Prospect Heights Library Coffee House Concert features folk singer songwriter Dvorak Oct. 19

The Prospect Heights Public Library, 12 N. Elm St., will present folk singer songwriter Mark Dvorak at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19.

“Folk songs have always been fascinating to me. It all started by listening to Bob Dylan while in high school. I read the 1972 biography by Anthony Scaduto which led me to Pete Seeger. Seeger’s recordings and books that opened the door to the music of Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly and a whole bunch of others. The songs represent a kind of an ongoing patchwork quilt of struggle, celebration, loss and triumph. And at the very core of these songs — is storytelling,” Dvorak said.

Dvorak’s songwriting grew from years of study, touring and collaborating with artists such as Michael P. Smith, folk legend Frank Hamilton and Pete Seeger himself.

“I’ve been lucky,” said Dvorak who accompanies himself on guitar, 5-string banjo and 12-string guitar. “At this stage of the game, I feel like I’m right now doing my best work.”

Dvorak is celebrating the release of his 20th CD, “Live & Alone,” recorded in an empty concert hall during the height of the pandemic lockdown, and his fourth book of essays, “31 Winters,” which reflects on his long journey through music and teaching.

The Chicago Tribune has called Dvorak “masterful,” and the Fox Valley Folk Festival describes him as “a living archive of song and style.” Dvorak has won awards for journalism and children’s music, and was honored in 2013 with the FARM Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance International. In 2008 he received the Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2012 Rich Warren, long time host of The Midnight Special radio program named Dvorak “Chicago’s official troubadour.”

For registration and information, call (847) 259-500 or visit phpl.info.

Learn more about Mark Dvorak at markdvorak.com.