Bob Carpenter : The Believer

I met Bob Carpenter in 1979 when we both played the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. His songs and quiet intensity impressed me. We only talked briefly, but I got a sense that Bob had a big heart, even if he seemed like a very private person. Over the years, I looked for that album of his - Silent Passage - but it wasn't available. For years, the album was sitting in a warehouse, 2,500 copies of it, tied up in some kind of legal wrangle. I eventually tracked it down thanks to the kindness of a Norwegian friend who had a copy. "The Believer," offered up here, is one of songs on the album that I recall Bob doing at the Vancouver festival. Holger Peterson of Stony Plain Records managed to obtain the rights to the album and it has since been reissued on his label. It's a rare gem from an artist very few people know about. I don't expect that to change, but I wanted to post something on the internet so that at least a couple of folks might learn of Bob's unique artistry. The photographs - aside from the album cover shots - are gathered from my own work. I don't know how well they match the song, but I tried to capture in the images a little of the 'feeling' of the song. I hope that you enjoy hearing Bob, especially if it's for the first time. Enjoy...

Added 17 Aug 2026