The Top 5 Buskers In Seattle Seattle Busker List

The Top 5 Buskers In Seattle

Seattle Busker List: a blog about the best buskers in Seattle.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I have been busking in downtown Seattle for the past year now and I will share with you my top five favorite buskers in the city that I am watching out for. I know that there are many people who are not fans of street performers, but having seen what it takes to be a good one, I can say that these performers deserve to be recognized. In no particular order:

1. The Man in the Black Hat

2. Urban Poets Society

3. Lazer Boy and the Space Cadets

4. The Catman and Friends

5. The Yo-Yo Kid

The Top 5 Buskers In Seattle

Seattle Busker List: a blog about the best buskers in Seattle.

May 10, 2015 by Ryan Stotland

The mission of this site is to provide reviews of little-known but great buskers around the city. This post is my attempt at creating a list of Seattle’s five best buskers. I’ve been to almost all of them, and they’re all fantastic. They’re listed in order from most to least well-known.

5. The Queen Anne Man Band – On the north side of Queen Anne Ave N at W Mercer St. He plays a variety of instruments and has a drum set up with mic’d kick drum and snare. Great energy, fun music, and he’s very good on the drums. He’s been there quite a while, but sometimes takes breaks so check his Facebook page below to see if he’s playing: https://www.facebook.com/queenannemanband

4. The Pianist at Bellevue Transit Center (BTC) – At the corner of 106th Avenue NE and NE 6th Street in Bellevue across from the transit center on the Northeast side of the intersection between Starbucks and QFC (see map). He plays in front of the

This blog shall explore the top five buskers in Seattle. These are the best buskers around, according to me and my friends. They are in no particular order.

1. The Ukulele Man – He is a true legend. He can be seen playing his ukulele with a big smile on his face. His songs are always happy, and he makes everyone smile with his music. If you haven’t seen him yet, be sure to check him out! He’s usually playing throughout Downtown Seattle on the weekends, but if you’re lucky, you might catch him during the week too!

2. The Violin Lady – She is another great busker. She has a violin and will play any song you ask her to play! She loves requests and will always play your favorite song as long as you tip her well. Be sure to check her out too when you’re in Downtown Seattle!

3. The Flute Man – This guy is a master of the flute! He plays classical music very well, and he’ll even play songs that aren’t so popular like “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin or “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov! His repertoire

“Busker” is a term which describes a person who performs in public places for money. Though the term is most commonly associated with street performance, I prefer to think of it as meaning “performances in public places”.

The list below is my personal opinion and reflects my own tastes. I am not an expert, nor do I necessarily have any kind of training or credentials, so please don’t ask me how to get on this list or why you’re not on here. There are plenty of other buskers out there; this list is just a starting point for your own exploration of the Seattle Busking scene.

If you want to know where the best buskers are in your area, please check out my list of the best buskers by neighborhood and my calendar of upcoming events. My favorite places to find them are at the Seattle Center, Pike Place Market, and various venues around Capitol Hill.

Busker Alley: The Best Buskers in Seattle

Seattle is a great town for buskers and street performers, which makes it a challenge to pick the top five. You could spend hours walking around downtown alone and not see all of them. Several of the best aren’t even in downtown, but you can easily find them. There are so many buskers that I’ve had to add some categories to this list, just to keep it manageable.

The Top 5 Buskers

It’s a crowded market, and it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. But there are some buskers who have managed to stand out from the crowd and make their presence known. These are the hardest working, most talented, most quirky performers in Seattle. Some of them have been at it so long that you’d think they would have gotten bored and quit by now, but they’re still at it: day after day, week after week, year after year. That says a lot about their professionalism and commitment to their craft. I’ve seen all of these people perform many times over many years and I can attest to the fact that not only do they all deserve the top five spots on this list, but any one of them could easily be number one.

1) The Emerald City Soul Band (AKA “the Soul Band”)

2) The Not-Its!

3) Kinski

4) Benjamin Hunter

5) Mike Dumovich

Seattle is a great city for street performers, and buskers are a wonderful part of Seattle’s culture.

I don’t know why I like buskers so much. Perhaps it’s because I feel like I am getting to see some sort of spontaneous performance that I wouldn’t otherwise get to see. Perhaps it’s because there is a certain kind of connection between the performer and the audience that doesn’t exist in more traditional settings. Or maybe I just have too much time on my hands.

But regardless of why, I do like buskers and find them fascinating, so I decided to create this blog to write about the good ones that I come across in Seattle.

And who knows, perhaps someone will enjoy reading my ramblings as well…

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