ABOUT
Shipwrecked Shanty is a San Francisco Bay Area experientially-based Sea Shanty performance that gets the crowd involved in a rip-roaring participatory 'Shantyaoake!' We make it FUN for our audiences, bring over 1,000 followers to our instagram and Facebook pages, and most importantly, we involve and envelop our audiences.
Shipwrecked Shanty was born out of crisis—and community.
When COVID shut down venues across the Bay Area, including the beloved Sea Shanty venue Quinn’s Lighthouse, a scrappy group of musicians set up on the porch and started singing. What began as a way to stay connected through livestreams quickly became something more: a regular gathering of voices, laughter, and maritime music echoing down the streets of Jack London Square.
But the soul of Shipwrecked Shanty runs even deeper. Many of its members have been performing traditional sea shanties and maritime music for over 30 years, tracing their roots to legendary folk shantyman Skip Henderson and the Starboard Watch. That rich lineage brings a timeless authenticity to the group’s joyful, salty, heartfelt performances.
We view the “Shipwrecked Shanty” as singing WITH the people as opposed to AT them. Members of the group have been involved in community sea shanties for over 40 years.​ We are dedicated to creating an unforgettable experience for our audience.
With Jim’s performance prowess, Micha’s bouncy enthusiasm, John’s guitar licks, and Steve’s standup bass keeping the heartbeat, the Shipwrecked Shanty is unlike anything you’ve experienced. It is an experiential, anachronistic, musical voyage through maritime history that Shanghai’s an audience away from modern-day divisiveness and brings everyone together with a common theme: we’re all in this boat together.
...and as the Titanic sank, the band played on!
