A writer and a musician, a boatbuilder and carpenter, deckhand and dishwasher, Trapper Haskins has earned his keep in myriad ways since leaving school and his hometown of Memphis.

In 2000 he and his wife moved to Maine where Trapper undertook a two-year apprenticeship in traditional wooden boatbuilding at the Apprenticeshop of Rockland before taking one of the boats he built there, an historic replica, 2,300 miles down the Mississippi under oar.

Subsequent years found the two leading an itinerant life spanning six states and nearly a decade. Following work opportunities and his own fervent curiosity brought Trapper from North Carolina to New York and New Orleans where he worked as a cabinetmaker and street musician before returning to Tennessee. There he maintained a custom woodworking business while also leading the four-piece, Trapper Haskins & the Bitter Swill which released two albums and toured before dissolving in 2014. Haskins continues to write and record in Nashville.

A diabetes diagnosis at 36 prompted a strict refocusing on personal health and wellness, and recent years have seen him taking up the sport of triathlon as well as vintage base ball (the national pastime under 1860s rules). In 2013 he co-founded the Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball to promote the game in his home state and currently sits on the organization’s board as well as that of Tour de Cure- Nashville, a cycling event which raises funds to benefit the American Diabetes Association.

His writing has appeared in national publications including Sports Illustrated, WoodenBoat, and American Songwriter.