Biography Robert W, Zachary, Jr.

I was born in the greater New York City area and attended schools in the south during the Civil Rights Movement. I was always involved in music, first as a choirboy in the Anglican Church. As a teenager I played various instruments with friends including David Chase who created “The Sopranos” for HBO. I later moved to the Boston/Cambridge area where I continued my musical pursuits becoming the Manager of Earth Opera—a bluegrass oriented band. They had a contract with Elektra Records—we opened shows for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, many more. Through my dealings with Elektra Records I was hired in June 1969 to do Public Relations for Delaney & Bonnie who were opening for Blind Faith on a 30 city US tour. From there I became Director of East Coast Publicity, Director of Artist Relations, and Senior Staff Producer which required learning audio engineering. I left Elektra in 1974 to be Technical Director of the Bottom Line—a cabaret in Greenwich Village.

Throughout my experiences in New York I met many well known performing artists, poets, and writers. I learned the origins of American Culture from men like Harry Smith who made a recording in 1949 calles “The Anthology of American Folk Music” for Folkways Records—it is now available from Smithsonian/Folkways.

I continued to free lance as a recording concert producer engineer until the present. I created Turtle Island Records, Ltd. For the Turtle Island String Quartet and was CEO of that label. The rest of my discography is listed on the site.

I am dedicated to sharing my knowledge and experience on indiginous American Culture as I strongly agree that the Arts teach us who we are and what we can be.

Robert W. Zachary, Jr.