Paul Prestopino

Paul Prestopino (Sept. 20, 1939 - Jul. 16, 2023) was a multi-instrumental musician and an audio engineer from the artist colony in Roosevelt, New Jersey. He was a regular participant in the lively 1960s Folk Revival scene in New York City's Greenwich Village and toured and recorded as a multi-instrumental backup musician with the nationally popular Mitchell Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary. Prestopino's "day job" from 1970 until 1989 was as a technician with the Record Plant Remote (the Record Plant's studio-on-wheels), where he served as a sound and maintenance engineer for countless musicians. He was not a regular studio musician, but given his skill as an accompanist and his availability at the venue of many non-studio recordings, Prestopino was frequently invited on the spot to add a track or accompaniment whenever certain stringed instruments were desired. Thus, he ended up playing for (and was given credit on) multiple hit records by bands and singers such as Aerosmith, Rick Derringer, Alice Cooper, Pete Seeger, John Denver, Tom Paxton, and Judy Collins. On these recordings, he played (mostly) various fretted instruments including guitar, banjo, dobro and mandolin.

Paul Prestopino was the son of artist Gregorio Prestopino, who moved his family from New York City to Roosevelt, NJ in 1949.

Paul Prestopino attended the Washington Square Park reunion annually in New York City, and later in life, played frequently in small musical venues within driving range of his home, including the New Jersey Folk Festival and Howell Farm Fiddler's Contest, where he typically appeareed with Jugtown Mountain String Band. He performed annually for many years at the New England Folk Festival in Boston with his English Country Dance band (called Hold the Mustard). For decades, he played annually in thee Roosevelt String Band in an always-sold-out, intimate concert at the Roosevelt Town Hall that included many accomplished musicians of all ages from the Roosevelt community (including Kai Altair, Joe Pepitone, David Brahinsky and others). He also played regularly for contra-dances at Princeton Country Dancers and acted as a sound and maintenance engineer, as well as a musician, for their open bands, and in 2019, he recorded a bluegrass album as a member of the Magnolia String String Band. At all these venues, this Renaissance man could be found in off-hours jamming happily with a wide variety of musicians of all experience levels and playing styles. He was a great lover of traditional string band music in either old-time jams or bluegrass jams.