Saturday May 18, 2024

MARK DVORAK When Mark Dvorak began his career in music he knew right away he’d be in it for the long haul. 35 years later he is still writing, recording & on the road performing. “At this stage of the game,” said the singer from his home in Chicago, “I feel like I’m doing my best work.” The Chicago Tribune called him “masterful,” & the Fox Valley Folk Festival describes him as “a living archive of song and style.” In 2012 WFMT Midnight Special host Rich Warren named him Chicago’s “official troubadour.” Mark has given concerts in almost all of the United States & has made visits to Finland, Canada & Ireland. He has released twenty albums including 2020s acclaimed Let Love Go On and 2024s Live & Alone. He has won awards for children’s music, journalism & was honored in 2013 with the FARM Lantern Bearer Award. In 2008 he received the Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. markdvorak.com BLACKFOOT DAISY Atlanta songwriters Wendy DuMond and Don Sechelski met online in 2008 on a songwriter forum. When they discovered they lived within 5 miles of each other, they got together to jam and a spark was lit. The band size and configuration has changed over the years but the core has always been the songwriting. The current band includes Don Sechelski on vocals, guitar and bass, Wendy DuMond on vocals, percussion, ukelele and guitar and Jim Kirkland on fiddle, flute, and mandolin. In 2014, the band released their first EP, “Jubilee.” This 3-song effort was followed by a full-length release in 2020, "Blackfoot Daisy.” Blackfoot daisies are wildflowers that grow on the prairies of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The band plays original, Americana style music. We are a little haunted by the prairie, the wind, the shifting of tall grasses, the sound of crickets, and a lonesome train whistle drifting through the night. blackfootdaisymusic.com