Hailing from Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland, Jim Payne has been a professional artist for 16 years. He is a leading performer and collector of traditional Newfoundland music, singing the songs of the fishing and lumbering industries and of the varied and often hard lives in the small and widely separated villages which dot the island.

Jim is also one of the province's most prolific songwriters, and in recent years has turned his attention to the plight of the fishermen and the "State of the Nation" in light of the closing of most of the fisheries due to the depletion of what was once thought to be an endless resource. In his varied career, he has also directed, composed and performed music for some of the most popular theater productions of the past decade, and created soundtracks for plays and documentaries in Canada and abroad. He has toured throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe, Japan and Austria.

Jim is a talented musician and accompanies his songs with accordion, guitar and mandolin. His credits include solo recordings, contributions to anthologies of Newfoundland music, and support and production work on recordings by other artists. His recording label, SingSong, has released four of his titles, including "For & Against", "Empty Nets", "Southern Cross" and his latest solo recording, "State of the Nation" which is a compilation of songs written for productions of Rising Tide Theatre.

Many of us first met Jim about 10 years ago when he spent a week with us on the staff of Folk Music Week at Pinewoods Camp, along with his then musical partner Kelly Russell. Shortly afterward he did a house concert for FSSGB but we heard little from or about him until last year when he performed at the Mystic Sea Music Festival. Re-acquainted with his wonderful singing, and hearing his old and new songs, we vowed to bring him back to the Boston area for another performance.

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