Mason Daring, Jeanie Stahl & Friends | Folk Music

Mason Daring & Jeanie Stahl are Marblehead Festival of Arts "Hall of Famers" who have performed for our Festival since the 70's and capture the essense of our Concerts @ Crocker Park....Wonderful Performers Delivering Womderful Performances!

Mason Daring is a critically acclaimed film and TV composer and Jeanie Stahl a premier vocalist. They met at a Cambridge Club in 1973 where Mason was performing and Jeanie auditioning. On the basis of an immediate respect for each other's musical talents and aspirations, they formed a permanent temporary musical collaboration that is still going strong. They have recorded five albums together, appeared on national and local radio and TV, including Barbara Walters’ final Today show, won area newspaper readers’ polls and were dubbed by the Boston Globe the "darlings of the folk scene" and by the New England Folk Almanac, “the best the era had to offer.”

Their music reflects their interest in a broad range of styles, from classic songs of the 30's and 40's to contemporary folk and country and original compositions. As longtime Boston Globe music critic Steve Morse, wrote, “There remains a magic to their collaboration…”

Their recent album includes songs that appear in the 2026 documentary film, Marblehead Morning: Daring & Stahl: 50 Years in Harmony. about their long-term collaboration.

Mason Daring is a music producer and critically acclaimed feature film composer for 75 motion pictures and mini-series. His credits include the scores for seventeen of John Sayles’ movies, including The Secret of Roan Inish, Eight Men Out, Matewan and Lone Star. His television scores include the Emmy nominated score for Bailey’s Mistake, the Emmy award winning theme for Yankee Magazine and the long-playing themes for PBS's Nova and Frontline. His major film credits include, among others, From Earth to the Moon, The Opposite of Sex, Music of the Heart, and Where the Heart Is. In addition Mason taught film composition at Berklee College of Music for 20 years.

Mason was the founder and driving force behind Daring Records, a sub-label of Rounder Records, which produced and released albums for a variety of artists including Bill Staines, Bob Franke, Billy Novick, Guy Van Duser, Duke Levine, Butch Thompson, and Jeanie Stahl.

'Mason Daring is to a director what a Stradivarius is to a violinist. He makes moments that might well go by unnoticed spring to life in a way that they suddenly touch the soul of the audience.' - Wes Craven

Jeanie Stahl grew up performing classical and folk music. Her voice, said one critic is, "so rich and smooth, it should be bottled and sold." In addition to her albums with Mason, Jeanie recorded four solo albums, all produced by Mason. She also starred in eight music videos of vintage songs which aired nationally on PBS as part of the Masterpiece Theater series Love in a Cold Climate. Her songs and vocal recordings have been featured on television specials and in films, including John Sayles' movies Lianna and Return of the Secaucus Seven as well as other feature films including the cult hit, The Opposite of Sex. Working with longtime collaborator, lyricist and writer, Harriet Reisen, she composed the music for On the cover of Time: A Memoir with Songs and starred in the presentation workshops in Marblehead and as part of the Gloucester Stage Never Dark series.

Joining Mason and Jeanie to kick off our 60th Marblehead Arts Festival Concerts @ Crocker will be Richard Gates on bass, Tim Jackson on drums, and mystery guest on guitar. We are so excited they are with us on the historic Opening Night!