We Are Upstate NY With Local Artist and Musician Rennie Cantine

You’d be hard-pressed to find a person more authentically ‘old school’ Hudson Valley than master carpenter, builder, fine artist and guitarist Rennie Cantine.

Cantine’s Huguenot ancestors arrived in Kingston from France way back in the mid-1600s. He was raised and trained as a carpenter, beginning at age five, in Chanticleer, the first house built in the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony. His stepdad, John Brown, was not only a carpenter but a beloved bartender at the famous Deanie’s Restaurant, the man who looked out for Dylan and The Band, Paul Butterfield, Jimi Hendrix, etc. when they made Woodstock their home. Cantine literally came of age hanging with these stars, especially Rick Danko, who gifted him with his first guitar and taught him lasting lessons in music and life.

Cantine’s wood skills extended to the arts when he became the spearhead for Woodstock’s long-running Guitar Sculpture Project. He was also the catalyst for the annual Guitar Spotlight Series, a showcase for the area’s legendary and up-and-coming guitarists, something he’s presently turning into a documentary/book/podcast with veteran music writer John Barry.

While Cantine has supported himself largely with his carpentry and building work, he’s also been a longtime fixture on the local music scene, currently with his band Sabrina and The Gems. Due to persistence and a stroke of luck, Cantine became the second man to close a Woodstock Festival with a set of Jimi Hendrix’s National Anthem during Woodstock ’94.

Read on to learn more about Rennie and this legendary town…

Let’s start at the beginning with your family. They’ve been here for 11 generations, almost as long as Overlook Mountain. Who were some of your most memorable forebearers and what were their contributions to the Hudson Valley?

My ancestor, Moyse Quantin, was a wine merchant in Bordeaux. He was a Huguenot who came to Kingston in 1686, where he changed his name to Moses Cantine. Sadly, his wife and daughter died on the journey from Europe.  He settled at the famous row of stone houses in New Paltz, where he remarried and had a son, Peter, who had 13 children, so the family really grew. Over the generations, my ancestors mainly lived in New Paltz, Stone Ridge and Marbletown.

My mom and dad divorced when I was around four months old and I was mainly raised by my stepdad, John Henning Brown. He came to Woodstock in the late 1940s and was pretty much the original Beatnik – the strongest, funniest, smartest and most resourceful man I had ever met. He was a bartender by trade but went back to college to get his Ph.D. in English, becoming a scholar on Beowulf, Chaucer and Shakespeare.

I grew up in the house we’re sitting in today, Chanticleer, the first house built in Byrdcliffe in 1902. I learned to be a carpenter in this house, working with John beginning when I was around five, mainly because it was so old and always needed fixing. John would be a bartender here in the summer, then we would head to warmer climates every winter, driving south right after Thanksgiving in our old VW van or Oldsmobile.

First we went to St. Thomas, where he opened a bar, Duffy’s, the place on Creeque Alley where The Mamas & the Papas famously got their act together in 1964. Another time we lived in tents on the beach in Marathon Key.  We headed back to Woodstock every year when school let out.

My dad was really into music and musicians.  A popular bartender at the famous Deanie’s Restaurant (currently Cucina), he’d look after all the musicians who came to town – Dylan, Hendrix, and especially The Band and Paul Butterfield. He’d make sure they had a car, a place to live and that they always got home safe after a night of heavy partying.  John was especially close to Rick Danko, who became like a son to him and a true influence on me and my musical education.

How did your interest in carpentry develop and how did that morph into your artistic woodworking?

One of my favorite characters in Woodstock was Andre Neher, who worked at the Woodstock Building Supply his dad founded. When I was around six, I went in there with my dad, whom I was always tagging along with, and Andre gave me a tape measure and pencil. He said, “You keep an eye on your dad, help him out and you’ll learn everything you need to know.” By the time I was 12, I was using a table saw; by 14, we’d built an addition to the back of this house, with me as pretty much the lead carpenter. By the time I turned 16, I was a legitimate carpenter.

Some of the musical interest also comes from your biological father.

My birth father was Martin Cantine. He was an awesome guy, too. With his brothers, he ran the Cantine Paper Mill in Saugerties, a very successful enterprise founded by my great-grandfather in 1888. He also had a record company. They were well-off and he would drive the Packard down to Harlem to hang out with Satchmo, Billie Holiday and all the great jazz players. He was always flying off somewhere for the music, which probably broke up my parents’ marriage.

But it was John H. Brown’s relationship with Woodstock’s legends that really gave you the bug for music.

