Folk singer songwriter Mark Dvorak salutes folk legend Woody Guthrie in Berwyn February 23
BERWYN IL - The Friendly Music Community 6732 Roosevelt Road, 1242 will present a special concert “This Land Is Your Land: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie” on Sunday, February 23 at 3:00 pm. The event celebrates the 85th anniversary Guthrie’s most well-known composition, “This Land Is Your Land."
The event features folk singer songwriter Mark Dvorak performing some of Guthrie’s best-loved songs accompanied by “The Bound For Glory Singers,” a vocal sextet. Dvorak will also read excerpts from Guthire’s vast body of written work.
Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma July 14, 1912 and was America’s great folk ballad maker. Originally titled, “God Blessed America For Me,” Guthrie completed the song after hitch-hiking across the country, recalling some of the sweeping images he encountered.
Guthrie also included verses remarking on the America he witnessed on his trip: Migrant workers being locked out and the long lines at a soup kitchen.
Guthire head Kate Smith singing Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” on the car radio of a fellow who stopped to offer him a lift.
“Guthrie hated that song,” said Dvorak. “ ‘God Bless America’ represented nothing of what Woody had experienced in his travels and in his personal life."
“Mark has quickly become a favorite at The Friendly Community,” said Music Director Rob Pierce. "We’re thrilled to have him as part of our growing musical programming."
Dvorak has spent a lifetime following in the musical footsteps of Guthrie and is celebrating the release of his 20th CD, Live & Alone and 4th book of essays, 31 Winters: Finding the Folk Way, 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.”
There is no admission charge, but a free will donation will be accepted. For information phone 708.484.9794 or visit friendlymusic.community.
Learn more about Mark Dvorak at www.markdvorak.com.