Folk artist Mark Dvorak performs free outdoor concert at Elburn library

Town and Country Public Library, 320 E. North St. in Elburn, welcomes folk singer and songwriter Mark Dvorak to its Sunday Concert Series from 2 to 3 p.m. May 31. The program will be held outdoors, weather permitting. Bring blankets and lawn chairs.

“Mark has been on the road for a lot of years,” said Jamie Gehin, adult services manager. “We’re thrilled he’ll be joining us on his spring tour.”

“At this stage of the game,” said the singer from his home outside Chicago, “I feel like I’m doing my best work.”

Dvorak will accompany himself on guitar and five-string banjo and perform folk classics like “This Land Is Your Land” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.” He will mix in standards from the American Songbook like “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” and feature his poignant and well-crafted original songs. His program also includes stories about growing up in the Chicago area, songs he remembers from his grandparents and songs he learned while he was a student at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

In 2024, Dvorak celebrated 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 more information or registration, call (630) 365-2244 or visit tcpld.org. Learn more about Mark Dvorak at markdvorak.com.