I grew up with all these guys looking after me and telling me stories, especially Danko and Butterfield. One of my babysitters was the great singer Libby Titus. I remember being about 12 when Levon Helm pulled me aside to tell me how John had saved all their lives, that I should always honor him and tell him I loved him.

I was also always over at Paul Butterfield’s when they were living at Peter Pan Farm, the current site of the Woodstock Day School. This was the classic band with David Sanborn, Chris Parker, Gene Dinwiddie, Buzzy Feiten et al.  I’d be reading comics in the kitchen while they rehearsed, making sure not to be crushed by the towers of beer cases they’d stacked there. Same with Rick Danko and Michael Esposito of the Blues Magoos; I’d be hanging at their houses my whole youth, soaking in their music, their lore and their wisdom.

When my mom’s guitar got stolen, Rick Danko went over to Big Pink, picked up an old Stella and gave it to us. He also gave my brother Alex and me our first lesson – three blues chords. Years later, we learned this guitar was supposedly given to Robbie Robertson by Bob Dylan; there are like a million pictures of it taken by Elliot Landy. That’s the guitar I learned on.

One of the best pieces of advice I got (from Butterfield, Levon and especially Rick) was to play music for fun and not make it your job. If you don’t make it your job, they said, then nobody can tell you what to do or how to play. You can have fun instead of having to compromise by chasing commercial success. Maybe that’s why I’ve played and practiced every day for the past 50 years – it’s still fun.

You studied architecture and are also a builder by trade. How much of your time is involved in these projects? And has this work expanded with the influx of new people to the Hudson Valley?

I got a science foundation grant from the University of Florida at Gainesville but transferred after my first year there to Bard. Then I got a degree in environmental design at the University of California Santa Cruz where I designed a few houses after graduation. While in California, I was in a band with Gabriel Butterfield, Paul’s son. We came back in 1992 due, in part, to an invitation from Michael Lang to play Woodstock ’94, where I lived again in this very house.  I rehearsed with Gabe, the late Ted Orr, Jimmy Eppard and others for the gig, but we got bumped at the last minute when Country Joe and the Fish turned up at the festival and took our slot.

For the next two decades or so, I was the house carpenter at Byrdcliffe. I worked on pretty much all the buildings, including The Barn; I’m currently working on Eastover. About 18 years ago, I started teaching a furniture design course there. Over three weekends, people would learn to use all the tools and make a bench modeled on the ones created at Peter Whitehead’s Byrdcliffe home. My girlfriend, Meg Oliver, was the director of the pottery program and would make all these 1902-styled tiles for the benches. She and her partner, Lucy Piedra, have a great, museum-quality pottery business called L&M Studio.

Tell us about your Woodstock Guitar Sculpture Project.

In 2002, the Chamber of Commerce had an idea to do a guitar sculpture competition. They wanted to pick ten professionals out of a few hundred applicants to create these 10-foot-tall pieces to be displayed around town before being auctioned off for charity. I was asked to help put together a kickoff concert for the event, but I also wanted to submit a design and build one of the sculptures. They accepted my entry and the concert was a huge success. In 2003, they put me in charge of the event and that winter, I made 12 sculptures honoring my idols, including people like Michael Lang. I did this for about 10 years, making the sculptures and finding places around town to display them. I expanded the effort, making 30-40 new ones every year and templates for the businesses around town. We got slowed down a bit by the pandemic but are going to rev it up again in 2024.

When and how did music take center stage in your life?

I really got more serious in college, practicing three to four hours a day, every day. I also had my first major live gigs out there, many with Gabriel (Butterfield). After moving back after Woodstock ’94, I started an annual festival called The Guitar Spotlight Series, where all the great local players like Jim Weider, Jesse Gress and Murali Coryell performed. Through the Spotlight series, I fell in with a great rhythm section, playing a lot with bassist Steve Rust and drummer Harvey Sorgen. I ended up doing an album of my original music, Rip Van Ren, with Pete Levin, John Sebastian, Joe Bessemer and other local phenoms. Over the years, I played hundreds of gigs with dozens of musicians at venues like Tinker St Café, Colony Woodstock and my favorite, the late great Joyous Lake.

Tell us about your current project, Sabrina and The Gems.

