Folk singer pays tribute to Lincoln

In Abraham Lincoln's time, you didn't dock your iPod, search your satellite stations or even tune in an AM broadcast.

Rather, all music was performed live and was part of every social gathering.

Musician Chris Vallillo will highlight Lincoln and music of his era Sunday in a performance organized by the Friends of the Lisle Library.

Vallillo, who is based in Macomb, typically plays music that explores the history and culture of the Midwest. On Sunday he will play theater acoustic guitar and bottleneck slide resonator guitar, as well as an instrument Lincoln himself played -- the juice harp.

Q. What type of music will you perform when you appear in Lisle?

A. I will do period folk songs from Abraham Lincoln's lifetime. I start with his birth and run through his presidency and death.

When he was president, he brought a lot of music into the White House. He and his wife, Mary Todd, really turned the White House into the showplace it is now. It had never before been used in that way prior to the Lincolns.

Q. What musical pieces have you linked to Illinois' favorite son?

A. There is a wide variety, from "Barbara Allen," his mother's favorite song, to Stephen Foster songs like "Dixie," which he loved. There also are songs from the Civil War and political campaign songs.

When Lincoln was a young man he worked on a flat boat and went down to New Orleans, so I play a flat boat song. Some say that is where he saw the horrors of slavery and set his mind against it.

Q. What makes Lincoln a favorite historical figure?

A. Lincoln managed to take the country through a terrible time of the Civil War. He was a masterful politician and played that game better than anyone else in a time of ugly politics. But he was also a great humanitarian, and that really set him apart from other historic figures of his day.

Q. How do you incorporate history into your music?

A. I love to use the old folk songs as a window into the past. These are songs written by people that experienced the actual events of the day, written in a language and musical style of the day.

Q. How do you hope your performance touches the audience?

A. I always wanted to perform music of substance. Not just quick entertainment, but actually had something of value above and beyond the immediate. With the Lincoln show, I engage the audience into the idea of Lincoln and the things he accomplished and struggles he went through. It gives the audience a sense of him as a man more than him as a leader.

Q. With your education in anthropology, why did you switch your career to music?

A. My first professional career was as an archaeologist and I did that for a living for about three years. At this point, I became a fairly good amateur musician, and while I loved it, I had never tried it professionally.

I was young and was in a field that had very little work for the number of people looking, so at one point I thought I would try playing music. I just wanted to do something that I loved and make a living at it. I have been blessed to make it my living ever since.

But my love of the past has worked its way into my music and is largely responsible for the kind of shows I am doing now.

Q. What does it mean to be a member of the Illinois Arts Council's Artstour Roster?

A. You have to be prescreened and accepted into the program. It is a wonderful thing because it gives performers opportunity but, more importantly, it gives them credibility. If you make it into the group you are a professional of a certain caliber.

Q. When are you most productive in writing music?

A. I tend to be a night person, and often when I come home from a show I will sit up in my studio and doodle around on the guitar while I have a little adrenaline left over from the show.

Q. How has your upbringing colored your music?

A. I was born in Hammond, Ind., and moved all around the Midwest every few years because my dad was a civil engineer. I was exposed to a lot of parts of the Midwest. I was always attracted to folk music and history, so those things went hand-in-hand with wherever we were living.

Q. What band or musician would you like to play with from the past?

A. If I have to pick, it would be a member of the Carter Family. They are some of my all time favorite musicians. Ry Cooder also is simply a phenomenal guitar player of all styles.

-- Joan Broz

If you go

What: Abraham Lincoln in Song with Chris Vallillo

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Faith United Methodist Church, 5395 Westview Lane, Lisle

Tickets: Free

Details: Sponsored by the Friends of the Lisle Library

Info: (630) 971-1675 or chrisvallillo.com