Longtime rural Midwestern singer/songwriter Chris Vallillo headlines the Prairie Grapevine Folklore Society Concert on Tuesday evening, April 22. Known for his skillful guitar playing and singing, Vallillo’s 2008 Abraham Lincoln in Song, released by Gin Ridge Records, reached No. 10 on Billboard’s bluegrass album chart. Dirty Linen magazine described his music as “vivid, original story […]
folk music
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Phil Yates
Based out of Burlington, Vt., singer-songwriter-guitarist Phil Yates spent time in Los Angeles and Chicago, then Columbia, S. C. and once upon a time lived in a little burg called Springfield, Ill. After attending high school here, he split town and now teaches mathematics at a college in Vermont, while making music he describes as […]
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John Byrne brings on the Irish
From centuries-old songs and tunes performed in traditional ways to the adaptation of instruments and melodies to the new land, Irish music certainly infused itself into the American consciousness throughout our history and seems even stronger today than ever before. In central Illinois we have at several Irish-influenced groups playing out regularly, numerous public events […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Powerful pair
You’re in for a powerful treat, as singer, songwriter and guitar players Janis Ian and Livingston Taylor play at Sangamon Auditorium, UIS, Saturday, March 6. Best known for her hit song, “At Seventeen,” Ian is one of folk music’s living legends. Her words resonate with truth, wisdom and beauty, whether in lyric or prose as […]
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Mulligan Munro
With the full intent of blending Irish and American folk music in song, Mark Butler (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Don Wright (vocals, five-string banjo), Mark Hudson (vocals, upright bass) and Katie Heilman (vocals, fiddle) became Mulligan Munro. As for what’s in a name, Mulligan comes from both the term for a stew made from on hand […]
