Born
in December 1923 in Brooklyn , Milt Okun is an American music educator,
arranger and record producer best known as a member of The Belafonte Folk
Singers with Harry Belafonte. He has
also made arrangements or produced recordings for a number of well-known
artists including The Chad Mitchell Trio, John Denver, and Peter, Paul, and
Mary.
In the early 1950s, Milt Okun directed an event known as the Adirondack Folk Song and Dance Festival, held on the shores of Schroon Lake for five years running, acquainting him with many of the area’s indigenous songs. In 1963 he recorded Adirondack Folk Songs and Ballads, an LP album on the Stinson label, that draws its material from the Adirondack song collecting of Marjorie Lansing Porter. His performance of these songs was very much in keeping with the folksinging style of the day as described above; he accompanied his singing with a strummed banjo or guitar.