Everything Else Bio
Does The Bard Rocks have a life off-stage? You bet he does. Just Google the name “Roland Vinyard” and see what all you find. He wears many hats, the real estate tycoon wannabe, the outdoorsman, the writer, farmer, and photographer. He earns his real living selling farm and country property and has done so since 1981. (Did you really think he could earn enough as a traditonal singer to make a full-time living?) For many more years, he was involved with the dairy industry, both as a real estate professional and also as a dairyman (20+ years at this one, folks) and crop farmer. An offshoot of the real estate business involves property that he owns, improves significantly, and then later sells. So far, theres been over 30 of these.
In addition, The Bard Rocks is a nationally known cave explorer and is very involved on that front as well as finding time once in a while for other outdoor sports - backpacking, canyoneering, x-c skiing, mountaineering, and canoeing & kayaking. Several weeks a year may be devoted to these things. His cave projects involve mapping and surveying, photographing, and sometimes working with scientists. He has done this in many locations - New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, Arizona in addition to many, many other states + Puerto Rico, Belize, Canada & Mexico + New Zealand and Borneo. His other outdoor interests have taken him to just about any state that has mountains or rivers; in fact, he has visited them all except Alaska (so far) and he has seen quite a bit of Canada and not yet enough of Mexico and Ecuador along the way. He runs the annual Cave Ballad Competition and the Open Mikes for the National Speleological Society, of which he is a lifetime member. The Bard Rocks writes occasional articles on his adventures or other things which interest him, takes fine art natural landscape photos, then uses them in lectures and speaking engagements.
He has a couple of degrees in history, from the Universities of Delaware and Connecticut. As a remnant of college days, he remains connected to the Intercollegiate Outing Club Association. He has run the alumni group (IOCAlum) for what seems like forever and edits and publishes their Directories and newsletter. (Outing Club friends: see bottom photo, center.)
He performs a variety of volunteer jobs, mostly on the conservation & music fronts. At home, there is the Rocky Top Concert Series which features full-time touring musicians who perform in the traditional vein. And he maintains numerous web sites, mostly about music. That he can do this amazes him, as he is a very non-technical person. Not a geek! Not long ago, a do-it-yourself website was unthinkable for him. See our Links section for details on these.
Janet, unmasked
Through 2019, The Bard Rocks played basketball in a pickup men’s league. And he is an avid reader, consuming many periodicals and up to 50 books a year, mostly well-written fiction (he admits to being a literary snob). It will be no surprise to you to learn that you may also see him making music for free with friends. He often plays several times a week, in various places, such as folk song club meetings, small festivals, churches, private homes, parties, open mikes, libraries.... And he is fully domesticated too, with a great wife (left) and 3 adult children (right), all of whom have given him many reasons to be very proud. He has learned to make time for friends (below), something we all need to remember.
College friends
My "children" - Cory, Rachael, Alena
Can't forget Memphis Minnie. She does not like to be left behind.