Hobe Kytr (Astoria, OR) is a folklorist, songwriter, and musician who specializes in songs about the history and folklore of Northwest regional life, especially that of fishermen and loggers. Hobe has worked to identify and reanimate songs in archival texts and other discovered sources.
Bio
Hobe Kytr is a folklorist, songwriter, and musician. He came of age during the folk music revival of the 1960s, but it wasn’t until he met John and Kim Cunnick that he began to hear his calling in music. The Cunnicks lived in a former logging camp in Clatsop County, where they wrote and played songs inspired by the American old-time string band tradition. When John Cunnick died in a tragic automobile accident, Kytr worked with Kim Cunnick to document and perform the couple’s music. This project resulted in a songbook and a tour with prominent folk musician Mike Seeger. Kytr continued on a trajectory as a singer and song researcher with a focus on regional life. "I’ve been interested in traditional music, and the songs that tell the stories of the people and the places that I grew up with here in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington," he explains. This frequently means interpreting the social history of occupations like fishing and logging. Kytr has worked to identify and reanimate songs in archival texts and other discovered sources. These include "Old Miller Sands," a song text that an Irish fisherman had written about working on the Columbia River seining grounds, and "Logging at Butler’s Camp," a moniker song about the life at a Northwest logging camp. "It clearly was a song," Hobe says of "Old Miller Sands." "It deserved to be put back in song format." In addition to performing regional Oregon folk songs, Hobe frequently plays the banjo for Astoria-area contra dances and square dances. He was also one of the founding members of the annual FisherPoets Gathering, where he performs each year and gives songwriting workshops.
