Chris Vallillo is a singer/songwriter and folk musician whose prairie poet style has been compared to the works of Edgar Lee Masters and Vachel Lindsay. In the 1980’s he conducted the Schuyler Arts Folk Music Project, documenting the last of the pre radio generation of musicians along the Illinois River. 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. Chris has twice served as the Illinois Scholar for the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit on roots music, New Harmonies.
Since many of the traditional pieces Chris performs are songs he collected himself from the last pre-radio generation in rural Illinois, he brings a rare authenticity to his performances. In music ranging from the first pioneers through the era of steamboats, trains and early radio, today’s audiences see and hear the music performed on period instruments as it was 100 years ago. From early folk songs to the music of Stephen Foster, Jimmy Rogers and the Carter Family, it is an entertaining and educational performance that will have audiences of all ages tapping their toes and singing along.
The Dairy Building is located at 410 North Erickson Street. The Bishop Hill Heritage Association, the Galesburg Community Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, are sponsors of this musical program. For more details about this concert, please call 309 927-3899 or email bhha@mymctc.net.
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