Morris,IL – Award winning singer/songwriter Chris Vallillo will present his Abraham Lincoln in Song program and will be joined by Abraham and Mary Lincoln (Max and Donna Daniels). On Saturday June 28 at 1:30pm on the Courthouse lawn.  This is part of a weeklong celebration in historic Morris, IL.  815-941-0245

“On February the 12^th, 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 created the show using period music Lincoln was directly associated with to tell the story of Lincoln’s life and times.

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.

Extensively researched and historically accurate, both the live show and compact disc recording ofAbraham Lincoln in Songhave 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.

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 songwriter and folklorist Chris Vallillo is a skilled six-string and bottleneck slide guitarist whose love of the past evolved into a love for old music.

Wire presents James Curley & The Next Little Thing In Concert, celebrating the release of James’ recent CD There Used To Be A Train and the debut of the new band featuring George F. Callobre, Melanie Budd, Ross Rutherford and Ben Lansing.

Sunday, June 15, 2014 7:30pm, Wire is located at 6815 W. Roosevelt Rd., Berwyn, IL. 708-669-9473.  21+ $10

“My aesthetic life is densely populated with songwriters, “ says Chicago songwriter James Curley. “I see and hear the world through them, and they have informed my emotional and artistic life since I first heard ‘Moon River’ at the age of 5 and asked ‘who wrote that?’ (Henry Mancini) instead of ‘who sang that?” (Andy Williams)” .

James Curley began writing songs in the mid 70s in his native Philadelphia, influenced mainly by his trips to the Philadelphia Folk Festival and to local clubs like the Main Point, Grendel’s Lair and others. He appeared as a solo songwriter back then, opening locally for other artists of the day, including Artie Traum and Lou London.

Leaving Philadelphia, James played in Denver, Boulder, Eugene and other areas and eventually wound up in Houston, where he was heavily influenced by the Texas songwriter scene there at the time. Moving to Austin in 1979, he immersed himself deeper in the local songwriting scene and performed in venues there until moving to Chicago several years later

Curley’s 3rd CD is thick with songwriter homage, both obvious and subtle. From John Lennon, Steve Goodman and Townes Van Zandt being directly referenced, and Warren Zevon’s “Mutineer” being covered, to more oblique relationships like the one between “The Virtual Waltz” and John Prine’s “Donald and Lydia” and the one between Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans” and Curley’s own “There Used To Be a Train” – there are ghosts of songwriter influences at every turn. “A Townes Van Zandt Song” received an Honorable Mention accolade in the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Songwriter Contest hosted by the Songwriters Association of Washington.

The Riversong Music Society presents award-winning singer/songwriter Chris Vallillo in Concert on Saturday June 14, 2014.  7:30pm at The Box Factory for the Arts,  located at 1101 Broad St., St. Joseph, MI.  269-983-3688.  $10 adults, $8 seniors/students, under 12 free.

Vallillo has long been known as a musician who makes the people and places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song. A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with an affinity for American roots music, Vallillo is a skilled six-string and bottleneck slide guitarist who incorporates original and traditional material to form a musical portrait of the Midwestern way of life.  Perhaps the archaeology degree Vallillo earned at Beloit College helped him see the important little details of life which imbue his songs with a sense of history.

The Last Day of Winter is the 7^th CD release by Chris Vallillo following his successful release of Abraham Lincoln In Song.

While some might disagree, Vallillo clearly believes “There is no such thing as too many guitars!” And with this new recording, he takes that claim seriously. For years he collected and restored old stringed instruments, some high quality, most quite inexpensive, but each with its own unique voice.   With The Last Day of Winter, Vallillo uses this unique collection of voices to create a distinctive recording of original and American roots music heavily featuring his unique bottleneck slide playing. “Of all styles of playing, for me, slide guitar is the most intimate.” said Vallillo. “It’s an emotive style of playing that can make a slow song simmer and a fast piece burn and I wanted to focus on that style of playing for this project.”

While seventeen different vintage instruments are featured on the CD, Vallillo expects to have some of those instruments with him performing music that ranges from classic Americana melodies such as “The Water Is Wide” and “Old Joe Clark” to original songs like the poignant “Lettie’s Song” or the beautiful song of harvest time, “Silhouette Against the Stars.”