About & Contact

For as long as people have worked together, we've sung. We sing to set the pace and steady the breath. We sing to pass the time. Then, after work and late into the night, we sing about love and loss and the places we've been. Then we dance.

This songbook is built from those traditions.

I'm Bennett Konesni. I've been learning worksongs, leading them, and writing my own for thirty years. I started as a teenage deckhand on the schooners on Penobscot Bay in Maine, USA. Since then I've learned and tried out songs in fields, kitchens, woodlots and dance halls here there and everywhere.

What's here is what has worked for me. Sea shanties, farming and forestry songs, dance tunes, and a pile of originals. Some I learned from old Maine archives and other singers. Some I wrote.

Follow a course through the material that I've prearranged for you - you can see those in the "Collections" section - or just grab the song you need from the "Songs" list.

GET IN TOUCH

I travel for this work and like making it happen in new places.

bennett @ worksongs.org

Hire me: I do concerts, workshops, talks, dances, team-building, school residencies. This can work at festivals, schools, companies, gatherings, boats, farms, and living rooms. I've done this in North America, Europe and Asia... happy to head over to your place to share.

Events: I lead singing rows, walks, jogs, farm sings, work sessions, workshops, concerts, dances. If you want to host one in your area, I can help you set it up.

Learn with me: Private song coaching, song-leading coaching, retreats can be the thing that bring your singing or song leadership to the next level. Whether you want to nail a shanty for your crew or learn how to lead a room full of people who weren't planning on singing, I might be able to help.

Get involved: Are you a worksonger? Shoot me an email and say hi!

-Bennett

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