TALES & TUNES
“Rare is the writer who is able to spin a tale so rich in the lore of folk music and dance traditions. To do it in a manner that spellbinds and beguiles and gives us meaningful insights into our collective spirit is extraordinary.”
– National Endowment for the Arts Master Fiddler Rodney Miller
Dancing the Haw – poems about dancing, fiddle tunes, and fried apple pies.
Tales from the Red Book of Tunes – A collection of interwoven tales about about traditional music and dance.
The Swamps that Close – poems in rural Southern, musical, and humorous voices.
Tyler Johnson is a writer and musician living in Galway, Ireland, having grown up in a log cabin near Scotchtown, Virginia. Traditional music and dance have long been integral to his life and work. His writing emerged from that Southern voice, but is influenced by an ear for other dialects and a taste for other cultures.
Tyler’s books include The Swamps that Close (2004), Tales from the Red Book of Tunes (2014), and Dancing the Haw (2015). His poems have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, Iodine, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Prairie Wolf Press Review.
Tyler is a regular contra and Irish set dancer. He plays the mandolin, Irish tenor banjo, and guitar for dances and for fun.