The farming heritage of rural America is reflected in an extensive body of traditional and contemporary folk songs that tell the stories of the hardworking people who have struggled to maintain agricultural ways of life for generations. From traditional songs like “The Farmer is the Man” to the dust bowl ballads of Woody Guthrie to the works of contemporary songwriters like Stan Rogers and John Gorka, the subject of farm life has long been fertile ground for folk musicians.
Contemporary folk songwriter Chris Vallillo has spent the last 35 years in rural Illinois documenting its music and chronicling its past and ever-changing future in his own work. He performs a hand-picked selection of the most poignant of these songs as the starting point for an open discussion of the future of family farms. This is a free public performance this coming Saturday August 26 in the village park of Bishop Hill, IL. His concert will start at 3 p.m.
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