David Mallett

David Mallett (born April 21, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his authorship of the "folk standard" composition "Garden Song". He has recorded for independent record labels for most of his career.

Biography
A resident of Maine for most of his life, in the 1980s Mallett relocated to Nashville, and released two albums with the folk and blues label Vanguard. He has since moved back to Maine and established his own label, North Road Records.

Mallett's songs have been recorded by more than 150 artists, including: Pete Seeger, Alison Krauss, John Denver, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bok, Trickett, Muir, and Makem and Clancy. "Garden Song" was even recorded by the Muppets.

"Garden Song"
Mallett wrote "Garden Song" when he was in his early twenties. He'd been listening to the radio when he went to help his father plant the garden at his homestead in Sebec, Maine. With "music in his head and work at his hands," the first verse came while planting:


 * Inch by inch, row by row
 * Gonna make this garden grow
 * All it takes is a rake and hoe
 * And a piece of fertile ground

Mallett walked around the yard humming it. The next day, he wrote the second verse at a friend’s house. Being only the third or fourth song he'd written, Mallett regards "Garden Song" as a gift, one that altered the course of his life. It was recorded by John Denver, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, and other acts. The song is likely why the University of Maine gave Mallett an honorary degree in 2014.

Performance
Mallett frequently performs with violinist Susan Ramsey and bassist Michael Burd, with sound by Tom Gordon. He has recorded 17 albums, including The Fable True in 2007, based on Thoreau's last expedition in 1857. and Alright Now a collection of songs including "Beautiful," dedicated to his daughter Molly.

He has performed in town halls and folk clubs across America and Europe in addition to major venues such as Barns of Wolf Trap, Newport Folk Festival, and Prairie Home Companion. The Bangor Daily News recognized him as one of the 58 most memorable Mainers of the 20th Century. The readers of Folkwax voted him "2003 Artist of the Year" and his album Artist in Me as "2003 Album of the Year".

Legacy
His sons, Will and Luke, perform as The Mallett Brothers Band. The Mallett Brothers Band have a new album, "Live in Portland, Maine" available March 2019.

Discography
David Mallett has released seventeen albums: 1978: David Mallett

Fire

We Were One

Inches and Miles

Circle of Friends

Arowsic

Garden Song

Dulcimer

It's Cold Tonite

I Knew This Place

I Wish I Were a Horse

Arthur 1979: Pennsylvania Sunrise

The Last Time I Saw Annie

Pennsylvania Sunrise

Moon Upon The Left

Haying Song

Midnite On The Water

Oranges And Roses

Phil Brown

Fast Gun Gettin' Slow

The Candle And The Cape

Ballad Of The Saint Anne's Reel 1981: Hard Light

Hard Time Love Song

Mr. Arthur's Place

Sweet Bird Of Youth

Highways

The Hard Light

On The Road From Boston

Time And Tide

All Dressed Up And Lonely

Country Disco

North To Alaska

After All These Years

You Say That The Battle Is Over 1983: Open Doors and Windows

Closer Now Than Ever

Open Doors And Windows

Snowbound

Thanks To Mother Mercy

This Little Town

I've Been Around

Photographs and Memories

The Longest Night

Milly, There's A Dance In Town

Northern Lights 1986: Vital Signs 1988: For a Lifetime 1993: This Town 1995: In the Falling Dark

Hungry for Love

Off the Ground

Closer to Truth

Like This

That Was the One

Way Out West

When the Sun Comes Up

Here We Go

Daddy's Oldsmobile

Come Out of the Blue

Hope For One and All 1997: Parallel Lives

I Hate to See this Town Go Down

Summer of my Dreams

Closer to Truth

I Picture You

You Say the Battle Is Over

Introduction to 'Phil Brown'

Phil Brown

Snowbound

Garden Song

After the Fall

Like This

Daddy's Oldsmobile

Fifty Years (Introduction To 'My Old Man')

My Old Man

Nothin' But a Long Goodbye

Parallel Lives 1999: Ambition 2003: Artist in Me 2006: Midnight on the Water

Angel Stand-in’ By

Here We Go

Greenin’ Up

Dulcimer

Walkin’

Somewhere in Time

Midnight on the Water

Artist in Me

I Knew this Place

Didn’t Nobody Teach You

Summer of My Dreams

Strange Life

Hometown Heroes

Parallel Lives

Fire

A Long Goodbye

Ballad of the St. Anne’s Reel 2007: The Fable True - Stories from Thoreau's the Maine Woods

The 31st Of August

Old Town

Salmon River

The Road To Molunkus

Fishing

There Were Six Of Us

One Way River

Rapids 2009: Alright Now

Ten Men

One of Those Things

North Meets South

Easier Than This

Beautiful

Innocent Time

End of the Day

Dark Side of the Moon

Don't Ask Me

Alright Now 2012: Greenin' Up

I Knew This Place

Greenin' Up

Fat of the Land

Aurora Borealis

Dogs & Horses

Summer of My Dreams

Arrowsic

Garden Song

Good Times

April

The Haying Song

Beautiful Rose 2015: The Horse I Rode In On

Girl from the North Country

They Covered Up the Old Swimmin' Hole

Long Black Veil

Wayward Wind

Second Cup of Coffee

How to Handle a Woman

One More Time

Jamaica Farewell

Sea of Heartbreak

Saginaw Michigan

For the Good Times

Tombstone Every Mile 2016: Celebration

Celebration

Better Than That

Girl With The Golden Hair

Survivor

Ring For You

Last Farmer's Ball

Two Sides To Every Story

Hard To Live These Country Songs

You Deserve The Best

Whatever Gets You By