Sabrina is a wonderful enigma. I met her when she moved here at 22 and began working at Catskill Art. I first heard her at a party where she did 45 minutes of poetry. She then sat in at a gig with my band and blew us all away. We started working together in 2015, writing together on Friday nights and collaborated on an album, The Dream That Woke You. It was a barter deal with Applehead Recording Studio, recording sessions in exchange for my carpentry work. We’re now working on a second album with Mike DuBois on drums, John Nichter on bass and Sabrina and me on guitar. We play all around town at Pearl Moon, The Colony, Bearsville Theater and the like.

As if all this wasn’t enough, I see you are now working with writer John Barry on a multiplatform documentary about Woodstock guitar players.

John is a good friend.  Having known Levon Helm since I was a little kid, when I read John’s recent book on him, I cried through the whole thing.  Seeing how John captured him, the way he did him justice like no one else, I knew he would be a great collaborator.

This project is really an outgrowth of The Guitar Spotlight Series, a book/film/podcast about all the great players, past and present, who have called this area home. We’re hoping to chronicle, in words and on film, over 100 of the best. They’ll be the names you know and some who should be known better, like the incredible Chogyi Lama, Richie Haven’s grandson, who is Hendrix reincarnated. Naturally, when it’s completed, we’ll kick it off with a huge concert event.

Lastly, speaking of concert events, how did YOU end up closing the Woodstock ’94 Festival?

When the festival came to town, I spent five weeks working there, helping to build the stage and site. One day, I happened to be at the commissary with Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s step-sister and helped her get a vegan meal. Over dinner, I shared with her my dream of playing Jimi’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the close of the festival – a concept she loved, along with festival organizer Michael Lang. Just like with Jimi, it happened pretty much after everything was over, a little before 7 AM, the morning after the festival, when they were breaking things down. At first, there was resistance to the idea from the onsite manager, but when they heard I had Janie and Michael’s approval, the steelworkers stopped dismantling the main stage and let me play for 20 minutes, including my explosive take on Jimi’s own version of the National Anthem. Although MTV and the other media were gone by that time, there was one lone photographer. He snapped a photo that ended up going out to thousands of newspapers and TV stations all around the globe on the Associated Press wire. I later heard from Michael that Peter Gabriel wasn’t too happy about it, saying: “Hey, I was the headliner, so why the hell is that guy getting all the press coverage?”

What is it about the Hudson Valley that makes it unique to live + work here?

The amazing natural beauty of our landscape and the Catskill Mountains! Since 1686, my family has been hiking these trails. My ancestor, Colonel John Cantine, was a trail guide and surveyor in the 1700’s and was friends with General Brandt. Whenever I’m hiking, I imagine those two up the trail laughing about life – the beauty, the grace, the healing power of nature that rules my life.

What impact do you, as an artist, have on your community?

Since coming home to Woodstock, after being invited by Michael Lang to play Woodstock ’94 with Gabe Butterfield, I’ve helped on many cool projects in Woodstock. These include the Woodstock Guitar Festival, Woodstock Volunteers Day, Music on the Green, The Woodstock Guitar Sculptures, Woodstock Little League, Woodstock Soccer and Basketball at Woodstock Elementary. I just try to give back to this town that gave me everything…

What local businesses do you rely on to be successful in your career and just in enjoying life?

Chris Neher at Woodstock Building Supply and H Houst & Son for my carpentry. Bearsville Theater, Colony, Applehead Studios and Nevessa Production for my music. Oriole 9 and The Cub Market for my coffee and breakfast.

What is missing in the area that you wish we had?

Nothing!

What would be your dream assignment/gig?

I pretty much have it now… knock on wood!

Who or what inspires you personally?

Nothing like being on top of a mountain with my partner Meg, Cam, Zena and Bean.

Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to know.

I could run a 4-minute mile, I had a 40-inch vertical at one point and scored 30 points on Mario Elle (the future NBA Defensive Player of the Year) at the West Fourth Street Basketball Classic in Greenwich Village.  Also, Phil Jackson of the Knicks broke my tooth with an errant elbow during a pickup game.

What is your favorite non-musical activity?

Designing houses and building Overlook Benches. Come check out my Opening at EvolveD Interiors.

Rennie Cantine Design Art Opening + Show at EvolveD Interiors Design + Build

Saturday, May 4th, 2024 @ 3pm – 6pm
Celebrate the new works of Rennie Cantine’s Overlook Benches + sculptures
with his band, Sabrina and the Gems.

Photos Courtesy of  Tania Barricklo and Allan Tannenbaum

Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and publicist living in the Hudson Valley.

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Connect with Rennie Cantine via his Website | Facebook | @renniecantine

Follow his band Sabrina & The Gems @sabrinaandthegems

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