Lee Murdock presents hometown concert Jan. 3
Kaneville resident and folk artist Lee Murdock has been hosting a hometown concert for over 20 years, but that doesn't mean he knows what will happen at his next event this Saturday, Jan. 3. That's fine with him.
"I have no idea how it's going to go. It's exciting," Murdock said. "The audience adds their own energy, I call it a synergy."
Murdock will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3 at the Art Center at Kaneland High School, 47W326 Keslinger Road in Maple Park. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door.
Murdock says folk performer Mark Dvorak, with whom he will share the stage, will add intrigue to the concert. He calls Dvorak "a folk singer in the grand folk tradition."
Murdock and Dvorak will each present a short set, then they will perform together.
"He'll do a song, then I'll do a related song, or the audience might ask for a song," Murdock said. "It's informal, but it takes everybody somewhere where we couldn't go to by ourselves."
Murdock and his wife Joann have lived in Kaneville since 1982. It will be the first time that Murdock will stage his hometown concert at the high school's Art Center, where he performed one of the inaugural concerts in its opening year of 2006. His early hometown concerts were at the Kaneville Community Center.
Murdock plays the guitar in addition to singing and is known as North America's Great Lakes Balladeer. He has recorded about 12 albums of music of the Great Lakes, mostly traditional, along with songs that he has written.
Murdock discovered the sailing music when he came across a collection at the University of Michigan. A professor whose name was Ivan Watson interviewed men in the 1930s who had worked as sailors on the Great Lakes during the latter half of the 19th century, and recorded their music.
"It became the foundation for my life's work," Murdock said. "And I've become an ambassador for the area we live in. Most of us are unaware of the role the Great Lakes played in the nation's westward expansion. There is a whole sailing tradition 1,000 miles from salt water."
Dvorak is a teacher at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music and plays the banjo and the guitar. He has performed in more than two dozen states.
Reservations are not needed. For information, call (630) 557-2329.
<p class="factboxheadblack">If you go</p> <p class="News">What: Lee Murdock's hometown concert with guest artist Mark Dvorak</p> <p class="News">When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday Jan. 3</p> <p class="News">Where: Art Center at Kaneland High School, 47W326 Keslinger Road, Maple Park</p> <p class="News">Tickets: $10 at the door</p> <p class="News">Call: (630) 557-2329</p>