Spooner and his sea shanties were a regular feature of the festival and he had been scheduled to perform this Saturday. 

In 1995, he was the inaugural Artist of the Year, with then-artistic director Jamie McKew saying Spooner had been “part of the living Port Fairy Folk Festival tradition since its inception in 1977”.

“He's as permanent a fixture at Port Fairy as a bollard on the wharf beside the River Moyne,” McKew said in 1995.

“For 20 years, the audiences have enjoyed his workshops, one-man shows, his deep multi-disciplinary understanding of social history, and his immense repertoire of songs. His songs cover the full gamut of human emotions, endeavours and experiences.

“Legendary is his wharfside shanty session where you can follow a sea journey in song, sing the work songs that raise the sails; but beware, if he sings about reducing the sails, the chances are he'll sing up a storm.”

His ever-popular shanty session was scheduled for the Surf Club on Saturday from 4pm – that session will be one of many tributes to the late musician this weekend.

The Port Fairy Folk Festival Facebook page shared the sad news of his passing, calling him “a great champion of the Folkie”.

“We will celebrate him and the role he has played in the lives of all who loved him in the close and broader folk community and raise a glass at the festival,” a festival representative wrote. 

Spooner received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Folkie in 2012.

Born in England, he left school aged 13 to work at sea. He moved to Australia in 1962 and became involved in the Melbourne folk revival centred around Frank Traynor's Folk Club.

Killarney musician Shane Howard said he first encountered Spooner at the folk club in the early ‘70s, and called him “a true treasure, a living encyclopedia of song, (and a) fiercely independent spirit”.

“One of my favorite memories and photos of Danny is with my dad and Uncle Banjo Clarke, backstage at (the Folkie) in 1993, after the very first Welcome To Country,” Howard said. 

"In January, this year, I was honoured to join so many musicians and singers on stage at the Tamar Valley Folk Festival in Tasmania to sing Will You Go Lassie Go and Rolling Home with Danny. It was a precious moment that was only the wink of an eye but lasted for an eternity.”

Spooner played his final concert at the Cobargo Folk Festival on the weekend before his death, with a representative from the National Folk Festival calling it “extraordinarily beautiful, with awesome courage, and extremely moving”.