've already talked to Katie about this. 

I talked to Don. Thank God she got her dog back. Yes. 

You know, talk to Amanda. You know, I plan to see everybody there for sure. Awesome. 

Yeah, it's going to be an important one this year. Obviously, you know, you know, we've had lots of new staff added on and we're trying to streamline some things. So it's going to be important for the artists to be there. 

So any support that we can get from you to kind of help when you run into people in the community, tell them this is one year they definitely want to be there if they haven't been for a while. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I hope we get a really good turnout because it's so important that it takes the load off you guys. 

If the way you've set things up, like for submissions from students and so on and so many other things, if everyone does it in the way that makes it more efficient, then, you know, you guys can, you know, concentrate on what really matters. And that is, you know, getting the artists out there. Yes, absolutely. 

I couldn't agree more. I've talked to Amanda about this too. And maybe, you know, for what it's worth, I'll just throw it out quickly here.

Back in the day, when we did workshops, Compass artists did the workshops. And a lot of times, Compass artists would go to these workshops, not only to learn something, but just to see a fellow artist talk a little bit. And, you know, I told Amanda, you know, to consider hosting panel discussions or workshops again with Compass artists. 

I mean, it's nice that we bring in the experts. I just sat in on a Dementia Friends program with a non-Compass artist that Jess set up, which was really terrific. But, and that has its place. 

But I don't know, it's kind of fun during the, it used to be a lot of fun during the Compass meetings, you know, the business meetings to have an actual, you know, panel discussion or workshop devoted, you know, done by a fellow artist. Those were fun. Yeah, I think we're gonna get back in that direction. 

At least the last conversation we had, I think, was moving back in that direction. So, yeah. Might be fun. 

You know, we like to watch each other, you know. Well, you'll get plenty of my big mouth. Yeah, kid each other, maybe heckle each other a little bit, you know.

That's right. That's right. That's right. 

Well, I appreciate you, man. It's been a wonderful conversation. It's always good to see you, man. 

Thank you for the joy that you bring. Thank you, Frank. I appreciate it. 

Great questions. You were spot on, brother. Well, Sam sets them up and I knock them down. 

We're a team. You were swinging for the fences, Frank. That's good.

Yes, yes, yes. Well, and I'm curious myself. So, you know, sometimes I'm going right on script, and then sometimes there are things that I'm just curious about that I think would be interesting for the people to hear. 

And Sam gives me a lot of wiggle room to kind of create a conversation that I think would be appealing to an audience. And so, like I said, we definitely team work it up. She kind of sets them up and I go ahead and just kind of do my thing within it.

And so far, so good, I think. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 

Nice work, Sam. Thank you. Thank you. 

She's amazing. She's super amazing. Yeah, she really is. 

All right. Well, you have a good day. All right. 

All right. Take care, sir.