Chris Vallillo: “Abraham Lincoln in Song" at the Rock Island Public Library Main Branch -- February 4.
Tuesday, February 4, noon
Rock Island Public Library Main Branch, 401 19th Street, Rock Island IL
Delivering a special tribute to our 16th American president at the Rock Island Public Library's Main Branch on February 4, gifted singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Vallillo will treat patrons to his touring event Abraham Lincoln in Song, a performance in the Tuneful Tuesdays series that led Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum director of theatres Phil Funkenbusch to rave, "Vallillo takes the audience on a musical journey, making history come alive with his excellent blending of music and storytelling.”
Vallillo is a roots 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. A master of finger style and bottleneck slide guitar, 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.”
The life of Abraham Lincoln spanned a period of change, growth, and struggle in our young nation, and the music of his era movingly characterizes these remarkable times. From his days as a flat-boater, through his time at New Salem, his years as a circuit lawyer and on up through his presidency, Lincoln’s life is a microcosm of the development of Illinois during that period. Abraham Lincoln in Song helps shed light on one of history’s most beloved figures not only as a remarkable leader, but as a man who knew and loved many of these very songs himself. Special emphasis is placed on showing Lincoln ‘s unique bond with the common man and his desire for reconciliation, not revenge. It is an extensively researched, historically accurate program Vallillo uses period music Lincoln may well have known and sung, and Lincoln ‘s own stories to illustrate his life and put it into context.
Vallillo's show, appropriate for grades three and up, is designed to be an interactive, accessible, program that educates as well as entertains. It covers Lincoln ‘s life from his birth on the big south fork of Nolan’s Creek in Kentucky in 1809 through his death in 1865. It has been performed in association with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, The Gerald R.Ford Presidential Museum, The Lincoln Home National Historic site, Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum, and various touring exhibits including Forever Free from the Huntington Library and “Lincoln, the Constitution and the Civil War” from the Library of Congress and the American Library Association. Abraham Lincoln in Song has also recently been endorsed by the Illinois Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
Chris Vallillo's Abraham Lincoln in Song will be performed at the Rock Island Public Library's Main Branch on February 4, participation in the noon event is free, and more information is available by calling (309)732-7323 and visiting RockIslandLibrary.org.
