Smithsonian Folkways recording artist and Millville singer and storyteller, Jim performs sea shanties, ballads and other songs connected with maritime trades. He is also a wonderful storyteller, dulcimer, guitar and flute player. “I was born in Atlantic City and grew up in Atlantic City until I went away to college, and it was absolutely wonderful to grow up in Atlantic City back in the year B.C. – before casinos. Our phys ed classes in high school were on the beach. The high school was located on the beach block and we played touch football and softball on the beach with the ocean in the background. My interest in music came not so much from the family, although there was story telling there. I had a real good uncle who was a great story teller and I remember a few of his pieces, but nobody in my family was musically inclined per se… The next major influence on me was the Great Folk Scene of the ‘60s, when I went away to college… Montclair State College in New Jersey… And I am called a folk singer when I show up somewhere, at a school or a library, a social club.  I think it’s important to say to people, ‘Well, I’m not a folk singer, I’m a singer who has folk songs in his repertoire,’ you know.”