Mike Ward is a singer/songwriter based out of Waterford, CT. He describes his music as “Acoustic Americana.”

Mike Ward’s singing career began in the streets of Seattle, Washington. It was the summer of 1981.

An Able Bodied Seaman by trade at the time, Mike had left his New England home for the shores of Puget Sound with high hopes of making a pier head and finding passage on a ship bound for the Orient. When he wasn’t sitting in the Union Hall waiting for a ship, he spent his lunchtime and after hours as a busker performing for change with an open guitar case on street corners and down at the local market ”Pike Place.” Eventually he was playing gigs in some of Seattle’s small intimate coffee-shops, restaurants, and taverns. Upon returning to New England, Mike continued to play locally based in Newport, RI when not sailing coastwise from Maine to Florida.

Mike’s voice is “rich, confident and sincere…” said Laura Travis of the Providence Phoenix. This after placing as a finalist in a songwriting competition sponsored by the Rhode Island Songwriters Association (RISA). Back when he was playing with his good friend Joe Fontaine on violin, Kara Laughlin of the Sea Mass Traveler Magazine, in her Nite Life column, had this to say about their performance in October of ‘97. “The duo has fans who remember their days playing many of the now-defunct clubs in Newport like Harpo’s and the Blue Pelican. The combination of Ward’s accomplished finger picking and Fontaine’s soaring fiddle are beautiful in themselves. Add to that the confident tenor of Ward’s vocals and their poignant lyrics and it’s easy to figure out why people listened from outside the door when they couldn’t squeeze into the room.

With a repertoire which encompasses folk, folk-rock, ragtime and finger style-blues and influences such as Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, Taj Mahal, Doc Watson, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Paxton, The Reverend Gary Davis and Jimmy Rogers, a unique mix of music emerges. When asked about his songwriting, Mike says that he chooses not to imitate but to instead, emulate these artists and develop a style and to find a voice of his own. This is exemplified on his debut CD entitled “The Way You Speak Your Mind.”

Mike’s first CD is a collection of thirteen original songs which cover a wide selection of songwriting styles and textures. The eloquently finger-styled title track “The Way You Speak Your Mind” speaks about the importance of communication between lovers. While in the folksy ballad “Yardbirds,” Mike writes of the demise of a local shipyard and the struggles of it’s workforce. Then there is the humorously ludicrous folk rock song, “Benny,” in which he sings about one individual’s reckless abandon.

“The Way You Speak Your Mind” CD was produced by Mike Ward and Joe Fontaine. In addition to playing the violin and singing back-up vocals on several tracks Joe Fontaine recorded and engineered the project at his Wooden Fish Studio in Westport, MA.

Mike’s music has been played across the country on independent radio and he has performed at folk and maritime festivals across Southern New England. He describes his current genre “Acoustic Americana” as a selection of folk, finger-style blues, contemporary and original compositions. After a long hiatus from performing while pursuing a maritime career and raising a family, he is now embarking on a new musical journey.

When he is not performing, Mike works as a captain on the Long Island ferry M/V Cape Henlopen, sailing between New London, CT and Orient Point, NY. He also loves to spend time with his wife Pam, five children and three grandchildren.