Abraham Lincoln in Song -- CONCERT - July 20, 7:30 p.m. St. Joseph, Michigan (Berrien County)

publicized at Box Factory For the Arts dot-org (Concert series): Saturday, July 20, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. _______________ "Abraham Lincoln in Song" with Chris Vallilo__________ TICKETS: $10 adults; $8 seniors and students; free for children under 12 Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s 1st Inauguration Vallillo's one-man show tells Lincoln’s story “On February the 12th, 1809, Abraham Lincoln came into this world in a dirt-floored log cabin on the big south fork of Nolan’s Creek in Kentucky” says folk singer Chris Vallillo as he launches into the combination of narrative, storytelling and music that is his one man show Abraham Lincoln in Song. Vallillo, a former archaeologist turned musician and folklorist, created the show using period music Lincoln was directly associated with to tell the story of Lincoln’s life and times. He will be performing the show on Saturday, July 20th at 7:30 PM. With Abraham Lincoln in Song, Vallillo combines Lincoln’s own words and stories with contemporary folk music and period folk songs to shed light on one of our nation’s most beloved historical figures -- not only as a remarkable leader, but as a man who knew and loved this very music himself. Skillfully presenting both well known and obscure songs from Lincoln’s time, Vallillo tells Lincoln’s story -- from his birth 200 years ago on the Big South Fork of Nolan’s Creek in Kentucky through his death in 1865 at the hand of John Wilkes Booth. From an old jew’s-harp tune Lincoln used to play, to political songs like Lincoln and Liberty, Vallillo’s show uses the music to tell the tale in a way that words alone can’t match. Extensively researched and historically accurate, both the live show and compact disc recording of Abraham Lincoln in Song have been endorsed by the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Commissions of Illinois, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. When released last year, the CD of music from the show hit #10 on the Billboard Charts. The hour and 15 minutes show was created under the auspices of the Illinois Humanities Council for the bicentennial celebration of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in February 2009 and has received the endorsement of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial commission. ALIS is an extensively researched, historically accurate show that weaves narrative, Lincoln’s own words and stories, and period music into a celebration of the life and times of one of our nation’s favorite sons. Vallillo himself is a performer with an affinity for American roots music and a gift for translating historic topics into modern day understanding without losing the bedrock from which they surface. A former archaeologist turned folksinger/songwriter, he is a skilled six-string and bottleneck slide guitarist whose love of the past evolved into a love for old music. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum’s Phil Funkenbusch notes, “With Abraham Lincoln in Song, Chris Vallillo takes the audience on a musical journey, making history come alive with his excellent blending of music and storytelling. He grabbed hold of the museum visitors here, establishing excellent rapport with the audience with this thoughtful, humorous and moving show." Vallillo has performed Abraham Lincoln in Song at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library, The Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum, the Abraham Lincoln Home National Historic Site, President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington DC and theaters, museums and historic sites around the country to celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. Chris Vallillo is a nationally acclaimed singer/songwriter and folk musician who makes the people and places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song. Having spent the last 30 years in the rural Midwest, he has a natural affinity for American roots music. Performing on six-string and bottleneck slide guitars and harmonica, Vallillo weaves original, contemporary, and traditional songs and narratives into a compelling and entertaining portrait of the history and lifestyles of the Midwest. Dirty Linen magazine described the music as, “vivid, original story songs” delivered with an “eye for detail and a sense of history” while Folk Wax Magazine Editor, Arthur Wood said “Vallillo's guitar playing flows like warm honey and is a true aural delight.” For Chris, a good song is as much a work of art as any painting or sculpture. His music has a timeless quality about it, with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Perhaps the archaeology degree Vallillo earned at Beloit College (BA Anthropology, 1976) helped him see the important little details of life which imbue his songs with a sense of history. His prairie poet style has been compared to Edgar Lee Masters and Vachel Lindsay and you can hear the strains of the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers reflected in his writing. It’s roots based original and contemporary folk with the rich acoustic textures of bottleneck slide, finger style and flatpicked guitars that echo the influences of Mississippi John Hurt, Norman Blake, Doc Watson and John Fahey. A recipient of a 1986 Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award for music composition, Chris was also a nominee for the Illinois Arts Council's 1987 Governor's Award for Individual Artist. In 1987 he conducted the Schuyler Arts Folk Music Project to document the last of the pre-radio generation. These recordings were accepted into the American Folklife Collection at the Library of Congress. From 1990 through 1998 he served as the performing host and co-producer of the nationally distributed, award-winning public radio performance series Rural Route 3 where he performed next to (and with) a virtual who’s who of contemporary and traditional folk musicians. His most recent project, a one man show titled Abraham Lincoln in Song, received the endorsement of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the accompanying CD of music reached #10 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album Chart in March of 2008. He recently completed his second term as the Illinois State Scholar for the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit on roots music New Harmonies and is completing a new instrumental bottleneck slide guitar CD titled The Last Day of Winter. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Directions to the Concert hall at -- WWW.BOXFACTORYFORTHEARTS.org